Episode 6: Unlocking Elite Training: Inside the Mind of Top Basketball Trainer Drew Roberts

In this special episode of Locked In, Nick DeFeo and co-host Jason Shea sit down with basketball trainer, Drew Roberts. Drew has worked with over 15 Division I athletes and 10+ professional players, building a reputation for his relentless commitment to player development. From training tips to mental toughness, Drew shares insights on what it takes to go from good to great, whether you're a high school athlete or a pro. Tune in as we explore if every player needs a trainer, how to stay current in your game, and the secrets to building trust with athletes. This episode is packed with invaluable advice for players, parents, and coaches alike.

Subscribe to Locked In! for more basketball tips, recruiting advice, and hot takes! Don’t miss out—click here: https://lockedinbasketball.beehiiv.com/subscribe

Transcript

0:10

Welcome to Locked In, your source for everything basketball. My name is Nick DeFeo alongside my co host Jason Shea. We dive into all things hoops from recruiting tips, training advice, hot takes, and the latest news. Whether you're a player, coach, parent, or fan, we've got you covered. Don't forget to subscribe and follow us. Facebook, Instagram, YouTube for more great content every week. Time to get locked in. Today we have a special guest, Drew Roberts. Drew, how you doing? Good. How are you guys? Doing well, man. Thanks for coming on. We appreciate it. Um, let's run through Drew's, uh, Drew's resume quick. Uh, Drew played Dean College. Um, been training now for six years. Uh, currently working with over 15 Division I players, um, and 10 plus pros, uh, at all levels. So, um, we appreciate you having on and, and today we're going to talk a little bit about, uh, training, uh, what training looks like. Um, Does everybody need a trainer? Uh, and we'll dive into a bunch of different topics. So, uh, so we appreciate you coming on and maybe just start by saying your path and how you got to where you are today. Um, so I started with a fourth grade group, uh, in the, just locally. And a friend of mine just happened to see me wearing a basketball sweatshirt. And he was currently at the time working. Um, and so I went to work with Jason and introduce me and I that's kind of how I started with a you and I had a 16 you team and I was just kind of willing to stay after practice and work with those kids, Uh, and I was like, I kind of like, you know, helping the kids develop outside of what we did coaching during practice, So I did that for a little bit, and then I think I think Jason saw it and was like, Hey, we we have a A post grad program coming and that was obviously, obviously you, Nick. And he said, I'll introduce you to the, to the guy we have coming in. And that's how I kind of got on the, uh, the staff with you. And from there we had a bunch of collegiate players or recruits. So I started working with them outside of practice, same thing. And because those kids were collegiate recruits, people in the area locally just knew who they were. So they were like. Oh, who is this guy, Drew? Should I train with him as well? And it just kind of just steamrolled from there and I end up picking up a bunch of clients locally and then it just kept going and going and eventually I found myself training some of the better players in Connecticut and they started reaching out and that's kind of where I am now. Just keep building off of that, uh, six years later and, uh, I think I've done a decent job with some of those guys locally. I think you've done a great job and, um. You know, Drew, just speak to, as a trainer, and maybe you agree or disagree with this, but in watching you over the past few years build your clientele, I think the key ingredient and what stands out the most to me is your willingness to be in the gym. You guys are there all the time. It is a commitment of time, whether it's 6 a. m. in the morning before school or early workouts for the guys who want to get with you, or it's night, 9 o'clock, 10 o'clock. I follow you on social media, and I see that you're there all the time. Talk about the time commitment and how that has impacted your ability to attract players to come train with you. Yeah, I think that's been a big separator for me. Like you said, I'm willing to get up early. I'm willing to stay late and players know that when they hit me up, he's going to be there. He's probably going to say yes. Once in a while, I'll say no. But for the most part, I'm going to be in the gym and knowing that you have a dependable, consistent trainer that's that's always going to work with you multiple days out of the week. Basically, any time as long as the gym is available, that that's something that players respect and It also helps build the relationship with the player, which I think is really important. You have to have a good relationship with your players. And if you, if you don't, it's, it's hard for them to, to respect you and listen to you. And why, why should I learn from this guy? So if, if I'm in the gym with you every day, we're building that relationship. That, that's where that respect comes from. And you look at that as dependable. I think that's, that's an important part of training. I, I agree. And, and just more to that point, talk, talk about as a trainer, because we're going to talk about what kids