Meet the newest addition to the UPB Family: Michael Orlich

July 22, 2021

By Madisen Carter

Unlimited Potential Basketball’s newest player development coach, Michael Orlich, has been working out and training basketball players for ten years just at the age of 25. Now at UPB, Orlich is ready to put in work at the facility, and focus on helping people get better at their game at all ages. 

“I kind of like working [with] a little mixture [of ages] because you learn something different from each person,” Orlich said. “It's just kind of refreshing to get both sides because it not only makes them better, but makes [me] better as well, as a trainer.”

It all started when Orlich was at Clovis West High School in Fresno, California. He said he would drag his teammates into the gym with him, and they would copy the drills he came up with. He then continued working out with his teammates when he headed out to De Anza College, and two years later did the same kind of routines when he played for the University of San Francisco.

At USF, he started working out with now professional basketball player Frankie Ferrari. Orlich said that he and Ferrari had multiple routines including pre-game routines, pre-practice routines and then different routines for the Spring and Fall. 

He said there, former USF head coach, Kyle Smith, was able to see what he had been doing with Ferrari and other players, and had him continue to carry on with player development training in 2019 as a graduate assistant for Washington State University where Smith was named the new head coach.

“I was working guys out dang near every day. I was running a lot of the fall workouts and spring workouts when coaches were out recruiting. Coaches gave me free rein, I could do whatever I wanted, so they trusted me.” Orlich said. “I probably spent outside of practice maybe six hours a day in the gym, and then a three hour practice. [So] about nine hours [a] day I was just in the gym.”

Now at UPB, Orlich has already made an impact while he has been working camps, and also recently spent time with UPB’s Coach Packie in Santa Barbara, working out with potential 2021 NBA draft picks. Orlich and Packie worked out with Scottie Barnes, Greg Brown, Kessler Edwards, Neemias Queta and more. He said they were on the court daily for eight to nine hours straight working with players, which allowed him to learn a lot and build relationships with the players. 

On top of helping with workouts, Orlich said, “I did a couple of projects for Packie, you know, player [evaluations] before they got there, and then just how [the players] improved when they left us. It was great. It was a lot of basketball, a lot of learning [and] a lot of one on one teaching.”

Earlier this week, Orlich helped work out incoming fourth through eighth grade students in UPBasketball’s Summer Camp. He said he had worked camps in the past, and that it was fun to be back. 

Orlich’s love for basketball has not faded, and said the game is special to him because of the friendships he has made and the experiences he has had. 

“The closest people I've met in my life have all been through the game of basketball, and the coolest places I've ever been or experienced have usually been through the game of basketball,” Orlich said. “I haven't been able to travel much across the country, but all three times I've been out of the country have been because of basketball.”

Orlich has much more time to continue to make great memories and experiences within the game of basketball. He said his next goals would be working in player development in the NBA, or if UPB expands, another goal would be helping out in a second gym. 

Until then, UPB is excited to have Orlich as a new addition to the team, and looks forward to seeing all that he accomplishes.