This article was written by Trevor Quinn who is an
assistant men’s basketball coach at Jacksonville University (12-13).
Trevor has been with the Dolphins for the last 5 years and some of his
responsibilities include player skill development and scouting. He is a
student of the game that has continued to grow as a coach over the years
and has a bright future in college basketball.
So you Think you are a Gym Rat?
This term gym rat is circulating as descriptive verbiage
for every young basketball player being recruited today. It may be a
corny or ‘old school’ expression recently replaced by “grinding” but at
one time it was the ultimate compliment. As college coaches, we recruit
basketball players with basketball talent.
A player has to have talent first but a basketball player
separates himself from the talent like he doesn’t have it at all. If we
call a High School coach, AAU coach, local workout guy, or parent more
times than not a potential recruit is referred to as a “gym rat.” It is
an easy thing to say and of course the person has a vested interest in
his/her pupil – but is the player really a gym rat?
To put it simply: the lights come on and there’s the
rat…Lights go off, and there’s the rat. It is looking for whatever it
can to eat or survive. The gym rat is hungry and no one is feeding it —
more often than not it is trying to be exterminated. In the case of a
gym rat, it is attempting to find any little piece of basketball
knowledge or competitive advantage that can increase their survival
rate.
These little guys are starving and they don’t need someone
to set out some food for them. For instance, they don’t need a coach to
get them a gym (Go find a game?), give them some drills (Figure it
out?), or get the perfect equipment (just go hoop!). That’s what the
best players do! They understand that action takes precedence over
plan…While you’re waiting for the perfect setting to work on your game
they are already out there doing what you’re planning to do!
The species of gym rat is on the brink of extermination
these days no matter what reports we get to the contrary. A recruit may
have all the necessary responsibilities such as school, church,
homework, the SAT anything even chores but guess what every 1st team
all-NBA player probably encountered these same obligations while they
were trying to make it. They most likely attacked them with the notion
that these would be the building blocks to their future success.
These are not excuses, they are necessities. Then there are
biggest hindrances to living your life as a gym rat. These are the
unnecessary evils attempting to exterminate the population. A gym rat
can encounter people setting traps or constantly trying to feed them
poison. Traps decimating the gym rat population can be anything from
girls to twitter; they will keep you from where you need to be…IN THE
GYM!!! It’s up to you if that’s what you want to be. My guess is if you
have the respect of the local basketball community, I bet you, all that
stuff will come along with it.
Poison can be anything that alters the mindset. It could be
a simple as a peer telling you “you’re not any good you should quit.”
That is poison to a budding gym rat but you don’t have to be duped into
swallowing that. There’s a lot of other crap that can derail any athlete
from striving for greatness. You can find stories for days about
college/pro athletes who get caught up by the police doing something but
I’ve never heard of any of them getting caught while in a gym.
In my coaching career I feel like I have been around just
two guys who without a doubt during our time together could be
considered gym rats. One was Al Thornton who at Florida State went from
unheralded recruit (Ranked #217) to NBA lottery pick. This was my
interaction with Al Thornton. I knew he was working out every day 10:00
AM but then some days Coach Hamilton may ask me to go find Al? He was
typically at one of 3 places in the city of Tallahassee and sometimes
all three in a day.
After he worked out, he would either go from playing pick
up at FAMU, to playing pick up at TCC, or just going straight back to
our basketball training center. This was a typical day for Al he would
be in the gym for 8 hours a day trying to see what he could add/try to
do in a game that day. He didn’t know anything else!!! All I know is
that was normal for him and that is what helped him go from redshirt
freshmen to 1st team All-ACC and a Lottery pick (Just look at the
improvement of his season stats over 4 years).
The other was Ben Smith, a four-year starting Point Guard
at Jacksonville University. Ben Was 5’10” – if that – and only had one
Division I offer coming out of high school. He became a 1st team
All-Atlantic Sun player for three straight seasons, won two conference
titles, and his name is all over the school record book.
Every night usually around 10:00 PM he got shots up. After
lifting weights, class, individuals, pick up and study hall he got shots
up. I’m not talking about shoot then talk for 20 seconds…I’m saying
this man GOT SHOTS UP! He shot 28% from the three point line his
freshmen year. In his mind, he wouldn’t ever let that happen again so
for the next 3 years he shot over 35%. One league opponent would make it
easily apparent that their belief was he couldn’t go left.
So the following off-season his sole purpose in life was to
become equally adept with both hands. He would go in the gym a lot of
days and refuse to use his right hand (HE HAD PURPOSE). Ben just came
back from averaging more than 25 ppg overseas and because of his
dedication to his craft his name is mentioned next to Artis Gilmore, Dee
Brown, Rex Morgan, and Otis Smith as one of the best players to play at
Jacksonville University.
These gym rats are a rare and dying breed. The term is
thrown around so loosely that it is losing its grit. If I call a player
and he picks up on the first ring or tweets every hour on the hour he
probably isn’t going to be in the gym the amount of hours necessary to
make it to the next level (Varsity, college, Pro). If enrolled in a
weight training class…LIFT THE WEIGHT more times than you look in the
mirror.
If you’re going to the gym then go with a purpose (To make
_______ # of shots or work on ______). You know you may encounter a gym
rat when your phone rings at 10:00 PM and a recruit says… “Coach sorry I
missed your call. I went and lifted after school, then our high school
team had workouts, and then we had AAU practice. I just finished my
homework and went for a jog. I wanted to call you back before I ate
dinner.”
If you’re returning a call at 10:00 PM because this is your
first free moment then maybe a college coach, who really knows what it
means, will be proud to justify anointing you as a Gym rat.
