Why do you deserve to win?

Have you paid the price? This is the question. This will be answered way back in your preseason conditioning program. I won because I could get my teams to buy into what I believed was the secret to our success. Having each one of our players in the best shape of their lives, mentally and physically. Period.

I believed that this process took 12 weeks to achieve. It challenges all players from many different places. Those that aren’t really into this sport, will drop off, quit. Those that are committed will find out that they can’t do it alone. All will find out what they are made of and what comes of it, the toughness to not quit.

There will be times when a player has the energy and has to give it to the rest of the team and vice versa. Shared pain and shared joy is another benefit that comes from the conditioning program. But the ultimate is that once the players are on the hardwood floor, they can react to anything, they can be tough and fight. This advantage was evident as we entered every game with a belief that the other team did not pay the same price as we did. We could give more and we expected more and usually took the other team to the point of exhaustion. We got beat by other teams, because they were better. The worst loss you can take as a coach/player, is when you lose to a team that was not as good as you, but because they were in better shape.

I wanted a tough team. I wanted a team that would go thru the wall for me and more importantly for their teammate. I wanted them to believe in the timeouts that they were always going to win and if they lost, that they just ran out of time. The execution of teams is usually those that are mentally tough to handle the stress and the discipline needed to execute.

Here is what worked for my HS teams, NCAA and Professional teams. See how you can incorporate into your plans. Any questions, you can always reach me. +1-714-234-9858 or johnsaintignon@gmail.com or via FB at www.facebook.com/john.saintignon

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John Saintignon has an extensive background of an experienced and successful basketball coach at the International Professional, NCAA Division 1, NCAA Division 2 and High School levels — and a three-time NCAA All-American as a player and a professional player. Coach Saintignon has been helping players and their families navigate through the NCAA process of helping them get a college scholarship, having wrote a book on the subject while at Oregon State University, “ What does it take to get a college scholarship?”, as well as preparing them for the court. Coach Saintignon trains the athletes and provides performance nutritional advice working alongside Advocare to help his athletes reach their fullest potential. FB: JSSportsNet and at www.advocare.com/130423949

Saintignon was the Head Coach of Fuerza Guinda of the FIBA Americas; Coach Saintignon led his team to a Playoff finish. During the 2011-2012 season of the NBA lockout, Saintignon was instrumental in getting NBA players into jobs overseas having placed Jarron Collins and Mardy Collins into the CBA in China, Salim Stoudamire into Italy, Sam Clancy into Argentina, James Porter into Japan, Calvin Hampton into Bahrain. Over a 100 players have come through Los Angeles to get player development training including the future Hall of Famer NFL Defensive end and Superbowl winner Simeon Rice who came out to LA to train for 3 days in strenuous basketball training with Coach Saintignon.

Saintignon has been a coach in high school, college and professional basketball in Arizona, California, Oregon, Mexico and Bahrain. Most recently, Saintignon was the successful Head Coach in the Premier League in the country of Bahrain in the Middle East since March 2010, leading his team to a Final Four finish. Prior to that he was the Assistant Coach at Cal State Stanislaus University in the CCAA Conference and an NCAA Division 2 institution. Saintignon was also the Associate Head Coach and Director of Player Development for the Culiacan Caballeros of the top league in the Mexican Professional Basketball League (LNBP). As a first-year franchise, the Caballeros went to the LNBP playoffs in a top 6 finish.

Prior to coaching professionally, Saintignon was the Director of Basketball Operations and Assistant Coach at Oregon State University in the Pac-10 Conference from 2006 to 2007. Before landing in Corvallis, Saintignon was a teacher and Head Coach at Desert Edge High School in Goodyear, Ariz. His previous high school coaching experience included being the Head Coach at Canyon del Oro High School in Tucson, Ariz. (2001-04); Bonita Vista High School in Chula Vista, Calif. (1995-01); and Mar Vista High School in Imperial Beach, Calif. (1992-95).

Saintignon led his team at Canyon del Oro to the state tournament twice and was named the Coach of the Year in 2001-02. At Bonita Vista, he was also named the league’s coach of the year after leading his team to the CIF championship in 1999, the first CIF Championship earned in the schools history. At Mar Vista, Saintignon earned Coach of the Year honors by taking his team to the league championship in 1994-95, and the schools first since 1964.

As a guest speaker in Italy, Croatia, China, Colombia, Dominican Republic, Bahrain, Mexico Israel and Argentina, Saintignon has earned a reputation as an authority on player development and has produced several DVD’s on getting athletes better through individual training; “Advanced Guard Workout” is the title, as well as attacking on offense with his Secondary Break philosophy, called “On the Attack: Mastering the Secondary Break.”

Saintignon graduated from the University of California at San Diego in 1990 with a bachelor’s degree in Economics, and a Master’s degree from Liberty University in Sports Administration. He played one season at UC San Diego and three seasons at the University of California at Santa Cruz. In 1985-86, he was the Leading Scorer in the United States (USA) as he led the entire NCAA Divisions with 31.2 points per game scoring average. He earned All-Conference MVP and All-American candidate honors all three of his years at UC Santa Cruz as he scored more than 2,450 points in his career where he is the All-Time scoring leader in University history as his number was retired this year. He went on to play professionally in Spain and Mexico for four seasons earning various honors including several All-Star selections.

A native of Tucson, Ariz., Saintignon graduated from Salpointe Catholic High School where he was inducted into the Athletic Hall of Fame in 1998. Saintignon has been married for 16 years to Angelica and they are proud parents of their two sons, Vicente (14) and Sebastian (11).