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When my son started to become physically coordinated and take an interest in sports, my wife and I had a very long discussion about which ones he could play. I was all for wrestling, because I wanted him to take after his old man. She forbid that, saying it was too dangerous. She wanted him to try gymnastics, because that was her sport. I nixed that idea, afraid he would get teased by his friends. After going through every sport known to humankind, we both agreed on youth basketball.

We wanted for our son to get involved in sports, because we loved what sports did for us. It taught us both a sense of fair play and how to work with others; how to sacrifice personal glory for the good of the group and how to be reliable. When youth basketball season rolled around, we talked to our son about the possibility of doing that, and he loved the idea. He also wanted to play peewee football, but he's a Texas boy, so what do you expect?

He got onto a local youth basketball team and immediately fell in love with it. He would spend hours out in the driveway working on his shot and loved going to a local park and taking part in pick-up games. It got to the point where whenever a basketball game was on television, he would be right there watching it, and it did not matter if it was college or the pros. He even asked if we could take him to some high school basketball games to see what the competition was like at that level.

A good part of learning the art and skill of basketball of course, comes down to the sheer amount of practice you put in. As much as you practice the skill, the polish and your on-court wiliness, you do need a certain amount of sheer strength and stamina to be able to ram all this down on your opponents and actually get results. That's the reason basketball strength training today is an integral part of the basic training that basketball teams, both major and minor around the country today, have adopted.

You mustn't think that in basketball, the only thing you need strength training for is when you are a power forward or a center. Strength is a great asset to be able to call on when you're a guard, too.

Remember how Michael Jordan at one point said that he just needed better physical strength to be able to take the kind of attacking playing style that some other teams were using? Well, if you're somewhat convinced now that in basketball, strength training is just as important as skill, here are your training tips.