Over the past few days we’ve been following basketball player Gaafar ElSouri on his road to recovery following a devastating injury. Last year he suffered a career-threatening torn anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) leaving him on the treatment table. The injury was so serious it required painstaking reconstructive surgery on his knee. It was a devastating blow for ElSouri, whose basketball career has seen him play all around the world, in Europe, Southeast Asia and Canada.
Determined to get back to playing again he set about rebuilding his fitness, and his career, using a set of specially designed exercises. He begun filming his workouts and basketball drills and posting them online. In a series of videos, coinciding with the NBA Finals, Sport360 has been tracking his progress as he looks to get back into competition.
Today’s workout in the series is a number of combo exercises that can be used as pre-game warm ups and drills to enhance your ball control. The agility ladder drills help players execute game moves using the proper footwork. These exercises also warm up the central nervous system (CNS) for compound movements that involve sudden changes of direction. The shooting drills can be used as a pre-game warm up and to enhance your shooting ability from different areas on the court. The key is to perfect every dribble and shot with game speed.
Speaking to Sport360, ElSouri said, “The injury was unexpected because I actually carried on playing for a while with a bad knee. I knew something was off but I didn’t think it was that serious,” he said. “Its motivated me and allowed me to focus more and go back to the basics skills and learning more workouts. Its been harder mentally than physically, the fact that basketball was taken away from me for a period of time was tough. I realised how much I love the game and enjoy completing. Getting an injury has helped me fall in love with playing basketball again; I’ve enjoyed the process of becoming a better player.”
