All About Recreation and Sports

Andrew Tyler Hansbrough was born in November of 1985 and began going by his middle name of Tyler rather than his first name of Andrew at a young age. As a youth growing up in Poplar Bluff, Missouri (population 17,000) in the southeastern portion of the state near the Arkansas border Tyler showed tremendous basketball potential.

Long before Tyler was drafted by the Indiana Pacers in the first round (number 13 overall pick) of the 2009 NBA Draft and even before he set basketball records with the storied University of North Carolina (UNC) Tar Heels basketball program he honed his game in his small southern Missouri hometown where he was born and raised. As a star basketball player for the Poplar Bluff High School Mules Tyler led his team to back to back state championships.

Despite the relatively small size of the city of Poplar Bluff, Missouri the basketball program competes in the largest classifications in the state. This is largely because in spite of the small size of the city of Poplar Bluff with only one high school and students being drawn from the surrounding area there is still a sizable student body. As a junior and senior in high school Tyler led his school to back to back state championships in Class 5 in Missouri.

The championships for the 2003-2004 and 2004-2005 seasons were played and won in the Hearnes Center in 2004 and Mizzou Arena in 2005 on the campus of the University of Missouri in Columbia, MO. The Hearnes Center opened in 1972 and served as the home court for the University of Missouri Tigers basketball teams until its closure in 2004. The brand new Mizzou arena replaced the Hearnes Center and opened in November of 2004. High school state championship basketball games in Missouri were played for years at the Hearnes Center and are now played at Mizzou Arena.

The state championship that Tyler won in March of 2005 was particularly noteworthy because he led his underdog team to a victory in the championship game against Vashon High School. Vashon High School is a dominant basketball school from St. Louis, Missouri that has won 11 boys basketball state championships. When the Poplar Bluff Mules, led by Tyler Hansbrough, squared off against the Vashon High School Wolverines in early 2005 for the state championship Vashon entered the game undefeated and as the number one ranked team in the nation.

For his efforts in high school basketball which included averaging over 28 points per game and more than 13 rebounds per contest as a senior Tyler was twice recognized as a first team All-State basketball player. The high school success that Hansbrough enjoyed provided him the opportunity to choose to play for any college basketball program that he wanted. The young man sorted through scholarship offers from storied programs like the University of Kentucky, University of Kansas, and Duke before ultimately deciding to play for Coach Roy Williams at the University of North Carolina (UNC) in Chapel Hill, North Carolina.

Jeff, the author of this article, enjoys watching the determination and hustle that Tyler brings to the sport of basketball. Jeff hopes that when Tyler plays other sports like golf that he brings a more relaxed demeanor to the course. If Tyler plays golf he surely has a University of North Carolina golf bag. A famous alum like Tyler would surely be embarrassed to be seen with anything other than a Tar Heel blue UNC golf bag.

The NBA Playoffs are about to start and quite naturally the biggest question bothering fans from around the world is who will win the title? Kobe or Lebron? Perhaps the Orlando Magic or Phoenix Suns can get into the mix?

We have to admit the fact that there is a lot class about the Lakers. The other teams in the NBA simply don’t have their shine, brilliance and style. There is something about the air in Hollywood that’s probably making the LA Lakers as classy as their are. Everyone loves watching Kobe play. Of course a lot of people hate him too, but what do they know about basketball?

No other team in the NBA can win as graciously as the Lakers can, they are fun to watch and when their game goes smoothly, they can get unstoppable. But the reality is that we haven’t seen much of that in the current 2009-2010 season. Yes they still managed to have the best record in the West but they went through some really bad losses this year, especially in the last month with Andre Bynum out. They got totally smacked up by the young OKC Thunder side and these teams will actually meet in the first round of the Playoffs this year. At some points of this game the Lakers were down by as many as 30 points! The Lakers also lost at home to a wounded Blazers side playing without their leading scorer Brandon Roy and without their starting center, and that happened right at the end of the season.

Now i know a lot of people would say that the LAL are just holding their breath for the important games in the Playoffs and Bynum is out, but by looking at how Kobe has been playing, Laker fans have every right to be worried about their side.

Kobe is lacking the energy that he used to have and he is no longer able to dominate games like in his twenties. He is still a clutch player and the final seconds of each game are again “Kobe-Time” but the energy is not there. And for the Lakers to be able to go through this year’s extremely competitive Western Conference and then have the power and energy levels to beat Lebron and Co, they would need a GREAT Kobe. The problem is that Kobe’s greatness looks like a thing of the past now…

Learning how to jump higher in basketball is something all basketball players want to do in order to improve their overall game. If you can jump higher, not only are you able to dunk but you are also able to block shots better and get rebounds and shoot better. If you would like to increase your vertical jump then check this out.

Before I tell you how to jump higher in basketball there is a huge factor that will ultimately determine how successful you are, and that is your attitude. If you stay committed to a routine and put the work in consistently then you will get a huge vertical, period. If you slack off and do things not 100 per cent then you won’t get the results you’re looking for. Ready? Ok let’s go!

Strength training is a vital component in your quest to improving your vertical leap. If you are mainly using your legs to jump higher then it makes sense to build up and strengthen the muscles in your legs, in particular your fast twitch muscle fibres which gives you more explosion. To do this, you need to lift heavy weight and perform high intense workouts.

My favourite strength training exercises are squats and calf raises. Squats will mainly target your quads whilst calf raises will obviously target your calves, which are the two most important muscle groups in the jumping process. I suggest you do strength training no more than 3 times a week to give your muscles time to recover. If you train right then your muscles should be pretty sore the next day!

Now whilst strength training will build up muscle, plyometrics are important to improve your flexibility and movement when you jump. You should perform plyometric exercises a few times a week on the days you are not strength training. Remember that repetition is a great way to increase you vertical because your muscle builds up memory thus moves more efficiently and easily.

When I was learning how to jump higher in basketball one of the less common factors I didn’t realise was so important was diet. Simply by consuming a high protein diet whilst I was training I was able to massively speed up the process in which I gained muscle and this really improved my vertical leap.

Now to really discover how to jump higher in basketball not only do you need the right exercises, but you need to understand the science behind jumping otherwise all your efforts will be for nothing.