Ganon Baker Staff - Mark Poag Personal Basketball Trainer

Name: Mark Poag Title: Personal Trainer Achievements: Former Professional Player in Germany and Spain, Spanish League Champs, Former DI College player at Old Dominion University, 1995 Rookie of the Year, All Conference, NCAA Tournament 1997, NIT 2nd Round 1999, NCAA record for most consecutive 3 pt makes in one game (9), CAA 5 year record holder for all time highest 3 pt scorer. Contact: (757) 575-3668 Email: mark@ganonbakerbasketball.com Encouraging Words: How did you find your passion for the game: "I would have to say in high school. I mean as a young kid growing up in Raleigh everyone played basketball and I loved playing it as I did with baseball. But, talking about passion I would have to say I got the passion my sophmore year in high school when I got to play my first game on varsity in the district 32 4AAA championship game. I was just a tall skinny(165lbs) kid at the time, but when I got into that game and the gym was packed (2500 people) I knew that this sport was special. In that game I had 19 pts. and 8 rebs. and helped lead our high school to its first District championship in 20 years. That was a defining moment for me. After that point I was hungry to be the best player that I possibly could be. Me and my brother after the season dedicated ourselves to making 1,000 shots a day. And during the preseason of my junior yr. in high school we woke up every morning to run on the beach at least 5 miles the last mile in the soft sand. After doing that our high school team went from not even in the top 25 in the state of Tx. to ranked 2nd. Even though I went on to do lots of differnt things in basketball and get awards, this is where it all started."