need to do. And that's the focus of this episode, but talk about as a trainer, how you stay current and the things that you do, because there's so many out there to say, Oh, you don't need a trainer. You could just get in the gym and do, you know, what you need to do. And there's obviously truth to everything. There are, there is plenty of player can do, uh, with, uh, His father or mom or, or brother or sister and get into a gym and get some work done. But there's a, if people aren't in the world, they don't understand the value a really good trainer can bring. But what do you do to stay current? You're working with these higher level guys and then you're also working. People don't know you work with fourth graders. Sometimes you're in the gym with these young groups. You're in there all the time with different age groups. So talk to two things. One, how you differentiate in the groups, but then also how you stay current and keep learning. So that you could add value to these really talented players coming to work with you. Yeah, so, um, Heh. You, alright, I will say, I'm one of the trainers that will say, you don't need a trainer, however, however, that takes a special type of kid, that's a, that's a one percenter type of kid, that doesn't need a trainer, that really knows how to, how to, you know, Um, you know, a lot of guys don't work themselves into a serious position to become, you know, maybe a collegiate athlete or a pro athlete. There's only that's a very small, uh, percentage of guys. So for me, how I stay current, I like to go to a college practice or I like to contact if I have a college guy, I'm contacting their coach. If I have a relationship and I'm saying, what, what do you want from this guy? I remember also during COVID I was. Going through a lot of coaching seminars, uh, there were, there was a bunch of free coaching seminars that I had just come across. I forget what they were called, but I was just listening to guys, head coach of Georgia tech or head coach of, of Florida state. Like they were putting on these free things where you can zoom in and just listen to these guys talking. I think that was a big thing for me as well as looking at some of those top trainers. When you look at like a drew Hanlon or a Michael Lancaster or a Phil Handy, I'm on YouTube watching what they do, how they talk. What they're specifying, or what they're working on players with. That, that's something that helped me bring that back to my guys. It's not necessarily a copy and paste thing, because my guys may not need exactly that. But I'll twist something that they're doing to make it work with whoever I'm working for. Um, and then differentiating between levels. Um, my first mistake, and I, I tell people this all the time, my first mistake with that fourth grade group was treating them like fourth graders, I thought. Like uh, maybe, maybe this is too hard for them, or maybe this, they won't understand this. And now, cause I have a sixth grade team right now that I've been working with for the past couple years, and uh, on the second time around, and for me, I think a kid can learn if you believe in them. Um, so. I'm teaching them a high level high school system or a low level college system. That's what I'm teaching 5th and 6th graders at the moment currently. Because if you're smart enough and they're willing to pay attention, they can do it. Now, when it comes to training, it's foundational. So if I have a 5th grader walk in, And he's not good at making layups. Well, we're gonna just simply work on layups, but if I have a fifth grader that walks in that that already is good at that, then I will work at work with him like he's a high school kid or like he's like he's a college kid. I'm not gonna I'm not gonna hold that kid back because he's young. So I think differentiating is just where is that kid at? And how good is he currently? And you just kind of have to assess and say, this is where he is. You know, and as you've, as you stated in the opening, you worked with and have and currently work with a handful of divisional players, a handful of college basketball players in general, and then a handful of pros, you know, what has made those workouts different for you? Um, and how do you separate yourself from other trainers and, you know, is it the X's and O's and understanding what they need to do in their offense for their, for their system? Um, you know, is it helping with helping them with college recruitment? Let's say if you're talking to a. High end, high school kid. Like what has made you different as a trainer, um, you know, from other trainers and, and ultimately helping those kids get to, uh, their next level. Nick, I'll just jump in one second because it reminded me of what we were talking about before we got on air. I was in the gym today with Drew, and I think, and Drew, you're gonna speak to this, but Drew was putting the drill in working with one of my players, and Drew came over to me and asked me, where do you like to set this type of screen in your offense? And Drew, maybe tell everybody, why did you ask me that? I know the answer, but I think it's really important for other trainers to understand that. And then other parents understand what makes a great trainer. And that, when you have a trainer, ask that question, I could tell you already, he knows what he's doing and he's on the right