(city sounds)
♪ (music) ♪
I want a long and healthy career.
I want to be quicker,
I want to be stronger, and I want to be a leader.
I know that if I’m going to take myself to where I want to go
as an athlete and a person,
I have to look at all my training options.
The usual practice just isn’t enough.
I want more edge over my opponents.
Cross training is so important.
I can improve myself and have a lower impact on my body,
so that’s why I’m here in New York City today.
I’m at the West 4th Street Handball courts
to meet handball legend Timbo Gonzalez.
Timbo is famous for his eye-hand coordination and speed.
My goal with Timbo is to see
how he gets that speed through his training.
♪ (slow jazz) ♪
(ball popping)
- What's up, man? - How you doing, man?
- You alright? - Good morning, bro.
- Nice to meet you. How's everything? - Good, good, good.
- I appreciate you-- - You ready to play handball?
I’m ready. Yeah, I want to go through the full thing.
I want to see everything you do.
I’ve known about the basketball courts for a long time.
You always hear about games here, but to be on these courts—
I mean, the atmosphere is insane.
So, basically, it’s a follow through. You know, just—
Always want to face your palm, also.
You always want to connect it, face it towards the wall.
- Right. - Once you get used to it you can start---
Aiming is different-- hand movements that you can do
for different shots, and they come out differently.
And to put, some spins on the ball and stuff.
But basically like a follow through, you know?
Just throw it and then (ball pops) you just—
- So it's more like palm-- - Yeah, you just--
- Palm to the wall. - Exactly.
It doesn't necessarily have to be shoulder.
Yeah, you just--you got it.
Get a good stance. That way you get a good swing,
and just follow the ball, just kind of guide it to the wall.
Okay.
There you go.
Blake is nice, easygoing, you know? He's a quick learner.
(ball popping) There you go.
- Ohhh! - There you go.
(chuckles) That left isn't quite as good.
The basic idea is court control, so you always want to be in the middle.
Okay.
And always want to have the guy moving around, basically wear him down.
You always want to send them where they’re not at, just like tennis.
When the guy’s to the right, you send him to the left.
(ball popping)
Oh!
If that would have hit, that would have been a good shot.
- It was right on the line. - Couple more inches?
Yeah, it was right on the line.
I didn’t know what to expect.
I also didn’t know much about the game,
so once we kind of got that down and got into the workout,
the one thing I definitely wasn’t ready for was the endurance factor,
and just how much you have to move your feet.
So let’s get the medicine ball.
It’s like eight pounds. Pretty sure.
There’s nothing to it. It’s pretty light. (chuckles)
Alright.
- Get over there. - Ahh!
(shuffling and ball bouncing)
(sounds of exertion)
- (Bleep) My bad. - Don't worry about it.
I was dripping sweat when we were doing
the medicine ball against the wall and Timbo was just kind of—
I think he—I saw him yawn like three or four times,
so it kind of made me put things in perspective for me.
But that’s the endurance and the way he trains,
so definitely have a lot of respect.
So now, this is just going to make it--
Our movements— it'll just pull us back a little bit.
Yeah.
You’re going to feel it after a while when you get up here.
You feel it, right?
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
♪ (music) ♪
Oh my god!
(laughter)
(shuffling and ball popping)
There you go. Let's go, ready?
Go!
Get in there!
The vest with the resistance band, the endurance was crazy.
But then you’re still having to find the ball,
make the right moves, footwork.
It teaches you how to backpedal,
it teaches you how to move side to side faster,
and it gives you more core strength.
But then, also, you’re doing something that doesn’t just come naturally.
You’re having to think a little bit harder.
You’re mentally being fatigued, as well as physically,
so that’s one thing I loved about this,
is I’m trying to remember all of the things he’s telling me,
but at the same time, we’re going through this workout.
And for him, it’s easy, but for me,
having to go through that mental and physical thing at the same time,
I think, just kind of pushes you to have a next level workout.
It’s a lot smarter way of training.
So, you ready for a game of handball? Let’s play one quick game?
Sure.
What do you want to play, to 21 or 11?
- We'll go 21. - 21? Full game?
- Yeah. - Alright, cool.
Well, just be you. You go hard, try to score on me.
Okay, you get first serve.
Remember, you get two tries to get it over that line.
Keep it in this box.
- Okay. - And then from there, we rally.
Okay.
You can only score on your serve. Game 21. Let’s go.
There you go.
♪ (music) ♪
Good try.
- Ready? - Yep.
Ball.
Out.
- Score is 1-0. - Yep.
It was great to be with a world-class athlete.
It shows you how much different his training is, my training,
and we both come together, and you know, we can enjoy something.
Oh, good shot!
Now it’s your serve. Now you got to try and score.
0-7.
♪ (music) ♪
Good shot.
1-7.
He’s really good. I’ve never had anyone able to hit the ball
to me back as many times as he did.
He got down to the basics
and he learned how to place the ball at angles,
and he’s a big guy, so it was pretty hard
trying to see the ball around him,
and every time he sent me an angle, I couldn’t really read it,
so I had to really focus on how to get to the ball
and just get it back to him.
♪ (music) ♪
(shuffling, ball popping)
(sounds of exertion)
Get in there!
- (Bleep). - Get in there!
Get in there!
Good volley, man. You’re doing good, bro, trust me.
Plenty of people wouldn't even be able
to keep up with a volley like that.
There you go.
Go for your shot.
Go in there.
There you go! Good shot, Blake.
2-19, let's go! Try to score again, let's go!
Go for your shot!
Oh, nice shot! Great shot!
- Thank you. - That's a professional shot.
I wish I meant to do that.
You got me. That's what counts.
Working out with Blake today, and giving him a walkthrough,
and showing him my sport,
it was actually one of the best experiences I've had.
Oh, my god!
- Give me some. - Good game, man.
- Nice game, man. - Appreciate it, man.
- Nice game, man. Good playing, dude. - Thank you.
That was crazy, man. I got a lot of respect for you!
The biggest takeaway for me is the constant reading and reacting.
You’re constantly watching the ball off the wall, moving your feet,
trying to get in front of the ball, chasing the ball, and that's--
Everything we do defensively in basketball
is just reading and reacting to the play, the man, the ball, everything.
So this is a great just read-and-react drill.
That was awesome. That was perfect.
I appreciate it, man. Thank you very much, man.
- No problem. - Good luck to you, bro.
Next for me is track and field.
Obviously, basketball is a lot of running,
fast breaks, things like that,
so trying to incorporate that into my game a little bit more.
(Carmelita Jeter) Come on, come on, come on, come on. Lift!
Up top. Up top. Big!
(inaudible)
♪ (music) ♪