Pre-Season a little different in other states

[MOsportsStaff]

Maximizing Your Pre-Season
Written by Alan Stein

Jim Boeheim once said, “You can’t win a championship in the pre-season, but you sure as hell can lose one.”

The 8-week period before official practices start (the pre-season), sets the tone and lays the foundation for your entire season. It should be a time to focus on improving 4 key areas:

• Athleticism
• Skill
• I.Q.
• Chemistry

At the high school level, it varies tremendously from state to state, as to what you are allowed to do with your players in the pre-season. Therefore, simply do what you can, with what you have, where you are. I don’t believe in making excuses and I don’t believe in cheating the rules.

At DeMatha Catholic High School, we are governed by the rules of the Washington Catholic Athletic Conference (WCAC), which fortunately for us, allows us to work with our players in just about every capacity possible. The only exception is we are not allowed to hold a ‘team practice’ until November 6th. We are allowed to conduct strength & conditioning workouts, skill workouts and monitor play (‘open run’). Yes, we are very thankful to be in such a progressive conference. I sympathize for those that aren’t.

I get numerous inquires via email and social media asking about our pre-season program.

Here is our DeMatha Basketball pre-schedule in September and October:

Monday:

• 3-4pm: Academic Study Hall
• 4-5pm: Performance Training
• 5-6pm: Position-Specific Skill Work
• 6-7pm: Play 5-on-5

Tuesday:

• 3-4pm: Academic Study Hall
• 4-5pm: Position-Specific Skill Work
• 5-6pm: Play 5-on-5

Wednesday:

• 3-4pm: Academic Study Hall
• 4-5pm: Performance Training
• 5-6pm: Position-Specific Skill Work
• 6-7pm: Play 5-on-5

Thursday:

• 3-4pm: Academic Study Hall
• 4-5pm: Position-Specific Skill Work
• 5-6pm: Play 5-on-5

Friday:

• 3-4pm: Bikram Yoga Class

Saturday:

• 9-10am: Performance Training (Optional)
  10-11am: Position-Specific Skill Work (Optional)

Sunday:

• OFF