High-performance environments depend on coaches who can interpret information, communicate clearly, and work together to support athletes.
On the latest edition of the Samson Strength Coach Collective, Asa Britt, Head Strength and Conditioning Coach for the Long Island Nets, shares his journey through college internships and into professional basketball. He reflects on the transition to the NBA G League and the experiences that shaped his approach to coaching.
Asa discusses how data and technology inform practice and game preparation, alongside the relationships that help coaches understand and support their athletes. Honesty and transparency are central to that process, allowing coaches to build trust as they guide athlete development.
The conversation also explores athlete health and return to play, including collaboration with physical therapists, athletic trainers, and the broader performance staff. Asa highlights the importance of working together across disciplines to support athlete success.
Key Takeaways
- Data and technology help inform decisions about preparation and athlete development.
- Honest, transparent communication helps build trust with athletes.
- Moving from college to professional basketball requires adapting to a different coaching environment.
- Athlete development and return to play benefit from collaboration across performance and sports medicine teams.
- Physical therapists, athletic trainers, and strength coaches each bring valuable perspectives to rehabilitation.
- Career growth involves learning from new roles, environments, and relationships.
Quote
“Be honest and transparent with athletes.”
— Asa Britt
Asa Britt (00:00)
I’m working in the one percent, like in the one percent of athletes, aka like you are, and I tell my guys this in the G League all time, you are on the cusp of either being an MBA player or overseas pro. Now, both are still the same. Don’t get it, don’t get it twisted. But like you are in the one percentile of human beings that can have their career go either way. And my only job here is to help you get your career to uptick the way that you want it to, and uptick towards being more of an NBA.
player and I have to actually be invested in what I’m looking at 24-7 to make sure that’s happening.
Connor (00:50)
What’s going on, Samson Strength Coach, Collective Listeners? On today’s episode, we have Asa Brit, head strength and conditioning coach for the Long Island Nets. Asa, thank you for coming on the show, man.
Asa Britt (01:01)
Hey, pleasure to be on. I’m excited for this.
Connor (01:05)
I’m stoked about it, seriously, because I I I know about your story and I know about your journey ’cause like I’ve followed you on social media for like I it must be I I mean you probably were one of the first people I followed related to strength and conditioning. So at least ten years. I don’t know how I ended up seeing your profile and everything, but like I know about you, but obviously now I get to know you, which is very exciting. And it’s funny because a friend of ours, Steve Tatsukawa, connected us and you know, he was like, Hey, we should
you know, you guys need to kind of get to know each other. And I was like, dude, let’s just go straight to the podcast. Like that’s the best way to do it. It’s like I get to just ask him questions and and learn from ASA for free. So thank you for coming on.
Asa Britt (01:44)
No pleasure. That’s that’s hilarious. Like looking back at how much my Instagram has made me friends is always
Connor (01:51)
Yeah.
Asa Britt (01:51)
one of the wildest thoughts. Like, used to think Instagram was horrible, terrible, and then all of a sudden you’re posting like twice a week, and next thing you know, you’re talking through people, you’re meeting and making new connections, and you’re even trying to get new jobs through your Instagram versus like
Connor (02:06)
Yes.
Asa Britt (02:06)
actually applying. It’s like I saw your Instagram post and I like the way your team lives. Let’s talk this week. You’re like, okay.
Connor (02:13)
Yeah, exactly. And like, but that’s you’re right. Like there’s a lot of talk and and I trust me, I’m one of the main per people who’s like Instagram is bad, you know, like social media can be bad, but like obviously there’s a really good side to it too. And that’s like just a perfect example of one of the good sides as you can see is like it connects people and then you get to put your stuff out there and then it just helps everybody grow in an area too. So you got the good with the bad. but obviously this is we’re leaning a little bit more towards the good side getting you on the show.
Asa Britt (02:41)
Hundred percent on the good side, I figure I know.
Connor (02:43)
Yeah, absolutely.
Well, let’s just get right into it. Can you give me your background in strength and conditioning? kind of your full experience and then what’s brought you to the Long Island Nets?
Asa Britt (02:53)
Yeah, so I mean gee. So this is year three going on to year three in Long Island. before this it was many stops throughout college kind of working p basketball. Like I always knew I wanted to do basketball in some capacity. I kinda didn’t know how far it would go when I first started ’cause like from the ground up journey it was working in the private sector a lot for my first couple of years.
After that, you kinda start looking for internships and this is back when you’re like going through the C S C C A website like strategically and you’re like looking for each internship and trying to find one that works. So I mean, I think I look back at it, I apply to like twenty internships.
maybe heard back like fully from like four to five because you’re just a green kid trying to find a way and shout out to the University of Iowa gave me my first internship. I drove out to un to Iowa in the middle of the summer in twenty twenty in twenty eighteen? Twenty eighteen, twenty nineteen and got to intern there with Bill Maxwell.
Lindsay Alexander now. She was Dinkleman back then. She’s married. And I got to work men’s hoops, women’s hoops there. And like it was an awesome experience. Like it was everything I thought it would be working with basketballs. But then also outside of that, like I got to work with women’s gymnastics or no, sorry, men’s gymnastics, women’s tennis, and even like a little bit of cross country.
And just like seeing how they operated, seeing how they like programmed, how they handled themselves and like what they did, it just like made me go full in. And I still have that notebook somewhere with all the notes that I took from that internship. And like looking back at it now, I had no idea what I was taking notes on, and I had no idea what I was writing about. But you were just the guy in the room and you were like, everything looks amazing and looks right. Like I gotta figure out how this works and I’m just gonna take notes forever. But got to intern there, finished up my
undergrad at Manhattan Un University after that, where I got the intern a little bit there and spent some time there working. after that took a GA spot at Sagred Heart University, which was right in the heart of COVID. it was the last GA spot that I applied to because I applied to like 15 and would get to like the final last interview and just not get the job. And I was like like
Done. I was like, all right, this is the last one. I even told my mom, I was this is the last one. She was like, What are you gonna if you don’t get it? I was like, I’m gonna teach tennis because I was playing tennis and teaching tennis. I was like, I’m just gonna say, screw it and teach tennis and like figure this out at some other point. Sure enough, I think Chris Fee called me back immediately after I applied, did an in-person or Zoom interview, did a second Zoom interview, calls me on like I won’t say it was Tuesday, and was like, Can you be here by Friday?