path. Yeah, I think, uh, if you don't know where your kid is going to, or where your player, excuse me, is going to, to be on the offense, if we're talking about specifically offense, like This kid is going to be on the wing, this kid's going to be at the top of the key, on the block, in the short corner. If you don't know where to work out of, or what, what angles to, to attack, or, like, you're just going to end up doing some random kind of cone drills with a kid, who may be a center. And now you're, you're working on this, this random stuff with a center that he's never going to do in a game. Or if you have a, a shooting guard, and you're, you're doing all ball screen stuff, and, and their coach doesn't really allow it. not, I won't say allow them, but doesn't put them in the situation to come off ball screens and you're kind of, yeah, maybe you're getting the kid a little bit better, but it's not going to help them in their current career or where they're at in their career. So I think that's a really important, uh, part of helping a kid. You gotta understand where, what he's gonna, what situation is going to be in when the actual game comes. And from the the trainer player relationship from what you've learned over the last handful of years. Is it safe to say that the more you know about them as a person, obviously, but the more you know about. What they do in the winter season helps your credibility as a trainer. Yes. Yes. 100%. When when a kid walks in and I ask those questions, where are you in the offense or what is your role on this team? What are you asked to do? The kid, a smarter player understands like, okay, this guy can help me. This guy's serious. He's not just putting me through random stuff, trying to get me sweating. Like, oh yeah, just, just cause you've got a good sweat. Doesn't mean it was necessarily a great workout. Yeah, you, you might've gotten in better shape, but it doesn't mean you actually helped someone. I, a kid can go run a couple of miles and get a sweat. Does that help them in basketball? Maybe for endurance. That's about it. So, um, Nick, I mean, I think the other thing to point out along the lines of where you're going with that is Drew is not just in the gym when these guys are training. Follow Drew on social media, and also locked in please. But if you follow Drew, you'll see a lot of times when you get into the winter especially, Drew is pinning his location, uh, giving a little reel from where he's at, and generally where he is at on winter nights are at games that the players he trains are playing in. So you're getting a trainer, you want to find a trainer who's involved, not only with you in the gym and working on your game, but you want to find a trainer who understands how what he is working with you or she is working with you on is working in the game. Is it effective or not effective? So Drew, I see you all the time, you're at a lot of my games, you train a lot of my players, but I see you at college games. And that's gotta help with your relationships as well with your guys. Like they've gotta, and girls, they've gotta see you at those games and really appreciate you taking that time. Cuz I don't think they're paying you to go watch. No. No. And if they are, let me know, cuz. No, no, no. But talk about being at their games and seeing them in live play. No, being at their games is very helpful. One, Absolutely strengthens strengthens the relationship. You need a strong relationship with the player. You can't get the most out of them. How am I going to ask you to work this hard when we're in the gym? If we don't have relationship, you just can't. Um, and then also, it obviously allows you to see how they're performing and what they're Like we said, where they are in, in their system, where they're being used, but are the things you're working on working for them and are they helping them? You can, you can go see that in action live. And then also maybe if you have a kid who's trying to increase their role, you can see, hey, what, what are you, you're doing X, Y, Z wrong. This is why you're only playing eight minutes a game and not 20. So I really the value of seeing your kid play is very important and not even just the college games if I can, it's it's harder with the younger kids because this like I can go on a college website or ESPN and just check when the game is and kind of pop my head out. But if you know you have a sixth grader, it's a little harder to like to follow unless you are asking the parents actively. But I think it's it's huge to go to go into the games. It's a big part of it. And along these same lines. Kids you've been working with for maybe two, three, or even four years, you could also reap the reward of seeing them. Be successful on the basketball court. Let's say if you had a kid in middle school and and they made their high school team and now they're getting varsity minutes as either a freshman or a sophomore and and you get to see that, you know, speak on how rewarding that is for you seeing your guys be successful, you know, at the at the high school in the meaningful basketball level. Yeah, no, it's, it's extremely rewarding. Uh, my favorite thing to do, it's easy to work with high level guys, to be honest. In, in my opinion, I think those, they're easier. It's really rewarding when you have a kid who's like a fringe kid, he might get