Pre-Season Workouts and Tryouts

Some thoughts about the next 8 weeks.

As the mornings get colder, and the leaves start to turn, inevitably the thoughts of ballplayers turn to the next season, so filled with promise, and so unblemished.  A time to make a jump from the level you played at last year, a time to show how much you've grown, a time for promises and commitments, and dreams of glory.

It is also a time for rumors, running rampant around the school, about who is a starter, who is on JV, and how many guys will make it, and who will get cut and why.

Let me clear the air on some of it.  First, if you did not hear it from your coach, it is just not true.  If you have heard that coach is only keeping 9 varsity guys, or football players are out if they make the playoffs, or the point guard spot is locked up, and you didn't hear it directly from coach, forget it and move on.

Second, a quick word on pre-season workouts (captain's practices), I think it's great that guys want to get work in before the season officially begins, stay in shape or get in shape, break out some drills that we might see in practice, so that it's not new on the first day.  Honestly though, I would rather have seen you play soccer or football.  The trust and sense of teamwork you get from playing together is the hardest thing to build in basketball because of the abbreviated schedule in the first 10 days before playing the first game (plus soccer is great for defensive angles, and footwork).  If you are going to do pre-season workouts, see the suggested ideas below.

Third, no decisions have been made about who belongs where.  Returning players have the advantage/disadvantage of the coach knowing their strengths and weaknesses, but that does not guarantee them a spot.  If a returning player finished last season struggling to make mid-range jumpers, or consistently picking up reach fouls because of lazy feet, and comes back the next season with the same trends, he makes it obvious that he has not worked on the weaknesses in his game.  Each team is together for only one season, some graduate, others move, new people move in, and freshman come onto the scene.

This season will play itself out in it's own individual way, and you can either hang around and wait for what happens, or you can commit to being present every second of every practice and shift, and make it something special, that will stay with you for the rest of your life.

This all being said, there are about 8 weeks until the first 6 am practice/tryout begins.  If you are not playing a fall sport, and hoping to make the team, here are some suggestions for your workouts.

First off, they need to be happening every day, and you don't need 25 guys, or the gym for this.  Excuses will not win you a division title, get you to the state playoffs, or help you be the only team in RI that gets to win the last game of the season.  Your preseason should be dedicated to three areas.

Conditioning:  the most important part of preparing for the season is to make sure you are physically able to perform at your best over the next 5-6 months.  You should be dedicating 60-90 minutes, 7 days a week to conditioning.  Strength training is a part of it, lifting weights can benefit you if you are doing it correctly. Bench presses, lat pull downs, squats, calf raises, shoulder presses, tricep extensions, bicep curls, and crunches can be a valuable part of your plan.  Make sure you have a partner, that you are performing the exercises correctly, and that you are using appropriate weights (you should be challenged to complete 3 sets of 15 for each exercise).  Weights, are not essential however.  You can get more often times just by using your body weight to improve strength.  Sets of push-ups, pull-ups (probably the best core exercise you can do), dips, step-ups, partner carries, lunges, explosive jumps, and abdominal series, can leave you just as exhausted, build natural-useful strength, and teach you a lot about your body as well.  Endurance training is the other part, you cannot play a 32 minute game without training for about 3200 minutes.  Endurance training includes speed work, and distance work, and as such, you should be combining a speed sprint workout, with longer (5-mile, hills, laps around the track) runs.

Skill work:  Two things take priority in skill work - does it directly correlate to what skills you will use on the court?  and is it competitive?  Standing around shooting threes while someone else rebounds does not make you a better shooter.  While shooting 100 straight free throws might help you improve your percentage, when is the last time anyone shot them like that in a game?  Instead, work on moving without the ball, and get passes from angles you might expect in a game.  Shoot free throws in pairs when you are tired.  Work on shooting off the dribble, and in the post with someone guarding you.  Rather than working on shaking someone off the dribble at the top of the key, learn to go just as hard with your weak hand as with your dominant hand.  Teach yourself to find a body when a shot goes up, over and over so many times that it becomes automatic.  Ladder shooting is a great way to train your eyes and your legs the differences between 10-15-20 footers, drill these for makes, not attempts, and compete, with yourself, or someone who is a better shooter than you.

Pick up Games:  Two priorities here as well, competition again, and team building.  In order for your games to help you get better, you must have competitive teams, and competitive match-ups. There is a famous story about the 1992 Dream Team's scrimmages, and now finally, there is video to go along with it:  Magic v Michael Dream Team.  Your games should be about something, to the point where guys are getting angry and taking losses (even single possession losses) personal.  If you have 11 guys, and there is a clear drop off in the level of competition after the first 7, play 3 v 3, with the best 6, and let the other guys figure it out, rather than playing 5 on 5, with a couple guys on each team who clearly don't belong.  Play defense.  Nothing builds team unity like digging in and getting stops, together.  Communicate, point, talk, get eye contact, argue about how where to move and when, anything to build understanding on the court.  My suggestion, keep the games short, around 7 points, everything is one point, unless you are losing, and have the games end on defensive stops. Play like this all the time, because it is much more likely you will need to get a stop to keep a lead, then score at the end of a game to take the lead.  Whatever you do, make sure you have to work really hard, as a group, and respect your opponent at the same time.