And I was just like, screw it, like we’re out of here. Packed the car up, threw everything in there, and got up to Sacred Heart and like never looked back on this journey where he gave me full autonomy to program. He gives you full autonomy to do what you you’re doing. He tells you when you’re messing up, but he’s like, I don’t micromanage anything. I expect you even as my GA to like own your own room and handle business. And it was like the best experience you could have. You have s five teams, you’re helping with football. I got the help with basketballs. I’m programming for my own teams. I’m
Figuring out how to navigate, talking to coaches, you’re figuring out how to handle your ATs, because all of these things are just so brand new. And it was like, boom, like I’m right in the room. Let’s get going. Spent two and a half years there. my last year, I was full time with men’s hoops and still had three other teams. Then I ended up taking a job at Fairfield University after that to be more into men’s basketball per se. My primary sport was still men’s basketball. I traveled, I did a lot more.
I think at Fairfield and got the experience to be around the team and be involved involved. still worked with other sports, golf, cross country and softball while I was there. And then was there for a year and a half. got an opportunity to go work at C and Hall and be in charge of men’s and women’s basketball primarily and still had golf, but I always like was thinking it was a stepping stone up, took the next step in my career and got to spend a great year there.
before getting the opportunity to come to the Long Island Nets, where I’ve been here now for three years. And I think the biggest part of like all of these stops and all of these portions was just taking small bits of information from each one and trying to build it up towards the next stop. and then getting the opportunity now where I’m at where yes it’s pro sports and
I’m a strength coach, but like I’m a strength coach. I gotta understand sports science. I’m like cutting through data. I’m doing reports. And every place that I’ve been before just kind of helped understand one nuance to now where you kind of have an overarching theme of like you’re in charge of everything. And it’s helped along the lines of how to navigate coaches, how to navigate people, how to navigate players. I think we talked about it before the show even started, like having the experience of being around guys who are kind of in a program for a year or less.
Like now you understand how to build a relationship really quick, especially for our case like the seasons.
We have 50 games in the G League. So like we start in November, we play until March. Like how do you get guys to like want to come do things from the day they first get there? And then even that standpoint, like a dude could be on the team for three weeks and we have a trade all of a sudden. Next thing you know, like he’s gone and someone new, completely new, is coming in. You probably have a little bit of background info. It’s like, so what can I hold on to with this athlete really quickly to kind of get some buy-in? What can we do to show him that we operate differently than other teams?
And
like he should believe in me. And then even like what small nuance might help. Like, wait a minute, you went to this school. I know this player. We were friends. Like, I still text them. So, like, we’ll text in a group chat really quick and say something funny. And then he’ll be like, okay, this is gonna be easy. Like, you I know who I’m going into the room with, like, I can handle this a lot better. but I mean that was long-winded, but I mean, that’s been the journey so far, and I
Again, you look back like you think you did some things wrong, you think you did some things right, but I think everything happens for a reason and kind of moves you in the right direction and I’m happy where I’m at currently and I like love it. I mean it’s always new challenges, but it’s always fun.
Connor (09:17)
Yeah, I mean a thousand percent. And I I think that’s a really good point that you bring up, right? Is like you look back and you always like I’ve I’ve I mean, to me, I could be a little bit of a perfec perfectionist. And I was talking to one of my friends on the phone right before this and we were talking about a project I’m working on, and I was like, Yeah, like realistically it should have taken me an hour, but it took me three hours because I just kept like, Okay, no, I need to like what if it gets taken this way or what if I need to approach it like this, right? And so like a lot of times in the moment I can feel like I’m making a mistake and I can doubt myself, right? Or say, like, hey.
Yeah, this this didn’t necessarily go the way I wanted it to go. But then you take a look back in the long, long run, right? And see like throughout your career and everything, and you’re just like, damn, like, okay, I did make mistakes, but all those things helped me get better and now I get to end up where I really want to be, right? And that’s what you’re saying right there too.
Asa Britt (10:03)
Yeah. I mean, like my my biggest one I always thought was I look back at my Fairfield like summer program and dude
Connor (10:13)
Yeah.
Asa Britt (10:14)
like I went
Jake tore crazy with clusters. And I was like, like in the weeds of it. And I was doing it. And we were doing it and guys were getting stronger. It was working. And like I was like, all right. And then dudes, like we finished the summer session. They were a little bit sluggish. And I’m like, all right, maybe like this was too much. Maybe it was too little. But like they all PR’d on lifts. They PR’d on jumps. And like they all were like, I feel amazing. I feel great.
I look back at that program now and I go like I was like someone like should have got hurt. Like I like that was there was a red flag screaming on somebody’s like quad or bicep or something going through this because I was like, if I did this again with someone, like I don’t think they’d make it. Like I I can’t believe I did that. But like to this day, some of those guys still text me to this day and go, cluster sets for life. And I’m like, that’s
Great that you are so into that. Like looking back, like I’m like, I’m so sorry for what happened. But like if you go to the gym now and you’re fun and your way of life is cluster set, go for it now. But it’s just so funny. Each stop, like you’re like, Jesus, why did I do that?