cut, or a kid that really wasn't as good,, go out and make a team, or go out and get real minutes. It's so much, it's so great to see for me. I like seeing the progression of a kid who maybe not be as good as a pro. I think that's better for me personally. Talk about how you build their off season. What are you going to advise them for a schedule? Uh, if it's springtime and they're doing more AU and they're playing on their team and practicing more. Versus the summertime when maybe they have a little bit more downtime minus a couple AAU weekends and then fall preseason. How are you building a schedule? How often should you get in the gym if you're looking to improve? What's a great schedule for players to follow? Not just with their trainer, but on their own, with a strength program, diet? Yeah, so, um, It depends how good the player wants to be, but I'll speak to, uh, players that want to be really good. Cause every player says they want to be really good. So that's how I treat them. So for me, I want a player in the gym minimum two times a day and maybe I'm nuts, but that's what I want from my players. Uh, one workout being skills. So ball handling, finishing at the rim, uh, stuff, maybe that you. Are not as good at. And then the second workout being mostly getting shooting reps. Cause today you need to be able to shoot the basketball. I don't care what position you are. So, uh, uh, one shooting workout and one skills workout, and then in the weight room, at least I would say four times a week, minimum, uh, making sure you're getting stronger. Uh, it's, it's very situational, but you know, can I add 10 pounds throughout a year. That would be great, if you're a younger player. Um, you, diet wise, I would, I always encourage kids to eat as much fruit and vegetables as you can. That is, uh, a Something I always push on all my players. They, they know me for posting, you know, posting smoothies or, you know, just trying to just trying to show them like, Hey, like you got to eat fruits and vegetables. That's important. Um, I'm not a dietitian or anything, so I don't get too crazy with it, but I, I push that onto the players as much as, uh, they'll let me try. I probably am not a good representative of following your diet plan, but, um, I love what you said first. You, the first question is, do you, how good of a player do you want to be? And I think that when somebody asks me how much time should they spend in the gym or what their off season should look like, the first thing I ask them is, who's ahead of you in your program or on your team? Who's ahead of you right now? Or who do you want to pass on your team? Or what's your goal? Well, start with who's ahead of you. How often is that person in the gym? How often is he in the gym? If he's in the gym. 10 hours a week and he's ahead of you. So theoretically he's better than you at the game. Then you better be in the gym 11 hours a week minimum. If you want to pass him, because if he's better than you and he's in the gym more than you, if you want to get ahead of him, you're just dreaming. You better hope he transfers. That's your only chance if you're not getting in the gym more than that player. So I think that's a great starting point. I think when you say that it really rings true. The first question is, how good do you really want to be? And that's going to determine how much time you want to spend and get into the gym. Can you get into the gym too much, Drew? no, no, but you do have to. You have to be in tune with your body and how you feel. If you're not feeling it, then relax. Take a couple days off. Take a day here. I think it's important to know yourself. If you're in the gym 7 days a week, every day, and if you're tracking what you're doing, so if you're tracking, hey, I usually make 7 from here, and all of a sudden you're just 4 Then maybe you need to assess and say, Hey, I need to take a couple of days or a week. And a lot of high level guys definitely do take days off, but some, some of my other guys, they just don't. Um, and you brought up the amount and the hours, like, how am I going to pass a guy? And that's actually the approach I use with, uh, uh, a kid named Tyler Thomas. And that, that's our approach if I'm in the gym three days a week. Or three, three times a day, every day throughout the year. It's eleven hundred plus times, or eleven, about eleven hundred times. I, the kid behind me, you, you will never catch up to me. You just can't catch up to the amount unless you go four times, if that's possible. But that, it's very rare for that. So it's, it's literally math. It's literally math. And as you as you get into, uh, you know, situations like this in offseason and training with certain kids, how many aspects of the game do you tell them to focus on? So you're getting a kid, you know, let's say who is a is a varsity high school player or maybe a JV high school player and they want to improve to be on that varsity level consistently. But they need to work across the board. You know, going into the off season, how many parts of the game will you challenge them to work on specifically? Is it, is it everything spread out across or are we focusing on one thing, you know, multiple times a week and then the rest just kind of fills in after that? Yeah, I think it's the, the second part. Um, if you want to be, add something to your game, Like truly add