UPB is proud to have two additions to our on-court staff in Ashley Hawkins and Asha Thomas, both working as coaches at the UPB team. Both bring a myriad of experiences on-the-court and in around the game of basketball, and we know they will be assets in helping the next generation grow their skills.

Yash Maheshwaran stepped onto the Amador Valley High School football field for what he figured to be a routine volunteering opportunity. Little did he know, on this day, his involvement with Special Olympics would begin to become not only a hobby, but an integral part of his life. Yash spent much of a day with a young girl and her guardian, and his outlook on the day remains, even three years later.

Not only getting into coaching, but finding a role as a head coach in the NBA G-League just 10 years out of college is almost unheard of. But, George Galanopoulos or “Coach G” has made that dream a reality. On the seventh episode of Mental Buckets, Coach G spoke about his path from University of Indiana basketball manager to head coach of the Texas Legends, the Dallas Mavericks’ G-League team. His path has taken him from being a young and naive ball boy for Derrick Rose to working in basketball operations for the Bakersfield Jam, coaching the Uganda National Team, and then working as a video coordinator for the Mavericks.

This past December marked the 2nd annual Hoopin' with Santa event at UPB in partnership with The Boys and Girls Club of The Peninsula (BGCP) and The Big Homie Project.

By every “traditional” measurement of success, Russ Smith should be on an NBA roster right now. He led the Louisville Cardinal to a national championship in 2013, and averaged 18 points per game. He became the highest leading scorer in NBA Summer League one summer, and in 2016, he hit a new G-League record with 65 points in one game. In fact, in a season for the 76ers G-League affiliate he averaged nearly 30 points, and eight assists per game. Russ Smith has proven himself at every single step of the way, even when counted out.

Grant Williams is truly a renaissance man. He was named a two-time SEC Player of the Year while at Tennessee, a trivia-buff with decades of sports statistics memorized, a Chipotle fiend, a reader, and a student of the game. With so many talents, it’s hard to imagine how Williams has found a way on so many talented squads from Chris Paul’s AAU team to Tennessee and now the Celtics, and been able to thrive. However, just as Williams stands out for his variety of skills, he’s also a sponge and able to make the most of any environment he’s in. While chatting with Packie and Mike for Mental Buckets, Williams detailed the skills needed to adapt to a variety of teams and systems.

In Graham Betchart’s garage, there sits a wooden box just big enough to fit a person. Outside, it is covered with photos of Graham, and all the people he’s worked with as a mental performance coach. The list includes Aaron Gordon, Karl Anthony-Towns, Andrew Wiggins, USA Basketball and the team at Facebook. Betchart has worked with the best-of-the-best, the most talented people in the world of basketball, and those at Fortune 500 companies, and he advises them on how to live in the present and sharpen their mental framework.

Last season, Ivan Rabb was on another level for the Westchester Knicks. He averaged 16.5 points and 12.1 rebounds and received the Jason Collier Sportsmanship Award for his dominance on the court, and dedication to local communities off-the-court. But getting to that point wasn’t necessarily smooth sailing. On Episode 5 of Mental Buckets, Rabb talks to Packie and Mike about the steps he needed to take to realize his full potential in the NBA.

Five years ago, Jordan Jimenez picked up a point-and-shoot camera out of his mother’s closet. His track and field career had ended due to injury, he wasn’t playing basketball like he used to, and a bout of depression had dominated his early high school years. This week, he’s taking photos of Steph Curry, and is the mastermind behind all the Instagram photos in the UPB feed.

Sabrina Ionescu may be remembered for her accolades, like being the NCAA’s triple-double leader, the first pick in the WNBA draft, and a once-in-a-generation style basketball player. However, these capstone moments don’t tell the whole story.

The numbers only tell half the story. Haley Jones' mental toughness is what truly defines her.

Our third Mental Buckets episode features Dallas Mavericks Director of Mental Skills, Don Kalkstein. He is one of the first ever to break into the “mental training,” or sports psychology world of basketball, and utilize his knowledge to help athletes on and off the court. Kalkstein came to UPB via his co-worker Mike Franco, who is the lead mental skills trainer for the Mavericks’ G-League affiliate in the Texas Legends, and we can’t think of a better veteran in the industry than Kalkstein.

Many could hear such a comment and assume it’s just positivity coming from one of the best coaches in the NBA trying to motivate his players. However, Poole really did go the extra mile this offseason, and was a staple getting up shots in the UPB gym. He’s the first one to admit that improving his shooting stroke will take relentless work, and lots of time.

He touched on this moment in his Mental Buckets conversation with Packie and Mike; “I’m a firm believer that you gotta surround yourself with the right people because once you surround yourself with the right people, people in a different environment, people that have guidance, people that had a vision, it was just contagious for myself.”

Chasson Randle cemented himself in the Bay Area record books as Stanford men’s basketball all-time leading scorer, finishing his Cardinal career with 2,375 points. From Illinois Mr. Basketball to a 2018 EuroLeague Champion, Randle has made his presence felt around the world thanks to the game of basketball. But now he’s got something else in store.

Seth Curry currently has the second-highest three-point percentage in NBA history. Just a touch under Steve Kerr, Curry has converted 44% of his three-pointers. But his success carving out a role as a shooting assassin doesn’t give justice to the mental fortitude it took to get to his current role as a cornerstone of the Dallas Mavericks.

“I knew basketball was something I wanted to pursue my career in one way or another from the very first competitive game I played in 4th grade,” Ruta tells me. “The atmosphere of the game, being apart of the team, the adrenaline that rushed through your body after wins and losses, all of the ups and downs of the workouts, practices, games, injuries and successes, I knew I wanted to be a part of that for the rest of my life either through playing or coaching.”

One of my favorite parts of this transition is that I am able to develop my own learning style. I can take all of my favorite past experiences and tools that helped me along the way and use it to create my own distinctive style. We all know what we like and didn’t like from different coaches, trainers and experiences along the way. I try and use all those experiences to create a program that helped me. At the end of the day my goal for my clients is to help them find joy in the game appreciate the process of working hard at something until you get it.

The reality is that most of your competition is making this same exact mistake, so you have a really cool opportunity to use this as a secret weapon to level up your game and really separate yourself from the pack.

I’d argue that if you truly understood the treasure chest of results on the court that you would be unlocking by eating properly, you would be open to implementing those strategies. By the end of this article, you will have a crystal clear understanding of exactly how fueling properly will allow you to use nutrition as your “secret weapon” and finally achieve the level of athletic performance on the basketball court that has been eluding you for so long.