Connor (11:25)
Well, I mean, seriously, I think if any strength coach can tell you that they don’t look back at, you know, their original programs and say that was way too much, they’re lying. You know, like a hundred percent. Like I just I remember my first I remember I had cheerleading at Tennessee as my first ever team that I ran. And the coach was like, Yeah, I want to max out day one and I was like, Hell yeah. Yeah, for sure. You know, like we like the cheer program. They didn’t have a program over the summer. So not only like do we have to like take into account that they got a program and they probably
didn’t do it. It was like they just straight up didn’t have a program. So like maybe three of them lifted and she’s like, I want to max out. And I was like, Yeah. You know, and I’m Why did the Dan Dan my mentor like why did he not stop me? Like, hey, man, we shouldn’t do this. Instead, like we just went straight for it. And again, my I got lucky, nobody got hurt, you know, and then we and like we progressed. But I’m like, I look back on that and I literally like shudder. Like it’s like, my god, I can’t believe we got away with that. So I I identify with that a hundred percent. You know, I’m I’m curious because obviously like I I started off in football
A lot of listeners know my story about this. I and when I speak with other basketball strength coaches, you know, it is a very different subsection of strength and conditioning. And I I think unless you’re, you know, it’s just like every other subsection. Unless you’re in it, you don’t really understand like how different it can be. but I think basketball to me is obviously like the most I obviously think it’s the most rewarding space, or else I wouldn’t be within it. Right. what drew you to basketball, especially as a tennis player? Like what were the things that made you really say, I want to work with basketball as part of my career?
Asa Britt (12:51)
Man, so I think the first like nuance says my little brother played. And I when I was working in the private sector, I was training my little brother and I was training like all of his friends that played AAU. And like I was driving to gyms in New Jersey just doing like speed and agility sessions with basketball players, high school, middle school, like elementary, like if
Let’s put it this way. If you were playing basketball in New Jersey while I was working in the private circle, like you could have got trained. Like it was all ev smoke was available for everybody. It didn’t matter what age, what range, where. Like I was trying to figure out how to do it. And I think the part that really drew me to basketball wasn’t just like the aspect of strength and conditioning inside of training. It was how is it really applied towards sport? I think like a lot of times we get drawn to just being inside of the weight room.
Just being inside of like our space. And then when you see like what does it look like to fully translate out to the field or get that experience, I think it starts to open up your eyes to a lot of things. Like I was driving the AAU tournament, so I was seeing the progression of like my kids that I trained in the private sector each week by week. Like, was it translating to whatever they were trying to do on the court? Was it translating to how they felt?
like going into the next week and the week after that, or how is it translating towards getting ready for your high school season? Like if like one kid’s dad was like, hey, I want my kid to not play AU this summer. He’s gonna train with you and get ready for the high school season. Like I have to make sure or see the progression of how that happened and I want to make sure like I see it successfully unfold. And then like as I started, you start deep diving more and more, you just get I think you get a good wide variety of athletes inside the sport.
And I also think you even get subsections inside of like your positional groups that you really, really are like very awed by. Like you get your seven footer who’s actually like athletic and like springy and can do something. Then you get your seven footer who is slow as molasses, like, but is a big bruiser, but still very skilled. Like you have to look at them and be like, all right, how do I actually train these two things that should be similar in some capacity, but are very much not, and still make them successful.
within whatever we have to do inside of the scheme. So like it was just every time something new would pop up, every time something like would challenge me a little bit different. And like even now, like I’m working in the pro environment where it’s like, okay,
I have to comb through all of this data that we’re testing and collecting on these guys. I’m trying to risk like flag risk injuries. I’m trying to get ahead of them. How do I prevent these? We play 50 games. We freaking play more than we practice in some capacity. And we play harder than like you could think. Like we’re getting up and down. We’re trying to score in the 120s to 130s at times. So like you’re looking at game intensity and you’re like seeing it all unfold live. And it’s just like, okay, this is teaching me.
how to be so much more prepared for like the quote unquote unpreparables, what we try to say ourselves. But like if you s have like a good network of data that you’re coming through, you start to see everything kind of inside of that. And then you start to like get ahead of it and you start to all of a sudden you’re working with more people to get ahead of that. And it just keeps going into this nuance. Especially now for me when I get to have so much input in practice. And like my coaches are like
We use ConnectSa. My coaches like, all right, so what’s the load goal for today? Like what should we be looking like? Like how many drills do you think we can we can add, we can take away? Like what does this drill do for for the data specifically? Like I get to have those conversations now and like looking back to four years ago, like you weren’t having that conversation with anybody. Like practice was practice and like you weren’t changing too many things, but getting that opportunity inside of the space is just something that like now
the being this far into it, like I enjoy so much. Like as much as I hate putting together the report for like post practice and like making sure the data’s all cleaned up, once I finish it and then like once I get the text back from like my head coach and he’s like, All right, here’s the practice plan for tomorrow. What do you think the numbers are gonna look like? And what do we need to change? I’m like, this is so much fun.
Because I’m like, we get out there and we start going and I’m like, did I guess right? I did guess right. Ooh, I knew exactly what we’re gonna be at today. Like, and I maybe I crunched the numbers, maybe I wung it well, winged it a little bit, but it’s like, I’m I’m good. I’m spot on right now.
Connor (17:15)
Well, I I mean it’s ownership, right? And that’s where being a straight condition coach can be really fun because it’s not just the weight room anymore, right? It’s it’s it’s a blend of a bunch of different positions and obviously you have to know how to play a part in your you know, sports performance team. But at the same time too, like doing the data and and being a part of kind of practice planning, like it’s even more ownership within the program and it’s just something that you know, ultimately I feel like makes you more invested because you really feel like, Hey, I am making a difference within the team. Like
Especially in a profession that is so it can feel almost like the most gray profession of all time, right? Because like obviously strength conditioning coaches make an impact because we’re getting a paycheck, right? If we didn’t make a difference, nobody would be paying us. I think that’s a guarantee. But at the same time, too, like it’s really hard to say, Hey, we won a Sun Belt Championship or we won the NIT because we had Asa or Connor as a strength coach. Like that’s impossible to say. You could never end up saying that. So like
being involved a little bit more, like it it can really help give you a little bit more ownership and a little bit more of like, okay, I am making a difference and it can help you understand that you truly are part of the team.
