The Off Season

Now that the season is over. Routines and priorities change. As a player, what should you do now? When practice time comes and there is no practice, what do you do? When there are no games to prepare for, what do you do with your time?

1. Take a Break -- Basketball season is a long one with teams playing in the range of 30 games. Figure in the post season playoffs, exhibition games and finally the age class provincials, some teams will be at close to 40 games if not more. Also take into consideration all the practices times and travel, it can get be quite exhausting.

It's time to switch gears for some. Cool down and spend some down time with family and friends. Take some time to experience other sports, concentrate on your schoolwork. Use your time off to let your body heal and regenerate from all the season's bumps and bruises. Take some time over the summer to go on a holiday.

2. Review your strenths and weaknesses -- The off season is also time to take an honest assessment of yourself and look areas of your personal game. Was I a leader? Was I a mentor? How did I communicate with my teammates and coaches? Do I need to be more open to new plays and positions? How did I accept the coach's vision, did I buy into it or was I close minded? Did I represent my school and community in a positive way? Was I a good teammate?

3. Look back at the past season -- Evaluate how you did over the past season. If you set pesonal goals at the start of the season, look back on how you did. Did you score the way you wanted to? Was your Defensive game where it should have been? Did you bring your "A" game everytime to every game, practice and scrimmage?

Talk to your coaches, and find out the areas that you were strong in and what parts of your games need improvement. Be open minded with your coaches and accept their opinions and constuctive criticisms. Ask them what you need to do to improve your overall game for the next season.

4. Set New Goals and Train -- Now that you've gathered information from your coaches and assessed your game from last season, it's now time to start to looking ahead and plan for next season. Set realistic goals.

This is the time to work on your personal game and fundamentals. Train on shooting, dribbling, your cardio and strength training. It's very difficult to develop these skills and improve them during the season so the best time to accomplish this is during the off season. Look at going to a summer camp or attend a clinic. Take the time to examine which one(s) have the most to offer you. Learn from other coaches, play against different players. The more diverse your spring and summer experience, the better player you will become.

Play pickup and attend open gyms. Find a spring league or play some summer club ball. Take advantage of whatever is available.

5. Learn something new -- Watch videos(there are countless available on YouTube), and read books on the sport. Attend a Pro game if you can. US and Canadian College ball is over by mid April, but there is still plenty of NBA and WNBA games on.

6. Get refocused -- Put any negative points from last season away for good and head into your fall tryouts with a positive and upbeat attitude. Take what you've learned and worked on from the off season and put in into play. Be confident, but not cocky. Be better, work harder and run faster.