Welcome to the Keys to the Gym Blog. Throughout this site, you’ll find a hodge podge of video clips and writings from the uncommon wisdom and common sense teachings of Dick DeVenzio, Dena Evans, and the Point Guard College. The blog has been created in hopes of making these basketball and life teachings available to more and more dedicated athletes and coaches who are looking for information and inspiration that goes beyond rote drills and techniques.
You won’t find much in this blog about how to shoot, how to pass, how to dribble, or how to stand in a defensive stance. There will be very little of that. Instead, you’ll hear Dick and Dena talk more about the subtleties of the game and about why your approach to the game is so important. You could say that these teachings are not just about what you do, but about how you do what you do. Unless you learn to do the things you do well, you don’t become a champion. (And by champion, we don’t just mean a winner of basketball games.)
These teachings are about the way you think, the way you practice, and the way you prepare. You’ll also hear a lot about what coaches often refer to as “the little things.” Subtleties of the game. The things great coaches want you to know, but rarely have the time to teach you. Things like how to see the game like a great point guard or a great coach, how to make the people around you better, and how to have more influence on your surroundings than your surroundings have on you.
These lessons will often be explained in creative and memorable ways so that they stick with you for the rest of your playing career and, for some people, into their coaching career and life as a whole. You’ll hear some funny terminology, see some misspelled words, and listen to some intriguing stories…not just to entertain you, but to make a point about basketball or life that you’ll hopefully never forget.
And keep in mind that this blog is not for everyone. If you’re a casual player who enjoys “just playing” or if you just enjoy watching the game like an “average fan,” you probably won’t find much in these teachings that will be very interesting to you. This blog was created for those players and coaches who are dedicated to becoming the very best they can be and who are willing to pay the price for their greatness. It was created for eager students of the game who are always looking for ideas, information, and inspiration to make them smarter players and better leaders, both on and off the court.
Think of this blog as your very own set of “Keys to the Gym.” Make good use of them.
This is Awesome…Looking forward to listening Dena share her Wisdom & Knowledge developed through her Art of Sportsmanship….Thank you Dena….Looking forward to reading!
I am glad you are excited to hear more from Dena, we have some great clips to share. Stay in touch Christina! Thank you!
Great great site. I first met Dena and became involved with Point Guard College seven years ago and it completely changed my approach to not only basketball, but my career as a teacher, my relationship with my wife and family. Thanks so much for sharing.
Dena has similarly impacted my life, that’s why I am doing this! Please do continue to share…the philosophy’s life blood is in its application. Excited hear more from you. Thank you!!
Emmanuel College Practice today 3:00pm.
4:45pm navigate Keystothegym together. Look forward to giving them another resource to grow as a player. Will be picking up all kinds of 1%’s today!
Awesome TJ, I had hoped coaches would be able to use this with there teams. I feel honored that you value this content enough to devot practice time to it. Thank you so much!
Love the page! Keep up the great work! Where did you get the Dick Devenzio pieces ( videos) is there a place where I may purchase these?
The clips of Dick are from a set of videos he did in the early 90s called “Team Camp.” Unfortunately, those are no longer being produced and there is nowhere you can buy them. But keep checking back, as we’ll keep posting more segments from them.
Coaching a 6th grade girls tournament team. I use info from here all the time. My daughter starts to roll her eyes when I say hey come look at this! Every day in practice we use and teach something that I have learned and help them become better. I have seen a ton of self improvement on details and understanding since i found your site. Thank you for all the info.
Hi Lyle, wonderful! I am so glad that you have been able to use it as a coaching tool and that your athletes (though rolling their eyes sometimes:) are benefiting! That is the wind in our wings and I deeply appreciate you sharing it. Please stay in touch and let us know how we can best contribute to your coaching and your team. Thank you Lyle!
This site is really helpful for players…….. good job! This will help me. make me feel like I am at PGC but home?! haha
Hi Kayla, so you’ve been to PGC? We wanted to make stuff this good accessible to anyone anywhere. I am thrilled you are enjoying it. Please feel free to reach out or comment further so we can stay connected. Thank you!
I was very happy to hear that this content would be available on this site. I first attended a PGC session as an observing coach about 5 years ago, and I was hooked. I have gained a lot from talking with Mano, Sefu, Chad, Lyndsey and Tyler. I have attended the Essentials, Think The Game and the College session. I have worked as a volunteer coach at the Shooting session in Massachusetts and a local session in NYC with Tyler. I continue to try to teach a lot of what I have learned from PGC to my teams. When I found out about the videos, we would watch one video at the end of each practice and talk about it. The players loved it. Keep up the Great work!
That is music to my ears! When we created the site I had visions of teams watching them together and having conversations about them afterwards. Thank you for sharing your practice time with us, its an honor! Great to hear from you Rocco!
I am a college athlete who just decided to grow more with the game and become dedicated to becoming the best. It is so great to have others who love the game share their insights and pointers. These keys really elevates my mind toward the game, I’m just ready to put them into my actual game and become the best. Thanks to all of you and hopefully one day i can join the Point Guard College coaching/teaching team.
Excellent! You are one of the people I was hoping to help when we started this thing!
I like what I hear and see about what you doing I want to be part of it.
Great, what do you have in mind? PGC Basketball is who puts on the sessions now but in terms of KTTG, engaging in the blog would be fantastic. I love to build conversations around our stuff so please jump in whenever you would like!
This specific post, “Welcome To Keys To The Gym” ended up being great.
I’m making out a replica to clearly show my personal buddies.
Thank you-Brigitte
Cool, thank you Brigitte!
Best basketball website there is…thank you for sharing
Glad to hear it, thank you so much!
I am so excited to have found this. I had all of Coach DeVenzio’s books and lent them to players. I will be purchasing them again. The knowledge that comes from PGC is so valuable.
Thrilled to have you! Please share your thoughts and ideas as you dig through our content.
I really want to know what are the top and most important things to and do to be able to become a great pg
Hi Mike, first thanks for including KTTG in your research about becoming a great point guard…I think you are wise to do so. As Dick says in “Stuff”, there are thousands of things that make a great basketball player. It’s not a simple question you have asked, but I am glad you did! There are certainly common traits that have proven to be successful; leadership, grit, tenacity, courage, skill, and on and on. Mike, for you to become the best point guard you can be and to find the answer to your question, you simply have to take action today and commit to it to continue to take steps everyday towards where you want to be. As for some specific steps you can take now and in the immediate future, here you go: play the game (play with people who are better than you and compete every possession), study great players (esp. this weekend watch how the PGs communicate with their teammates, what they do when the get a bad call, ect.) and watch every video on KTTG, take notes, and focus on one concept every time you play pick up. The path to greatness is a journey, a long one, at times rewarding and in moments discouraging but who wants a risk-free boring life?? Enjoy the journey Mike and let me know what else KTTG can do to help you out!