EP 195: Off Season & In Season Basketball Sports Performance, and Becoming A Great Coach w/ Zack Zillner

Zack is someone I knew of and followed through our network and the great work he does. We were formally introduced to by our mutual friend, Megan. From there we connected in Austin, TX then I went on the Coach Em Up Podcast which he co-hosts, and hit it off. He’s an incredibly smart, experienced, and successful performance coach that has been with the University of Texas women’s basketball for 7 years and had a wealth of knowledge to share.

Zack Zillner enters his seventh season as women's basketball sports performance coach at the University of Texas. Zillner develops, implements and supervises the training regimen for the Texas women’s basketball team in the areas of speed, strength, agility, conditioning and flexibility. Zillner also works collaboratively with the areas of sports medicine and performance nutrition.

We dive into off-season, in-season strength and conditioning, how to build buy in with athletes, developing as a strength coach and much much more.

IN THIS EPISODE YOU’LL LEARN:

=> Why what you do doesn’t matter until you get your clients/athletes to buy into the program.

=> A unique approach Zack used to get his basketball athletes to buy into the strength and performance program.

=> What is more important, performance training, skills, both, and how much of each for a player; we answer the questions.

=> Why the first phase of the off season is “chasing health” and what that looks like in programming.

=> The collaboration of coaching staff, skill staff, and performance staff to develop the players to their best ability.

=> The best sales people on the team that will get everyone on board (and why you have to focus on them).

=> What is “guided autonomy” and “theme” based training and how it plays out in a training week at University of Texas women’s basketball.

=> The break down of every day of strength and performance training for a basketball team.

=> Why Zack chooses total body as the best type of training for athletes.

=> What is the “bodyshop training day” and why athletes love it.

=> How does conditioning play into the off-season and how hard should players go in pick up basketball (you’ll be surprised by the answer).

=> What does collaboration with a player in the weight room look like.

=> The exact break down of a 30-minute strength and performance in-season training session.

=> The overlooked and biggest obstacle for players coming from high school into college when it comes to adapting.

=> The effect of lifestyle factors (sleep, food, stress) on basketball players performance and how it will grow or stunt success.

=> Coaching and communication insights to get players to take on behaviors that will make them a better athlete (that they are avoiding).

=> The key principles of becoming a successful strength coach.

=> Why work ethic and dependability is a critical factor in getting ahead of everyone else when it comes to the strength coach.

=> The power of taking pride in the work that you do no matter how small the task.

=> Why being a sponge and submerging yourself into learning from the greats around you should be a focus for every coach.

=> Setting standards for yourself on a daily basis as a coach and why mimicking works.

=> What is Zack learning and excited about in the field of sports performance for basketball.

LINKS & RESOURCES:

Zack's IG

Coach Em Up Podcast

Micro Dosing Performance Course

Luka’s Courses and Workshops

Luka's YouTube