After returning to Arica, I went to California to stay with my daughter.
Every morning, my grandmother would make breakfast, and I would get up to pray, then go exercise.
That sumr, I worked very hard, hiring a coach nad Charles to help train.
Every morning Charles would pick up, and we would run together on the beach.
I don’t like running on the beach; it’s tough for , but it’s worth it to build endurance.
I would have a light lunch, and in the afternoon, I would do strength training.
In the evening, Charles and I would go to a local high school to play basketball, honing my technical skills.
Charles also took to Gold’s Gym, telling it’s the cca of strength trainers.
When I walked into Gold’s Gym, I completely understood what he ant; the people here are like beasts, huge beasts, even the won.
Everyone is muscular, and at 7 feet tall, I even looked thin, so won seed more robust than I was.
"This is the place for fanatics; if you’re not serious enough, you shouldn’t even step in here."
In 1981, when I arrived at the University of Houston, they took to the weight room on my first day, and I couldn’t even lift a standard barbell.
Strength was never my strong suit. I thought of the years of contest with Ah Gan, always at a disadvantage in strength; that guy’s a monster.
When chatting with the gym beasts about Ah Gan, they all remarked that the guy is a king of strength, conquering many gyms.
So, it was not until this sumr that I truly began to take strength training seriously, diving into the tedious barbell exercises.
After three days, I really started to like it; I realized these workouts brought imdiate benefits.
I found my body becoming more flexible, and after persisting for a while, my body was recovering faster, performing many technical moves more smoothly, my knees, joints, under the protection of strong muscles, beca healthier and more powerful.
Besides strength training, Charles arranged so high school students to be my sparring partners, and I began to refine my footwork under the basket.
In the past, I never seriously refined my footwork; at the University of Houston, each sumr, I focused on gas, doing whatever ca to mind during them.
I never stood aside to seriously observe everything I did, what was effective, what was not, what was more efficient, what was rely window dressing.
This is very different.
Charles would play music at the sideline, filling the training court with rhythm.
I began to study moves with videos, honing every detail, especially watching tapes of my gas against Ah Gan.
I started pretending to go right, pretending to go left, spinning to the baseline, then moving out, and going back, repeatedly deceiving defenders.
My body began to have a rhythm, like dancing to music, I felt I was dancing on the court.
Slowly, I felt myself reaching peak condition.
In the past, I relied on my hook shot, I liked to quickly move, spin, and finish with a swift hook shot upon receiving the ball.
It worked well but was sowhat singular; I began to temper my shooting, practicing various shots under defensive pressure.
I started to think like a guard, realizing this while watching Ah Gan’s ga tapes; he never saw himself as a center.
Position can limit and shackle your thoughts; actually, when you step onto the court, no one dictates how a center should play, how a guard should.
You can do everything you can do.
I carefully honed my footwork, so details went unnoticed yet were extrely important.
For example, I worked to make my inside foot, the one closer to the basket, land the instant I receive the ball, so when jumping for a shot, I’d already have my posture set, shoulders facing the hoop.
The sequence of footwork was very important here, first the inside foot, then the outside foot, jumping after adjusting.
If you choose both feet to land, and your shoulders don’t rotate and follow, you’d lose balance, and your jump height would be affected.
You must adjust well, jump higher, more upright, having more ti to aim for the hoop.
After a sumr of honing, my jump shot height increased, my shooting release beca softer, I could even pause mid-air.
This pause mont gave room for error; if I realized this shot choice wasn’t good, I could make another choice.
I could pass the ball back out, I could see the shooters on the periter and redistribute it to them, completing the offense anew.
Such a change excited ; I knew I found a new way to control the ga, and I also understood why the gap between Ah Gan and was widening.
Every sumr, he was perfecting his details like I did this sumr, and I awoke too late.
I needed a new start, new skills, a new team, a new city.
At that ti, my agent was Leonard Amato from Los Angeles, and one day he brought a new client to this high school gym to train with .
The guy had just graduated from Louisiana State University, his na was Shaquille O’Neal.
When Shaq t on the court, I knew what he was thinking; he wanted to beat .
At that ti, I was enjoying strength training and improving my moves’ details, I wanted to test the results.
So, I invited Shaq to train with .
Regarding Shaq, the first thing I noticed was, he was much bigger than .
I’m 6 feet 11 inches tall, weighing about 250 pounds, while he’s 7 feet 1, weighing about 300 pounds, and still growing!
He’s a perfect giant, once he gets into the paint, nobody can stop him.
We practiced inside moves together, engaging in offensive and defensive training.
I received the ball with my back to the hoop, faked right, really quick, he fell for it.
I imdiately spun left, took a jump shot, hit it.
At that mont, he was helpless, the fake move was too fast for him.
But the next ti we faced off, he didn’t fall for it when I used the sa move again.
He learned very fast, guarding well, ready to block .
But I still used my footwork to dodge him, in a narrow space, scoring with a hook shot.
All in all, it was a wonderful morning, we trained together for two hours, which was very helpful for .
Shaq worked hard, and I worked hard too.
I liked playing ball with him, he’s a cool guy.
I told him I really liked his nickna: Shark.
It’s a very perfect nickna, matching his na, characteristics perfectly.
He looked a bit shy, saying he liked my nickna "The Dream" too.
We talked a lot; I knew he was about to enter the league, he’d surely cause a stir.
He asked many questions about the NBA, especially about centers, how to handle each opponent, who was the toughest.
I analyzed the most difficult centers in the League for him, finally telling him: be careful of Ah Gan, he’s more dangerous than the Shark.
Shaq had probably heard similar things before, so he wasn’t very concerned, curiously asking: "Is Ah Gan really that good?"
I told him seriously, "He’s tougher than any center you’ve faced, and he’s a devil; be prepared to contend with him long-term."
At that ti, I was embarrassed to tell him, because of being in the Western Conference for a long ti, I was shaken, I wanted to leave.
In Los Angeles, I was very comfortable, sunlight, beaches, places to play ball everywhere, gyms, basketball courts, everywhere.
Perhaps I should go to the Clippers, but anwhile, many other teams extended olive branches—including the Miami Heat.
There, too, were sun and beaches, and my forr teammate, my good brother, Clyde Drexler.
Since knowing about my conflict with Houston, he had been calling, hoping I’d go to the South Coast, and I was hesitating.
Until a call ca, Steve Patterson told : "You’ll be sent to Miami, Riley offered a good deal, sorry Hakeem, we have to say goodbye."
At that mont, I was silent for a long ti, sowhat regretful, was I really leaving Houston? I’d been here for 10 years, was I really leaving?
But soon I knew, I was about to welco a new world.]
– Excerpt from the 1996 autobiography "Living The Dream" by Hakeem Olajuwon.
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