Advanced Concepts
The Advanced Concepts course will be offered next during the summer of 2011. If you would like to be added to our 2011 Advanced Concepts Wait List in order have the first chance to register when the 2011 date and location are announced, please submit your email address here.
If you are interested in attending Advanced Concepts, we strongly recommend preparing yourself by attending the Essentials course and the Think The Game course in advance of 2011.
Advanced Concepts is for experienced athletes that want to think the game with a strategic mindset. Very few individual players win games for their team by themselves—in fact, the huge majority find ways to lose games. At Advanced Concepts, you won’t get plays to run (or even drills necessarily), but what you will get are the crucial concepts that good players need to perform well in the biggest, most important game of their life—and win.
A great player contributes in many ways that the average fan (and even the average player) never notices or thinks about. But coaches and winning teams know what a great player is, and if you want to be a great player, you’d better know, too.
Advanced Concepts covers these topics and more:
"Habits of Thought:" "Habits of play" is a PGC phrase that all grads understand. However, do you understand the “habits of thought” that all winners share? Learn how to program this mindset of achievement into your training and pre-game prep and how to change your state during the competition.
"Alternating Current" and "Flow": There are no hard and fast rules in basketball about how long or how often you should hold the ball. But all conscientious players understand the concept of “alternating current” and “flow.” When you get the ball, does it help or hurt your team when you hold it for awhile or get rid of it immediately? What two defensive breakdowns demand that you get out of your team’s sets and attack for a score?
Pick-and-Roll Basketball: Some things are “nice-to-haves” while other things are “must-haves”. The ability to force a defensive breakdown and attack efficiently out of a ball screen is a must. What do you need to do to create advantage situations for your team on a ball screen when the defense switches? Or when the defender shows hard? Squeezes? Blitzes? Goes under? Over? Forces you to reject the screen?
"Time & Score" and "Point of Attack": All good college and pro players share an understanding of how these concepts can be the difference between winning a championship and just missing the playoffs. How does playing with a shot clock require you to change the way that you think the game? How do you play when ahead or behind near the end of the game? On offense? On defense? What do you need to do to influence your team to get critical sequences of score-stop-scores?
Advanced Jai Alai: Surviving Think The Game Jai Alai is an accomplishment, but this combat game is an amped-up, no-holds-barred, physically and mentally grueling battle full of strategy and the unexpected. Win or stay in! Can you out-think, out-score and out-last your opponents?
“I’m a graduate of both Essentials and Think the Game, but Advanced Concepts was the best course to end on. I am truly thankful for the gift of knowledge that you willingly shared throughout each and every session. It is a gift that you have given me. There are no words that can express how grateful I am to PGC for all the work and time you have put into teaching us.”
—Rashanda McCants, University of North Carolina, All-American and Atlantic Coast Conference All-Star.
“Advanced Concepts has raised the bar really high.”
—Kristi Tolliver, University of Maryland, First-team All American, Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC) Player of the Year.
“Advanced Concepts was amazing. The environment is so intense. You’re surrounded by people who share your dreams and you’re all working together to make those dreams come true.”
—Sarah Dusteshous, Merdon, Illinois.
“I feel like I have grown not only as a player but as a leader and a person. Every session in Advanced Concepts made me think more deeply about the game I love to play.”
—Heather Clayter, University of North Carolina.
Dates & Locations: This course will be offered again in the summer of 2011. Locations have yet to be determined.
Who's Eligible for Advanced Concepts: Think The Game and Essentials graduates.
Course Directors: Dena Evans & Sefu Bernard
Would you like to register for another course?
