Athlete Blog: Michigan’s Veronica Hicks on PGCs College Session

This summer I had the opportunity to attend the PGC’s College Session with a variety of other NCAA athletes. Being my second time attending a PGC basketball course in the last two years, I was looking forward to the exertion and challenges that lay ahead.

My first summer, the Essentials course opened my mind to a plethora of basketball concepts and ideas to which I had never been exposed.  Throughout my many years of playing, it seems to me now like my coaches had a “roll out the balls” mentality. Several habits I had developed, both good and bad, actually were given names and studied by the PGC founders and staff!  It was more than helpful to learn these things at my first PGC basketball camp and astonishing to find there was even more to learn at the College Session.

I do not want to give away the exact concepts and tools of the game that I took from these sessions, because I encourage each aspiring basketball player to attend a session.  However, I would like to share other things that I got out of the experience as a whole.

The PGC directors and staff come from several different basketball backgrounds. But they were the same in their eagerness to share experiences and knowledge with all the athletes. A great point of emphasis was being a leader on and off the court. The staff not only taught this in classroom and gym sessions, but throughout the week they showed these things and communicated with each athlete, and each other, effectively. PGC gave us, as athletes, the chance to learn not only by instruction but also by questions. Most times, when playing and working out, you are often told what to do and seldom get to ask the “why” behind the “what”.

They helped facilitate a dynamic learning environment, which led to a great team environment. Everyone who attended was serious in their attempt to get better and improve. I cannot say enough about my fellow athletes and the personalities that I met this year at PGC. It was not only fun training with such a diverse group, but it was awesome to meet such people whom I may have never met except under these circumstances. Some of the athletes were previous NCAA opponents on the basketball court, while others may be future opponents!  However, this experience would not have been the same if everyone was not there to genuinely learn and gather something from PGC. It is not often that you get to spend time with such a large group of “like-minded” individuals.

The session challenged me physically and mentally, but the final product is a life experience that will remain with me whether I continue basketball or not.  I encourage students of the game, both basketball players and coaches, to attend any or all of the PGC basketball courses.  All of them are different and will embed an alternate, and even better, way of thinking on the basketball court. I am thankful for everything I gathered at my two sessions, and I gladly would do it all over again!

-Veronica (Roni) Hicks (#3)

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