Asa Britt (18:23)
A hundred percent. Like looking at it right now, like I always think to myself, like, I’m working in the one percent, like in the one percent of athletes, aka like you are, and I tell my guys this in the G League all time, you are on the cusp of either being an MBA player or overseas pro. Now, both are still the same. Don’t get it, don’t get it twisted. But like you are in the one percentile of human beings that can have their career go either way. And my only job here is to help you get your career to uptick the way that you want it to, and uptick towards being more of an NBA.
player and I have to actually be invested in what I’m looking at 24-7 to make sure that’s happening. Like when you jump on the force plates every single time, like when you go do a kanga tech assessment, when you finish a on court vitamin session and the connect sign data loads, like I’m sifting through that to make sure like every time I program an exercise or every time I’m adding in a prescription of conditioning or I’m adding in a tendon loading specific requirement like
it makes sense to what your profile is and who you are. And like that’s my ownership to make sure I’m giving that to you. And then like you have to meet me the rest of the way of how we’re gonna develop you. Like your career will take off one of two ways. And like that’s my biggest like part right now.
The other part obviously is the relationships and things like that. And like I think that’s a part where it’s tougher, I think now for people, especially in basketball feel like to have ownership in those relationships because you just don’t know how long you will have guys around or you’ll be around guys. But I think like you get so much more out of that, especially with that ownership inside of the relationship and like the earnest to be like
I am going to be the most transparent person I can be with you as you go through this space because I think that in basketball is truly like a missed thing. Like you have to realize so many guys or so many of these guys have yes men friends and have like yes men people around them so often that they never feel like they’re wrong or like you should challenge them to be a little bit better. But like my thing to them is like I’m like, dude, like I like you said, I get a paycheck for this job specifically. I don’t get a paycheck for the job.
of being like the nicest person to you. I get the job the check for the job of being the strength coach that is helping you develop and grow. So the minute I don’t see that is the minute I’m like, yeah, what do you want to do today? Because like you’re you’re two two weeks away from this season being over for you and you’re gonna be gone and like
you just won’t even know what hit you. And dudes will like, especially G, like they’ll laugh or they’ll be like, what do you mean? They’ll be like, dude, in two weeks, like, we will trade you if you keep this up. Like in two weeks, like you will get cut. Like this is not college. Like we do not have to sustain you here for a year. Like this is not a requirement.
And like you you do that, you have ownership inside the relationship, saying it in a transparent but honest way, like don’t be an asshole about it, but like that’s what this is inside of being a pro. Like it’s the same way if I came in and did not do my job almost every single day, like I would get I would get packed up. Like office clean out. We do not need you here. We will figure this out without you.
Connor (21:29)
Yeah, I I’m curious about that because you obviously talked about having to develop a relationship quickly. and you know, I I think a lot of people sometimes can like get it a little bit twisted when they think about collegiate strength and conditioning and professional strain and conditioning and can kind of almost be like, Yeah, you know, like professional strain and conditioning, like, you know, sometimes you just kind of a little bit more of a manager while collegiate guys are still a culture guy and like now there’s definitely still part of the culture aspect with professional strength and conditioning.
And part of that is having a really good relationship. So like how do you prioritize building these relationships when it’s in such a tight time frame to the point where you can have those conversations with those players? And like you said, you don’t have to be an asshole about it, but you could be candid with them and open with them because you want what’s best.
Asa Britt (22:12)
Yeah. I mean it’s for us, I think.
Your interaction is so much day to day, especially if you’re around them the way we are. Like when guys come into the building, like they might be in around eight forty-five. We’re probably done by one thirty, maybe one forty-five on any given day. Like, so it’s just interactions throughout the day completely. Like as they come for their first athletic care station with the PT or AT, you say what’s up to them, you come talk to them, you shoot the shit about their day. Like you don’t have to ask about like what’s going on in practice or anything, but it’s like, hey, what did you do last night? What’s going on? Hey, have you
Been checking in with this thing, maybe. I watched this TV show with you. Like, we’re talking about other things. But then inside of that, once we get down the business, like I hey, I’m coaching you as hard as I can inside of these 15 minutes. I’m telling you exactly what you need to do so that we’re on the same page 24-7. and then it’s just like super, super easy to be very transparent.
in the sense of and I’m gonna make sure I word this the right way, in the sense of like, I’m going to tell you how you’re performing day to day. And like I can go through the data and say how you’re performing day to day. And I can see you do something and the minute you do it wrong, I can be like, okay, if this is wrong, let’s fix this for the 10 seconds that we need to and come back and do it again. because like you get lost in the sense of I think everyone thinks like just because you’re pro
Are we we’re gonna pay you like a pro means you’re gonna handle everything on your own and you’re gonna do it the right way. And it’s like, no, they’re just not. Like, even now, like you look at like NBA guys, it’s like you’re nineteen, twenty, twenty one, twenty two, okay.
one, you’re probably making way too much money, like, as a freaking kid, to know what you’re gonna do with yourself because let’s all be real with ourselves. You go back ten to fifteen years and you’re twenty one or nineteen and someone wrote you a check for one point six to one point eight million. I don’t know what you would be doing. I know that guy that I was that that nineteen to twenty would definitely be in a bad spot. So like you have to just
Be honest with them and be straight up about a lot of those things. And even some of that is like things about their money. Like dudes talk to me about buying a house and I’ll be like, Why are you buying this house for so much? Like when are you home? Like what are you doing? I’m like, you work in the NBA, you’re home for s for like five months, or you’re home for like four months. Why do you need a $1.2 million house? Like what is it gonna do for you?
