Meet Rich Sondhi

There are a multitude of trainers and coaches throughout northern California but the bottom line is this: if you are in the Sacramento area and aren't working with Rich Sondhi, then consider that you may just be shortchanging your basketball prospects.

A strong statement?

Absolutely.

A valid proclamation?

You be the judge after the following.

Sondhi is an assistant at Capital Christian High as well as the head coach of the E-Time Hoops Academy travel team. Because of those affiliations, two questions deserve immediate asking:

* Why are the programs he is associated with better at the end of the season compared to the beginning?

* Why does E-Time Hoops play so well against taller, more athletic and more heralded travel teams than its roster makeup gives reason for such?

Keep these subjects in mind as you work your way through the article.

"My passion is basketball," Sondhi explained. I have such a passion to coach and teach the game."

Evidence of such is his constant attendance at Nike basketball clinics as well as learning from other coaches. "I am a true student of the game. I'm looking to grow [in my knowledge] so I go to all of them."

Also, Sondhi possesses a different background than most.

"I played basketball and then wanted to become a D1 referee. I refereed for nine years but my son was getting older and it became a question of coaching or refereeing." There wasn't time for both endeavors so he switched to the other side and began working with a young group, a collection of youngsters that just sort of coalesced once he made the change.

"I have never selected any of my players. It was always a friends-of-friends thing." But the one constant was his rosters being guys who not only wanted to get better but were willing to take instruction and do the necessary work.

"My philosophy is to get them better than they were before. To send them back with their high school coaches saying 'I can tell how hard you worked over the summer.'"

Simply put by Sondhi, "if my players aren't doing better the next high school season then I'm not doing my job."

He does things a little differently than standard. "If we have a two-hour practice, the last 25-30 minutes will be scrimmaging to put into play what we've been practicing. The first 90 minutes is working on skills that will help them grow to be more confident and better fundamentally. In order to improve, we must work on our players weaknesses, so a player has to learn how to identify traps and make countermoves, how to improve a weak hand [and so on]. If you are the same player as a senior that you were as a freshman then you fundamentally have not improved. Some kids today want to get on the best AAU team because of shoes and things and not because it will make them better. It's today's society and I get it but I am just old fashioned."

Speaking about a couple of his current E-Time talents, Sondhi said, "I love training David Menary. Two years ago he was not a high caliber player but he has worked so hard to get better. Cole Taira has a great work ethic, sound basketball skills and is very coachable. They get the game."

Continuing, "our team knows how to run things. The kids buy in, run stuff and see success." But on the flip side there is also this constant, "everyone has to produce for us to be successful. We can't take plays off."

Sondhi's teams will never awe spectators in warmups nor appear invincible simply based on physical ability. His five-play-as-one style is practically invisible nowadays in travel basketball.  "We don't have all of the size or speed. We have solid players that work extremely hard and understand they have to make plays for us to be successful."  

Sondhi is real and keeps it real.

So what are you doing to get better each high school off-season?