it to where you're, you're actually really good at it. You can only do one or two things throughout an offseason, in my opinion. Like if you're not a good shooter and you want to add shooting, we are working on shooting every single time. And then we're going to also mix in what are you already good at? What are you, Kid who can't shoot, he's a great ball handler, and he's a good passer. We're gonna make sure you're extremely good at ball handling, and you're extremely good at passing, and then we're also gonna make sure we're shooting. So we're gonna, we're gonna maximize what you're good at. And then we're going to add one, maybe two more things into your game and focus on that the entire time. I'm very redundant, I'm very repetitive, and I know it sounds boring, and it's not, it doesn't look cool all the time on Instagram, like, like, fancy drills, cool, that's great. We're going to get up. 500 shots. We're gonna make 500 shots this workout. We're gonna do the same mid range pull up. We're gonna do the same catch and shoot three over and over and over. And we're gonna be redundant with it because that's how you become a lead at something. That's how you get yourself to be exceptional at a skill. So I like to focus on one or two things specifically on top of maximizing what you're already good at. And I think that that could potentially be a turn off for a lot of guys more specifically because It's just the same thing over and over and over again, and I'll never forget, uh, this was maybe a year or two ago when I came in to the gym and you were working, um, Tyler out and, and, you know, who's going on to, he's, he's a professional basketball player now. I think I watched for probably about 45 minutes or 50 minutes or so, and the ball might have hit the rim, you know, a handful of times and he didn't miss much. Um, you know, it, it just goes to show that. You've probably put him through that workout, I don't know, maybe 50 to 75 times, that specific shooting workout, 50 to 75 times, but it just goes to show the redundancy of those workouts pay off. And again, like a lot of players will be turned off because it's like, Oh, we're doing this again. We just did this. Like, why don't we try something new? Speak on, speak on the redundancy and how it ultimately paid off for your clients, especially Tyler Thomas. Steph Curry form shoots every time he goes in the gym. Every time. It doesn't matter. It doesn't matter. He doesn't get bored of it. And I think when you're When you truly have an understanding of the game, you do understand that I need to do the same thing over and over and over and over and I get I get it. It does get boring to some guys and you can mix it up so we can break down the first 30 minutes. We're going to do that same thing we've been doing, but then that next 30. Maybe we can experiment or the next 45 minutes. Maybe we can experiment with something else. And I do try to, uh, mix up drills, so say we're going 30 minutes, we do the same thing. That last 45, we may be working on something similar, but I will mix up the drill we do from day to day. Um, and that, that's kind of how I try to get out of being boring. But at the end of the day, if a player understands, and this comes back to the relationship for me. If a player, if I have a good relationship with a player, they know I want the best for them. They trust me, then they will trust the fact that I'm telling them, Hey, we've got to do this over and over. And they just eventually buy into what I'm selling them. And if they don't, then you know, you, the results are what you get. I, you can't be, you know, you can't be mad at me. I told you what it was. And you know, do you love it? Do you love that boring part of it? That's, that's important. If you want to be great, if you want to be great, True. You, you know, and you mentioned this today as well in the gym and I really like it because even though you're repetitive and maybe some guys may think that's boring, you also use a lot of objective drills in your training, especially when it comes to shooting where you're counting and you're testing the guys based on finishing a certain amount of makes at spots in a certain amount of time. And then you have benchmarks that you can Of where you got the drills from. Who have, who, who else has completed that drill or done that drill? What were their records? And then that becomes a goal for your players to shoot for. And I think that means a lot because even though, yeah, it's boring, you're shooting, but now you're making it competitive. You're looking at other guys who have done it who are really successful and you're challenging your guys to either beat their record or at least set their own so they have a benchmark that when you get in the gym the next time, you You're going to try to beat it and that's going to demonstrate improvement and as a trainer I'm sure that's really gratifying when you could demonstrate improvement and it's very objective Yeah No 100 percent 100 percent if you if you want to be good and you you you give you give a kid a number or a time And and they start to compete with themselves or somebody else, you know You can and you can be playful with it. Like hey, you can't shoot as good as XYZ player And now, and now that kind of will wake a kid up and, and he's like, okay, I'm going to show you let's, and maybe they don't hit