The only people that are gonna be in it are your friends. And if you have a girlfriend or wife, like your girlfriend and wife. So, like, if unless you’re trying to just throw the money so she’s super happy, I get it. But I’m like, why not get the regular 350K house? That makes way more sense. And then like, I’m like, are you gonna live there forever? no, I’m not gonna live there forever. Okay, so why would you invest that much money into something that you don’t think you’re gonna even live in for a long period of time? I was like, go buy the normal house. You’re gonna use that money later on, you’re gonna be paying a mortgage. I was like, maybe that.
house that you just bought flips into the next house that you can have that you’re actually gonna stay in for a long time. And it’s like they’ll be like, I never th I never knew you could do that. I never thought that was a thing. And you’re like, Jesus Christ, like
Like what are you thinking? So like even seeing those conversations and having those conversations makes coaching them even easier because it’s like they go, you care about like how I’m handling myself, you care about what I’m doing from a day to day. You care about the fact that I’m on the team, but like how do I make this career last for a long time?
Like I have side convos with dudes all the time. I’m like, do you understand what it means to be the last guy on the bench in the NBA or be the like the twelfth guy on the NBA bench? It’s like it’s not glamour, bro. Like it’s you’re still practicing just as hard. You’re playing just as hard, but you’re probably playing eight minutes a game. Like you have to be the most positive human being at the end of an NBA bench, and you have to be the loudest guy, the hardest working guy in practice still.
And you still have to do all of the right things, be and you’re under the microscope of the century. Like, be late two times being the twelfth guy on an NBA bench. I promise you, most teams will be like, We don’t care for you. Like, we will ship you off. So like they’ll go,
I never knew that or I never thought about that. I’m like, yeah, you have to handle yourself at such a high level. Like the smallest thing gets you cut. Like the smallest change in your demeanor, like and a coach notices it, dude, it could just you could be on the bench for the next three weeks and we play a lot of games. So in three weeks you’ll have a lot of DMPs and be right next to me and be the most miserable guy on the bench. But like you help them through those
those avenues and you help them through those challenges and I think it really builds up the relationship quicker. And I think
Looking back, like I used to do this with my guys in college, like they would be like, I don’t think coach wants to play because he doesn’t like me. And I’d be like, Have you been around you a lot? Like I wouldn’t want to play you. Like you argue everything, you’re annoying in practice. Like you don’t show me that you work hard. Like maybe you work hard in the weight room with me for the hour because I’m on you like white on race. But like you don’t do it in other aspects. And they’ll be like, I like, no, I do, I think I do. And then I was like, All right, I gotta challenge
And I did this one of my guys, I got a challenge for you. So I was like, you know, coach is in his office from like 6.30 till 8.30 at night, right? Yeah. Cool. Go in the gym, get on the shooting gun. And I want you to shoot in in all of the office. And if his window’s down, and I did I did say this and it was crazy of me to say, I was like, if the window’s not rolled up and he can’t see you, I was like, after you shoot a tenth shot, take the basketball and freaking throw it at his window, make sure he hears it, and then keep shooting.
And I was like, show him that you’re going to work even though he annoys the crap out of you. Like, show him that. I was like, I promise you, as crazy as it is, he’ll actually respect you more and think about playing you more. And the kid was like, I’ll give it a shot. And sure enough, like a week and a half later, like he gets into a game and like we’re joking about it. And I’m like, Did you do though? He was like, Yeah. And I was like, You’re nuts, but I respect you for doing that, because it definitely played dividends. Like, so
You have those open, transparent conversations and you try to help them navigate the really hard things. I think it makes coaching easier. I think it makes the relationship easier. And like you’re you’re just building something super authentic.
Connor (28:37)
Yeah,
I I I love the the unethical conversations strength coaches may have sometimes with their their players just to try to help them out just a little bit, right? But you bring up a great point is like it’s a tough transition from college to the NBA where, you know, sometimes certain behaviors can be allowed a little bit more because there’s not really a next man up. It’s not like you can go sign or go trade for somebody in the middle of the season, right? Like you’ve got to go, you’ve got to go in with the guys you’ve got and you gotta handle it and manage it versus the NBA, it’s a lot different.
Right. you have a lot of different avenues to get other players in and there’s there’s not a r like a whole lot of discrepancy between talent. Like obviously you have like your all stars, but everybody else is in the MBA G League for a reason because they’re really, really good at playing basketball. Right. And so the smaller things don’t get let go as much. And so it’s a tough transition and I guess your role it can be very beneficial because you can help guys figure out that transition and figure out, okay, what are the things that
I really need to do it in order to be the most effective I possibly can be. And it’s funny you say that, right? Like coach doesn’t play me because he doesn’t like me. And it’s like, well, yeah, man, like you’ve giv you’re given him a reason to, you know, like at the end of the day, like let’s be real. Like, you know, yes, that’s good, that’s a correct statement, but think about why. Like it’s not like he doesn’t like you, he doesn’t think you’re a funny guy and he doesn’t like your jokes. Like, no, it’s because of your work ethic, it’s because of specific behaviors that we might see, et cetera, et cetera. But like at the end of the day, there’s a reason for that. So it can definitely be a tough transition.
I’m curious for you transitioning from college to the MBA the MBA and working within the G League, like how was that transition for you as the strength and conditioning coach?
Asa Britt (30:12)
Dude, I mean, I think the first one for me was just the amount of and maybe it’s just sometimes like different amongst other teams. The amount of data that I had to work with from the the beginning, like was just a lot. And like I I told people all the time, like I showed up and you show up, you show up ready to just figure it all out and work through as much as you can, but like
Like I said, I have to go through Kangatech assessments, force plate jumps, connect sun data, build the reports, like go through all of this data. And like you’re overwhelmed. Like and people won’t wanna say it, but like I was. I was completely overwhelmed and it caught me off guard. and then I think the other part that I think people try to give a knock to the MB is like we don’t lift or we don’t train or we like don’t
get after it with guys and that is not the case. Like we do lift pretty hard and you’re trying to get after guys and you’re trying to build resiliency because you have to think within like NBA game. You’re playing 82 games. If you don’t lift between 82 games for a whole season, like you will lose a lot. Like you will lose a lot, you will lose a lot of reserve and you will definitely be smoked by the end of the season. Even for 50 games, like you have to figure out how you can be very smart and sporadic about your training.
