Tryout and Beginning of The Season Tips

 Tryouts and Beginning of the Season Tips

Basketball season is among us. Your athlete has been grinding it out since the spring and/or summer, working on their weaknesses, growing their strengths, working on their mindsets and bodies. With all that being said what are some additional things they can do a week before tryouts and what can they do at the beginning of the season to stay on top of their games? Here are some tips and suggestions for each.

Tryouts 

Be in Shape: Coaches want to see who has been working in the offseason and who has not. Have you been staying in shape and are you ready to play? Whether your athlete is a returning starter, incoming freshman, or a key player for their program. Are they in good enough shape to play 30+ minutes a night of basketball at a high level? Did your athlete train their bodies to withstand 4 months of practice, games and tournaments? Is your athlete strong enough, flexible enough, rested enough and is their cardio up to par? 

What to do? If the answer is yes, keep doing what you are doing! It might be beneficial to take a rest day 2 days before your tryout and then train hard the day before to get your body ready for competitive practice/evaluations. 

If the answer is no, then your athlete needs to wake up! Find some time in the morning for your athlete to get up and run a mile a day or do a morning workout to get their cardio ready to go for the season, start working out 3-4 times a week doing light weight but high reps (reps of 12-15) , make sure they get enough sleep so their body can recover and find time to do deep stretches outside of the practice setting for 10-30 minutes a day. This will help them get prepared and ready to go, yes your body will be a little tired going into tryouts but it will pay off in the end and you will go in to tryouts more prepared. 

Be Confident: Your athlete at this stage should be ready to go! With that being said one of the best things they can do is to go into tryouts with boatloads of confidence ready to earn a spot on the team. They put in the work since the spring or the start of fall to prepare for this time of the year. The work they put in was to go in with enough confidence that they are headed into tryouts fully prepared. 

Players should be very vocal in tryouts demonstrating leadership qualities and attacking each drill with maximum effort and focus. Players should really make it a point to be one of the first players in each drill, being loud and heard in practice and displaying TONS of energy throughout the whole process. 

Confidence will allow a player to do this and will show coaches they are there to be apart of the team and to be a program player they can rely on during the season in multiple aspects. Players should be aggressive on both ends of the floor looking to be effective on the offense and defensive end of the ball. 

Players should keep in mind what their coaches are looking from them and try to stick to their role. Players can put themselves in a position to not make the team by forcing shots or being selfish. Players need to show everything they worked on during the summer but those skills should reflect their role and team needs.

Freshmen: Have more freedom to go out there and display what they got! If they are trying to prove they can be be the main player for their team or potentially trying to make the sophomore or varsity team, go out there and prove you have that potential! They need to be a leader, be aggressive trying to make plays on both ends of the floor, all while being incredibly efficient.

Sophomore:  Still have some freedom but they need to focus on displaying on what they got better at! Did they become a better defender, shooter, leader, better IQ, did they grow and or get faster and stronger? These are the questions the coaches are looking for the answers, basically what did you do this past year to get better? If your athlete did not get better at anything since last February that speaks volumes to the coaches as well. 

Work Hard: Go out there and EARN your spot! Nothing is guaranteed even if your athlete feels like they got the tryouts "in the bag", it is important to understand that other players are going to come out and try to take your athlete's spot, whether it is a few minutes a game, key role on the team, or their spot on their team all together!

Be the first in every sprint, they can not be last! They need to dive on the floor for loose balls, box out and chase down rebounds and be a hound on defense. This effort makes great players and great teammates, this is also what coaches want to see and the type of player they want to coach. Your athlete can not let ANYONE out work them!

Compete: If someone can not compete in a tryout, I just do not see how someone can compete in a day to day practice, and even more in a game. Coaches need players that know how to compete for stops, compete for good possessions on offense, and compete for wins. If your athlete does not possess this quality instilled in them that is a problem. 

In a game that is getting more competitive with every class, players need to go out there and bring it and have that toughness in them to compete for wins. This quality helps build championship teams and ultimately a quality that can add to a players value and potential!

Communication: Players need to be able to talk and be vocal. This has been a part of most tips and deserves to be highlighted. I can not emphasize enough about how important being vocal in a team setting is. Talk on the defensive and offensive ends of the court, while the game is going on do not stop talking! Talk during drills, athletes should speak up be loud encourage teammates bring tons of positive energy throughout tryouts! 

Communicating shows an athlete is unselfish, a team player, is invested into the team, coachable, and that they want to be there! This stands out and attracts positive attention from coaches, communication aids in teams overall success. 

