{"id":35701,"date":"2020-09-08T09:14:46","date_gmt":"2020-09-08T07:14:46","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/web.demo.olimpia.iquii.info\/dominate-or-being-dominated-thats-what-zach-leday-is-keeping-in-mind-every-time-on-the-court\/"},"modified":"2020-09-08T09:14:46","modified_gmt":"2020-09-08T07:14:46","slug":"dominate-or-being-dominated-thats-what-zach-leday-is-keeping-in-mind-every-time-on-the-court","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.olimpiamilano.com\/en\/dominate-or-being-dominated-thats-what-zach-leday-is-keeping-in-mind-every-time-on-the-court\/","title":{"rendered":"Dominate or being dominated: that’s what Zach LeDay is keeping in mind every time on the court"},"content":{"rendered":"

\u201cDominate or your\u2019 going to be dominated,\u201d for Zach LeDay is not just a sentence, it is a lifestyle and definitely the way he wants to play the game.<\/strong> There\u2019s no other way for him. He comes from Dallas and he started by playing football, because this is football territory, where the Friday night lights are bright in the winter. But when he grew up, Zach brought his football background to the basketball court. He attended the same school that former first pick Larry Johnson attended, and played for former NBA star point-man Deron Williams\u2019 summer team. \u201cWhen I was younger, the first thing that I tried was football. When I started to get older, a lot of guys tried different sports so I was able to make the switch and play both. I always played both, but then I had a growth spurt and it made me stick with basketball,\u201d he says. He was the right choice.<\/p>\n

-Zach, is your physicality part of your football background?<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201cMy physicality comes from my football background, but also the way I was raised, the neighborhood I was in, a household full of uncles, cousins, everybody was just physical, just being physical people. It\u2019s in general, the way was to dominate or being dominated\u201d.<\/p>\n

-Your career changed during the Virginia Tech experience. What happened?<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201cI always had a really hard work ethic, but I was able to sit down with my coach Buzz Williams and figure out how to use my energy in the right ways, figure out ways to give the team my energy instead of taking energy away, and to be able to use my mean streak, my playing hard, my presence to be able to dominate and help the team win, to be able to understand certain rhythm, get smart on the court and with the experience I was able to gain I was able to grow and learn a lot\u201d.<\/p>\n

-And still you were the top guy on the team, but also its sixth man.<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201cI never asked for this role, but I learned how to be able to adapt to different situations that coaches wanted me to do. My role has been to be the top player, by being able to do things that showed my teammates that I\u2019m unselfish, that I can adapt to any role, starting or coming off the bench, and be able to dominate and play as hard as possible and do whatever it takes to help the team win.\u201d<\/p>\n

-What\u2019s the key of being a good undersized player?<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201cYou just have to play hard, always, and do the little things that other people can\u2019t do. Try to take advantage of your strengths and use that to be able to dominate and do whatever you can to get around bigger guys and go through other guys. It\u2019s really about using your strengths, improving your weaknesses some and work around what you do best to help your team win\u201d.<\/p>\n