What Are YOU Doing in the Offseason?
The offseason is sometimes referred to as “improvement season”. Too many times players skip improvement season and go straight into the regular season, expecting to see results, but no work was put in. Paul George said it best, “Players transform themselves in the summer, by working when no one is watching.”
However, basketball is a complex game. If you try fixing everything, you will be doing a lot of reps, (maybe improving) but not mastering certain skills. To make it easier, I came up with 3 simple steps for the offseason.
3 STEPS FOR IMPROVEMENT SEASON
- Set your own player goals
At the end of your regular season, what is something you wish you could have changed, or something you would like to accomplish the following season? Is it to play more or reach a certain goal in a stat category? Pick a goal/goals that are attainable. To get to your goal, it is going to take discipline and TIME. Finally, write out your goals. Put them where you can see them every day. Remember, this is your goal, so what are YOU going to do with it?
- Identify a weakness you have as a player
As a coach, I hope my players know what weaknesses they have. This is something I like to be up front about with them. It could be shooting, conditioning, dribbling, etc. You can’t get better if you do not address your weakness. Imagine playing the following year and your weakness turned into a strength. How much better would you and your team be? When you are improving your weakness, make sure you are doing game related drills. If dribbling is your weakness, don’t spend all your time dribbling two tennis balls. You won’t ever be dribbling tennis balls in a game, so don’t focus all your time on that. Be realistic with your drills.
- Shoot!
I have never seen a great shooter not get playing time. If you can score, you just became very valuable to your team. At Liberty, the boys’ and girls’ programs like to use the 10,000 Shot Club (attached). The key to shooting in the offseason is taking game speed shots and tracking your makes! See how much you improve.
The best part about these 3 steps is that it is entirely up to you! If you can’t get in a gym, still work! You can dribble in your garage, try to find a basketball hoop in a park, or go for a run. Every day you should think about how can you reach YOUR GOALS.
Recent research led by a team at the University College London think they have uncovered just how long (on average) it takes for something to become habitual. They do not think it takes 21 days to form a habit. They believe it takes an average of 66 days to create a habit, so keep working!