Ryan Chan

Thought basketball was gonna pay me one day…

Now I’m paying league fees, tournament fees, physio and $200 for shoes just to drop 6 points on a Tuesday night 😭🏀

Still worth it though.

Still nowhere close to where I want to be

Do you know any more ???

What do you think? 🤔

⬇️ MORE IN-DEPTH BREAKDOWN

Sand training can be a great tool for basketball players—but it’s important to understand what it does and doesn’t do.

🏀 1. It’s NOT the same as court speed training
On hardwood, sprinting, cutting and jumping rely heavily on the stretch-shortening cycle. Your muscles and tendons rapidly absorb and release energy to create that spring-like explosiveness.

Sand absorbs more energy and increases ground-contact time, so you don’t get the same elastic response. That’s why sand work shouldn’t replace sprinting, jumping and cutting on firm surfaces.

💪 2. Higher muscular demand
Because you get less energy returned from the ground, your calves, quads, hamstrings and glutes have to work harder to produce movement.

🦶 3. Foot + ankle capacity
The constantly changing surface challenges the muscles of the feet and lower legs in positions you might not experience as much on a perfectly flat court.

🫁 4. Conditioning
Moving through sand requires more effort, making even simple cone drills extremely demanding from a conditioning standpoint.

🧠 5. Coordination + reaction
Adding ladder drills, cones and catching a football gives Maxey another way to challenge coordination and decision-making while moving and fatigued.

☀️ 6. Sometimes getting outside matters too
Basketball players spend countless hours inside gyms. Training outside gives you natural sunlight, fresh air and a completely different environment.

And sometimes training should just be fun.

Sand training isn’t magic and it isn’t perfectly basketball-specific—but that’s okay.

It’s another tool in the toolbox.

Do you know any other ones?