I think you have to be very smart and you get to be
very open about like why you’re doing certain things with pros and like why it fits into the schedule and like this is the schedule that it’s always gonna be and we’re gonna try to manage it this way because like we lift after games and like it’s a very normal thing across the league. Like and even when loss, like you’re lifting most time after a game. So like you’re trying to make sure you get that adaptation, you get that good lift in and you’re trying to manage that like room of
the difference between you when you win by fifteen and when you lose by three and when you lose by twenty, like, those are different guys each time. So you’re like, you’re trying to make sure you handle that well and you handle that each time. I think the last part about working in the NBA going from college to working in the NBA and being around like a performance team was the amount and I mean you still get it in college, but the amount of different conversations you get to have working with a PT and AT.
Cairo, like working with someone that has a completely different background as well. Like as I think a strength and conditioning coach is like I think we do a good job of networking ourselves with other strength coaches and networking ourselves around across the spectrum with like the SEC community. But I get to work around like a PT who has an SEC degree now or SEC like certifications. But his first stint was being a physical therapist. So like his level of how he programs is completely different than
like the thought process I had growing up because he understands he understands levers, he understands full full physiology, he understands like the ins and outs of like what like a forty five degree foot turn changes in the sense of the structure of what muscle he’s gonna get to fire. Like so like the conversations I got to have
throughout that process were just eye-opening the sense of like, wow, like, okay, I’m programming, yes, I am, but now like we’re in the weeds of the program. Like we are deep in like how many reps do you really need specifically at this? Like how much do you how much do you want to work on?
the the I wanna say like hamstring, like what do you want to work on? You wanna want on bice a bicep for more? You want to work on like SEM, you want to work on proximal, you want to work on distal, like why are you tendon loading like this? Why do you go for five seconds instead of 10 seconds? Like all of these nuances just start coming flying and like now you’re getting that added to your bucket of things that you look at and do. And I think it just helped you helped me grow exponentially, but it also helped me understand like
Okay, I’m looking at this through my avenue. What is the other avenue that might give me a better result or better understanding versus what might change my programming and like my programming work forward for something that will like forever help this athlete? And I think that becomes the biggest change for me in the sense of college the pro, and especially working like in that performance team setting. And then once like outside of that, once the data became easier to collect and understand, I think.
It helped me even more when I look back at my program and I can be very strategic about like what I need done that I think has helped me a ton because I look at it now, like taking all of this information. And if I went back to college and you give me like the time frame of like going back to like the hour and a half to maybe hour 15 structured lift, I’m like, geez, this will change so much of what I did. Cause like I’m in here.
Like we’re lifting probably almost three to four, four to five times a week, anywhere from like fifteen to thirty minutes. And like they’re good lifts and they’re efficient, but I’m like to think like I’m I figured out how to bucket that into that, if I get a hour, I’m like an hour fifteen, I’m like, ooh, I could I think I could really cook something up well.
Connor (35:20)
Yeah, a hundred percent. I you bring up a really good point. Like I I was curious about because I’ve gotten a chance to speak with a bunch of different NBA coaches and you know, one of the main differences that I see is what you just mentioned, which is in the college world, you know, you do have access to PTs, you do have access to obviously you have ATs, but a lot of times those resources are not dedicated a hundred percent to a team, right? And like even, you know, you mentioned having men’s and women’s basketball. I had when I first started at App State I had men’s and women’s and
Women’s golf, and then I had men’s basketball, women’s golf, volleyball. You know, like there’s still a lot of split resources. and then your PTs might have the entire department, dietitians might have the entire department. So, like, there’s a lot of time that is, you know, you have to be efficient when you have that time together, right? So you can’t like get into the weeds as much. You can’t necessarily collaborate as much.
as you could with professional organization because now you have dedicated PTs, you have dedicated like you said, Kairos, you have athletic trainers who you can really collaborate with. Like how do you approach collab collaboration with the sports performance teams? Like what are the things that you really look to get out of it?
Asa Britt (36:26)
Honestly, it’s just their input and thought process on something. So like if I’m writing my program, like I might send it to one of them and then have them go through it. And then we sit down and we talk and we dissect like the weeds of like, okay, well, I would use this progression usually inside of this athlete because X, Y, and Z. Like if it’s a rehab case, like I’m gonna ask my PT, okay, well, I’m thinking like we’re gonna load we’re gonna load this way and I wanna hear what you have to say. And then I wanna hear what you think about like testing parameters.
Like what type of testing would you do to clear this? Or what type of testing would you look into to clear this? like I guess easiest one for me, like looking back is like you’re trying to rebuild someone’s quad. Like let’s say something happens, trying to rebuild a quad and then you’re going through like, all right, what would be my protocol? And like in the old
thought process minds would be like, okay, I’m gonna squat heavy. I’m gonna try to squat a lot. I’m gonna try to like single leg, seated leg extension a lot, and I’m gonna try to get to like a very, very good step down weight or something along those lines. Now, as I start to think through that, like I write that down, you find out that they have a chondral defect in the knee.