it that day. Then they'll come in the next time and be like, remember the drill we just did? Let's do it again. Cause I want to hit that number. I want to beat a so and so's record, or I want to beat my own personal record. And, and, uh, kind of waking up that competitive spirit in a kid can get them to buy into that, that redundancy that, that we were kind of talking about. So I, plus guys, you know, this is an area where. Players can take those drills and do it with their dad and continue to improve throughout the week and you are giving them that drill, which is knowledge on and it's something fun that they can continuously do. So the next time they see you, you know, if again, how good do you want to be? And if I'm seeing you twice a week, because you know, guys are paying to see you. If I'm seeing you twice a week, I can't take advantage of that unless I'm doing the drills you're giving me. On my own in my own time and then trying to beat those records. So the next time you see me, I already want to have that beat because I need you to teach me something new. Yeah. Yeah. And that, that's where, you know, a player is great. That's where, you know, because I, I've every kid that I've ever worked with, I've given drills to go outside of it. So do you come back and I've only seen you once a week, right? Or twice a week. I only have so much impact that I can have if I'm seeing you for two hours a week. You've gotta do it on your own. You've gotta get it done on your own. You've gotta take it to the outside court. I don't care if you don't have gym time. I don't care. Find a basketball. Find a hoop. Find something to do. And like you said, bring it back. You beat it yourself. You don't need me. You don't need me. But, they want you because you're one of the best. True. And that's just the way it is. And, and I'll just, I'll plug you here. Drew will have a training app coming out very soon. Alright, it's on the horizon called V2. You can follow him on social media and pick up some of his drills. But he'll have a drill bank, uh, that you'll be able to access. And we'll certainly mention that, uh, in our newsletter. And Drew's workouts, some of his workouts, Nick are going to be in our newsletter as well. And you can continue to follow him there and learn more that you could bring to your kid. Um, what do you got, Nick? Definitely subscribe to the newsletter. We're gonna have Drew's content in there with a little blurb of what that specific video was about. We will have the V two weapon there as well, which will give your kid um, Maximum time, uh, to either work with true or to get in the gym, uh, in or in the driveway or wherever and ultimately get, uh, to be a better basketball player. too quick ones for you drew train versus play in the offseason. What is your, what are your thoughts? What are your opinion versus getting in the gym and get some shots up or, you know, getting out and playing with an A. U. T. Both must do both. You train, you perfect something. And then you try it live. You have to, you have to, or else you won't know where you're at. Because there's a lot of kids that can go make 10 shots in a row, and then they get in the game and they can't make it. So you have to play it live. A lot of my training sessions, especially my group sessions, will start. We're gonna drill something, we're gonna work on it for 30, 40 minutes, and then we're gonna try it live. That is something I live by, something I'll preach forever. Um, you must do both. You have to play. And adding to that level of competition, you know, working with. Sixth graders all the way up to professional basketball players. What are some of the biggest differences you see between, um, you know, the high school guys and, and the pros, uh, is it that level of competition that they go in a, in a workout? Um, and if so, you know, what are the separators there? mentality, mentality, your approach to the game. I have a sixth grader right now. And this is gonna sound crazy. He's gonna play in college at the very least. And it's not because Of how good he is. It's about how his mental, how his mentally is when he approaches the gym. He walks in the gym, he stretches, he runs his laps, he does his ball handling. No one tells him anything. No one says a word, not mom, not dad, not me. He does it and he and he can and he, as long as he stays consistent, there's, there's no chance he doesn't play in college. No, no shot. Plus he's very skilled. So for me, it's about the mentality. No matter what level you are, no matter how old you are, the best players are locked in. So to speak. Nice plug, Drew. Thanks for the plug. That was great, man. That was perfect. That was perfect. So, Drew, listen, we appreciate you coming on, man. This is great. Um, once again, Drew Roberts, uh, trainer here in the Northeast, um, specifically Connecticut. Definitely subscribe to his, uh, his social media pages. Um, we'll have it listed in the newsletter. Like I said, um, this is locked in podcast. Don't forget to subscribe and share Facebook X, I G YouTube, tick tock at locked in underscore basketball, um, newsletter coming out on a Tuesday of this week. We'll have more Drew's content. Um, drew really appreciate you coming on and, and being on us, uh, being with us on a locked in. Yeah. Thank you guys. I appreciate you guys having me. Thanks. True. Great job. Thanks bud.