“We can teach someone how to shoot, but, you have to be able to get by somebody,” he says, illustrating how players have to develop a full set of skills. When it comes to practice, he calls repetition the “father” of learning. He cites author Malcolm Gladwell’s 10,000 hour rule which proposes that to truly master something, a person must practice the skill for 10,000 hours.
“TAKE ADVANTAGE OF WINDOWS WHEN YOU HAVE THE OPPORTUNITY. EVERY DAY, YOUR OPPORTUNITY TO BE GREAT SHRINKS.” “There isn’t a certain number you have to follow,” Reese-Hackett says. “Your rep count might be different than the next person’s. You just know you have to put in the time.” He adds, “If you want to do it, that’s one thing. If someone’s making you do it, that’s another.” In other words, he can help any player improve, but there will be a marked difference between the skill of the player who really loves the game and the one who is playing because his father wanted him to play. “I try to create a work ethic and confidence that you can develop on the basketball court and use in everyday life,” Reese-Hackett says. Local youth are unaware that Reese-Hackett holds Texas’ high school record for points scored in a two-game period (125) and they don’t know much about his pro career. But, through his training program, his reputation is growing. He tells the youth that basketball isn’t about going to the NBA or being a pro athlete. It is about life lessons and opportunities such as meeting people who could help his career and getting to travel to places in the world he would never have seen. “I had the chance to be successful because of my ability to make a shot,” he tells them, adding the cautionary note, “My window of success as a player is closed, but now I have a greater opportunity.” That opportunity is to teach youth to “take advantage of windows when you have the opportunity. Every day, your opportunity to be great shrinks.”
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THE GUIDE 2018 WINTER/SPRING
PARKS.SNCO.US 785.251.6800