Or they have horrible patella tendon pain and they can’t get to a good squat range. They can’t do anything in that capacity well. Like as scrim coaches, we might freeze in that situation and we’re like, okay, what like what is gonna be the next progression or how am I gonna strip down this program to get what I want out of it? And then you talk to a PT and they’re just like, Okay, well, why don’t we just and they’ll be and they’re serious about sometimes just go to go to where they feel comfortable in range and just work that forever.
until like you think you can get them to get a little bit more comfortable to get lower. And you’re like, okay, but like do I really like that? Like I’m not getting a full range of motion squat. Like why? And you’re like then you start to do those things and you realize, okay, like I’m still getting stimulus. I’m still getting adaptation. It might not be the biggest bang for my buck, but it’s what’s gonna win the battle in helping this athlete get more comfortable and get less pain and like develop what we’re still looking for.
So I think that’s the biggest one. And then the last for me is like when you talk to them, you see how they write out their notes and what they’re thinking. And I think we do a great job with that when we’re thinking through our programs of like what exercises should go with where and like what should we do. But I don’t think we create like tangible thought process for what we want the exercise to end up fully doing. So like
I when I went through like thinking about how to rebuild a quad, I went, okay, so what’s the quad circumference? Okay, what’s my goal for the quad circumference? Then outside of that, what’s my goal from his Kanga Tech knee extension score? And then like what is it gonna look like in four weeks, eight weeks, twelve weeks, and so on and so forth. So now I’ve set like these super tangible thoughts.
that are gonna structure out what I’m looking at throughout the exercise and what I hope they should be doing. And then once you hit that check mark, okay, it did do that. Okay, it didn’t do that. All right, what do I need to flip or what do I need to change now to get to this benchmark? And I think that starts to help in that process of like working with the performance team and like getting to see that other lens.
because for me it just it made strength conditioning a lot easier in the sense of programming. But then it also made like understanding return the play, like how how much different it needs to be and how much different it doesn’t have to be, but how you have to be very strategic in your return the play and like what you should really be looking for. but like working, yeah, working with a performance team.
And like working in the collaboration aspect of it, those are like the main things I think. And I think it’s just accepting the fact that you have your personal bias about like what you think you should be doing or how they should be doing something and accepting it, but like listening truly and wholeheartedly to like what is this other avenue gonna do? And like, is it gonna work? Because at the end of the day, like you want the best for your athlete. So if you get the right response from someone else’s opinion and it gives you this good avenue to work down.
Why not just do it and why not make it something that’s like a part of the program?
Especially then you have more buy-in with the athlete. And I think it helps you get more buy-in with working with other people and seeing what they have to offer. And it just increases your skill set and makes you more like helpful, I think. Because like if you become good, especially a strength coach, if you become good at like a return the play process and you become good at looking at it that way, like if you’re in college, like you get to take some plate some of the load off of the AT and like have a better relationship a hundred percent. Like I look back at it now, like if I looked at return the play.
play the way I do now with some of my ATs in the past, like I could have taken a lot more off their plate. We could have had a lot more easier conversations. We could have had a lot more open dialect about like what the progression was or what things were like we were going to be looking for and how we were going to get them back sooner versus like trying to have my way about what I think we should be doing training and like they need to have their way about what they think they need to do to be cleared. And like instead it’s like, okay, we just come hand in hand here and we like get through this process.
I think we can build something like super robust.
Connor (41:43)
Yeah, I I think you bring up a lot of great points there, right? And the in the main one I think of is getting rid of the ego, right? Is like, yes, there’s a very strength and conditioning siloed way to look at things, but like you say there, if ultimately my goal is the health of the athlete and there’s no ego with it, then you have to collaborate with these other sources, right? If my goal is, hey, I want to say I was here to help the athlete, but I want to be the one who gets all the credit for doing it.
Right. Then I could take, hey, just the strength and conditioning process. Right. But like what’s the success rate between those two approaches? I can almost guarantee you the one with the more collaboration is has a much higher success level. And I I really like what you mentioned as well, too, about you know, there’s a lot of times where we can pick things and we can have a superficial reason for why we have those in the lift or why we program those things. When you really get down into it, like what what are we actually?
wanting to get out of this. Like, are we actually driving the things that we want to see? Or did I kind of just like check a box and say, yes, I can justify this, you know, because I mentioned this example a million times. but you know, my first ever mentor was like, when you write a program, you have to imagine that there’s a hundred people in a room and they can ask you, every single one of them gets to ask you one question about your program. And if you can’t answer a hundred questions about it, then you need to go back and reevaluate it and do those things. Right. And so like I always kind of I always was like, yes, I do that. And then I’m like, okay.
You know, if there’s five people in a room and five people would get to ask me one question about my program, I could probably defend it. If there’s a hundred people in a room, I don’t know. I I’d probably struggle with that a little bit, right? So like that’s where, like you said, if you can diversify your skill set, if you can collaborate with others, if you can really get into the weeds with these specific programming problems, then you can start to answer a hundred different questions and it takes your programming to a whole nother level.
Asa Britt (43:25)
Yeah, a hundred percent. And like we do even
Like with my staff, we’ll like you’ll sit down and like talk through all of our rehabs if we have one as a unit. So like you’re in a room, like when I’m with Brooklyn, you’re in a room with ten to twelve people and it’s like this is your rehab. Explain it to this room and don’t get it wrong. Like if someone thinks something’s unjust, like they will speak up and you will have to defend it very like quickly. And so like you could feel like attacked, but it’s also like you have to take it as like, okay, it’s coming from a place of
like serious trying to understand. Cause like if you defend it well and like we all agree with you, it’s like okay, no one cares. But like if you think it’s just checking again, like you say checking a box and you’re not truly explaining it, then like we have an issue of some kind. Even like in Long Island, like we still have a performance team of about five people.
Like, so we’ll sit down at a table and be like, okay, this guy’s coming back from an ankle sprain. Here’s what I think we should be doing this week. Like, what do you guys think? And someone might be like, I think you need to be more conservative. I think you could be more aggressive. I don’t think you’re testing the right strength metrics. I think we’re missing something here. Like, and then you get another aspect. Well, well, he plays like this. he plays like a twitchy fast guard. So, like, do we really think like we should rush this or do we think we should take our time and make sure like he has full strength because that’s what’s his superpower is.
