Never Get Bored with the Basics

In 2007, performance coach Alan Stein Jr. was working the first Kobe Bryant Skills Academy for Nike in Los Angeles. Like everyone else, he'd heard the stories about Kobe's work ethic and wanted to see it for himself, so he asked to watch one of Kobe's private workouts. Kobe told him he was going at 4, and he meant 4 a.m.

Stein set his alarm for 3 a.m., hoping to beat Kobe to the gym. He didn't. When he walked in, Kobe was already soaked in sweat from his warm-up.

What surprised Stein most was the content of the workout, more than the hour or the intensity. For 45 minutes he watched the best player in the world do basic footwork and basic offensive moves, the same things Stein taught middle school kids.

Later that day Stein asked him about it. Why would the best player in the world spend his morning on such basic stuff? Kobe asked why Stein thought he was the best player in the game, then answered his own question: "Because I never get bored with the basics."

Stein's explanation is what stuck with me. Kobe understood that if his footwork wasn't razor sharp, the rest of the move would never be as good as it could be, and the only way to get it there was repetition.

What this has to do with goaltending

Every save starts with the basics: your stance, your first push, your angle, your eyes. If those aren't right, no amount of athleticism fixes it. You end up relying on a desperation save to cover for a bad first step.

Young goalies want to work on the highlight save. That's normal. The problem is that the highlight save is usually a sign that something basic broke down earlier in the play. The goalies who last are the ones who make the hard save look easy because they were already in position.

What Stein Jr. noticed about Kobe's workout is that doing basic drills wasn't the special part. Everyone does basic drills. The difference was how he did them. He treated a footwork drill at 4 a.m. with the same focus he'd bring to a playoff game. Most players go through the motions on the simple stuff because they think they've already got it.

Takeaways for goalies

• Your warm-up counts. The first ten minutes of practice aren't something to get through. How you track pucks in warm-up is how you'll track them in the game.

• Finish every rep. Make the save, then recover, find the puck, and get set again. A rep that stops after the first save teaches you to stop after the first save.

• Do the boring drills at game speed. A slow, sloppy T-push doesn't help you. If you're going to do the basics, do them sharp enough that they carry over.

• Stay a student of your own fundamentals. The best goalies I played with kept checking their depth, their stance, and their tracking long after they'd made it. They never assumed they'd mastered it.

• Trust the compounding. One sharp rep doesn't change anything. A season of them does. You won't feel the difference day to day, but you'll see it on the second-chance saves you make without thinking.

Kobe was the best player in the world, and he spent his mornings on middle school drills. If the basics were good enough for him, they're good enough for all of us.

Source: Alan Stein Jr., "One Final Tribute to Kobe," alansteinjr.com (Feb 2020).