Beginning of the Season Tips

Recovery and Injury Prevention: The winter season is long and jammed pack with games and practices, it is very important players are mindful of their bodies and do little things throughout the season to stay healthy and keep their bodies at peak performance. Below are some suggestions to help with recovery and injury prevention;

• Players should spend time stretching in the morning and at night for a period of 15-30 minutes
• Schedule two days of in-season lifting to keep muscles toned and strong to avoid contact injuries, light weight 12-15 reps full body workouts (30-45 minutes an hour if with a professional coach) 
• Recovery lifts after games, 15 - 30 minutes 1-2 sets of light weight high reps (12-15 reps)
• Ice after games, especially areas where players have had past injuries or areas where they are experiencing soreness 
• Heat if muscles are tight after games, or epsom salt baths for 15 - 30 minutes followed by a deep stretch for an additional 10-15 minutes
• Find a rest/low impact day, where the player is doing little to no physical activity, light training is fine but should not be anything too intense. Players can also use this day to get up light shots 100 - 200 shots, nothing over 200 total shots!

Be a Leader: Whether your athlete is a starter, a rotational player, or a bench player  then need to find a way to be a leader for their team! This helps add to team culture and helps raise the level of practices which ultimately makes everyone a better player at the end. Being a leader in some type of capacity also helps build trust in their coaches that in pinch they may be able to use your athlete more or maybe expand their role and opportunities for your team. Even if your athlete is the best player displaying leadership qualities may end up attracting college level coaches.

Players can lead by having a calm presence even in tough games and situation helping keep their teammates calm and focused on the game plan. 

Players can lead by being early to practice, team film sessions and meetings, games, or any other team activity. Staying late and putting in extra work is also a good example of leading by example.

Players can lead by being an extension of the coach. Coaches spend countless hours coming up with terms for the players to use throughout the program, they also spend a lot of time teaching plays and game situations, while also reminding players in film sessions, timeouts, pregame and halftime talks amongst other situations. Once a coach says something once, someone on the team needs to be able to echo the coach and hold their teammates accountable and make sure they are sticking to the culture and the game plan. 

The coach should not have to coach effort, discipline, and tell players how to play on the sideline.  Players should be able to take control of that in game and live practice situations. If a players teammate is not hustling enough they should call them out in a way that holds them accountable and doesn't come off as being insulting. If the game is getting out of control, they should be the player to vocally get their team back on track and on the same page. 

Set the Tone: This goes back to competing on every play, in every drill and every scrimmage. Players need to work and bring it everyday! This is not the easiest thing to do but is the expectation and what the best players do all the time. Once a player is on the court they are expected to give it their all. 

The first few weeks of practice can be argued to be the most important! It is where a team sets their identity for the upcoming season and discover what type of team they want to be. When your athlete heads into their first couple of practices the tone has to match the goal! If you want to compete for a conference championship, a state championship then the tone of practice has to resemble such. 

Get on the floor for loose balls, pick up full court defense, sprint hard in every drill, bring tons of energy to practice, make sure practice is environment where you are looking forward into entering every day! Go into the practices giving max effort and focus and make it contagious amongst your teammates.

Do the Little Things: It is easy to not do the little things but your athlete should hold themselves to a standard. Make sure they are doing the following on a daily basis to increase their chances at a successful season; 

• Learn the plays, read the play book and rewrite them on your own until you fully understand every play from every position and all of the options that the play has.
• Make sure your practice gear is ready to go, always have it cleaned and in your bag, if your coach wants it tucked in then do it! If there are no jewelry rules then follow them.
• Give your focus and respect to the coaches whether you like them or not. Your coaches are your coaches and that most likely is not going to change anytime soon! When they are going over plays, explaining drills or talking make sure you are paying attention to the details and what they are asking you to do.
• Read your scouting reports, add it into your homework time and understand the game plan. 
• Be on time which means be at least 10-15 minutes early to everything.
• Pack your game bag and practice bag the night before, put your shoes in the bag first, practice jersey or game jersey in first.
• Check group chats and emails to see if there are any updates on practice/schedule changes.
• Communicate with teachers in advance if you notice any conflicts in the schedule with your school work.

Stay Disciplined : Just because the season started does not mean the work pauses, your athlete still needs to find the time to do the following; 

• Have a consistent lifting schedule 
• Find time to get your homework/studying  and emailing college coaches done
• Still find time to work on your individual game, just lighter sessions and not as intense 
• Get to practice early and warmup with a routine or practice on areas of weakness or a strength before practice starts
• Get shots up on game day before the game and team activities start 
• While in practice still finish first in every sprint, touching every line and run hard
• Stay healthy, eat the right way during the season make sure you have the right food to perform and not be sluggish and heavy 
• Sacrifice during the season, limit the partying, staying out late, being up all night playing video games, stay focused on the long term goals
• Stay committed if you love it and this means a lot to you, then when things get tough and hard stay committed to your routine and your standards. When you deviate it is hard to get back on track stay locked in!