Versus like
He’s kind of a slower athlete, like we know what he’s really capable of. He’s super, he’s still strong, he’s still resilient. Like he could probably play with this to some degree, like, but we need to work on it. And it teaches you kind of the management skills inside of that too. Like, like you have to be very, very good at okay, how am I gonna really manage this athlete very well? And how am I gonna help them stay resilient and strong? And then when am I gonna attack to like push them to get back to 100%? Because I think we all know this. Like, if you play.
sports or you play anything like there’s rare people that are a hundred percent healthy. There’s a rare one to two people that are gonna feel great the whole entire time throughout the season. And usually those guys are your walk-ons that don’t play, like if you’re in college or like if you’re in the pros, it’s like the last two, three guys on the bench. And even those guys, especially in the pros, because we do like stay ready and extra stuff for those dudes, some of those dudes are still hurting too. Like so
It’s just it teaches you the aspect of like full collaboration and understanding because you need it. Like
I need that help from my PTs and my ATs here because like we’re managing a lot of things. Like I still have anywhere from 10 to 12 guys on the roster. I have an assistant strength coach with me, yes. But like me and him are both still programming for six athletes to seven athletes each at any point. And like we might have all right, you have a chronic guy a guy with chronic ankle sprains. You have a guy with bilateral tendon tendon pain in his knee. You have one guy who’s dealing with planner fashion his foot.
and has left hip FA like in the impingement. Like you’re like, yo, I got a lot going on in here. So like how am I gonna manage this? And it’s with the help of those people. So I think it just helps you like really dive into that.
Connor (46:38)
Yeah, I I really like how you phrase that. It’s not a like, hey, you know, like I I get to use these resources. It’s like, no, I need these resources because that’s how that’s how, in my opinion, you know, high performing sports performance teams are supposed to work together is we all need each other, right? We need each other’s perspectives and then this is where we ultimately see the best success for our players. So I really, really like the way you phrase that. Okay. Are you are you from New Jersey originally?
Asa Britt (47:03)
New York, New Jersey. I I grew up fully
Connor (47:04)
New York, New Jersey.
Asa Britt (47:05)
in New Jersey, yeah. But I lived in New York until I was about Jesus, seven, eight? Yeah.
Connor (47:11)
Okay, okay. I I always try to end with kind of a fun question. Are you a Wawa guy? What’s your go to Wawa
Asa Britt (47:18)
I am a wah wa guy. A hundred percent.
Connor (47:20)
order?
Asa Britt (47:22)
It’s a BLT on a hero, for sure. with
Connor (47:26)
Power move.
Asa Britt (47:27)
a Wawa lemonade, usually. Cause I don’t know
Connor (47:30)
Mm.
Asa Britt (47:31)
why. Those things are amazing. And then some form of candy. It’s usually Sour Patch. It’s usually Sour Patch, kids. Like.
Connor (47:39)
That’s
a great call. I love it, dude. Hell yeah. We we stopped, I can’t remember, it was I think we played ECU. And and I remember we only have sheets in North Carolina, like you know, in like the Western North Carolina area, and there was a Wawa, and I was like, and we after we won one game, they call it chip time. So like you get to go in, you get like a couple snacks, like on a road win and everything. And our head coach, I sit right behind him on the bus, and he’d like, you know, I was like, Coach, we gotta stop with Wawa.
He’s like, I’m not I don’t know what the hell Wawa is. I’m not stopping there. I was like, Coach, we gotta stop at Wawa. I’m telling you. And then so we stopped there. And he and like on the way out, he never he’s like the type of guy, he’s an awesome, awesome coach, but he’s like never the type of guy to be like, great suggestion. You know, he turned to and was like, That’s pretty good. Which in his book is like he freaking loved it. You know, so I was like, All right. So I
Asa Britt (48:25)
Two yeah.
Connor (48:26)
I owe every chance I get I always shout out Wawa for sure.
Asa Britt (48:30)
I can’t remember. I think I started doing it too when it was like when I was sixteen or seventeen. First got that like driver’s license, your permit, driver’s provisional
Connor (48:38)
yeah, yeah.
Asa Britt (48:39)
license or whatever. And you’re like, all right, where am I gonna go? What am I gonna do? You’re like, go to Wawa. And it used to be the it was
Connor (48:45)
Wow. Yeah.
Asa Britt (48:46)
the spot where we actually hung out for a little bit before we planned what we did too. But like you you look and Wawa was awesome.
Connor (48:54)
Yeah, I love I love Wawa. We know I you know, I wish they were everywhere. I I I could talk about Wawa all day, unfortunately. But Asa, man, dude, I appreciate you so much for coming on. Seriously. these are the podcasts I really love where we get to dive in deep and just and just get to understand you know, coaches better. And I think you gave us a lot of really good gems. I know you gave us a lot of really good gems, so I appreciate you, man. Thank you. If somebody wants to follow you or kind of follow along with your career, what would be the best way to do that?
Asa Britt (49:23)
Instagram. So my Instagram is abrit underscore nineteen. yeah, I mean the only thing I post on there is my job. So you will definitely get up to
Connor (49:32)
Yeah.
Asa Britt (49:33)
updates on what’s going on in my life from a work perspective. I’m kind of starting to to use it for personal, but we’re we’re working on it.
Connor (49:40)
Awesome. Well, hey, I don’t blame you whatsoever. I have I have my own work Instagram, then I have a personal Instagram. My personal one is like you can be you can barely identify that’s me and it’s completely private. So I don’t trust me. I get it. I understand how that rolls for sure. So well Asa man, thank you, dude. I appreciate you so much for coming on.
Asa Britt (49:57)
Yeah, no problem. It was a pleasure.
