Men's Basketball Finding Their Stroke On and Off the Court

10/17/23

 

Mixing things up never hurts and can serve a good break for a sports team and that proved to be true for MCCC men's basketball as they moved from the court to the boathouse.  Several players trained with Princeton University’s rowing team on a Friday morning in late September.  The basketball players got to test their endurance and strength on the ergometer and also do some weight training exercises with the rowing team.  Despite the rain and early training time, seven MCCC players travelled to the Princeton University boathouse for a workout.

 

The experience came about through Head Coach Howard Levy who is a graduate of Princeton University and is friends with the men’s rowing coach at Princeton.  “I started rowing several years ago after I sprained my ankle and retired from playing basketball and I saw the conditioning and other benefits of the sport that would be relevant to basketball.  I have also in recent years become friendly with Greg Hughes, the men’s heavyweight rowing coach at Princeton, and we have similar values, and we thought it would be a great idea for our teams to meet given their different backgrounds and experiences.”

 

This connection led Levy to organize a workout with one of his teams prior to the pandemic.  “Just before the pandemic, one of the rowing coaches of the club that I belong to put our team at the time through a workout in Princeton’s boathouse, and interestingly enough, that experience helped me improve the shooting of one of our players (James Bruestle).  There are some similarities in the rowing movements that I think translate into three point shooting.”

 

The training offered more than just physical conditioning for the Vikings who attended.  Coach Levy hopes the energy and comradery of the workout can be brought back to Mercer.  “The training was incredible.  Our guys were put on teams with the Princeton rowers and put through a variety of conditioning stations.  The enthusiasm of the rowers and their acceptance of our guys was incredible.  I am hopeful that some of that enthusiasm will transfer to our team.”

 

Mercer men's basketball opens their regular season on November 4th-5th when they travel to CCBC-Dundalk for a tournament.  To view the men's basketball schedule and other men's basketball news, visit:  https://www.mccc.edu/athletics_men_basketball.shtml