The start of the school is just around the corner and that means summer is officially over! Booo, I know. That also means the start for most basketball programs is only a couple short months away. With that said, it’s time to start conditioning and fine tune your skills on the court. But, with school, comes a much busier schedule compared to the summer so how do you find the time and what should you be doing?
Stay Disciplined ~ Play first, School second
First piece of advice is to stay disciplined. If you are really serious about improving your game, you will need to block off a couple hours, 5 days per week to practice. My advice, maybe most parents won’t agree with, is to play first and homework second. As the days progress, daylight will end sooner in the day. You should get out there while it’s still light out and warm. This is the case for the northeast anyway. Now, this is where the discipline factor comes into effect, you cannot ignore school work. After you workout, you should eat dinner then sit down and do your homework. PLEASE, don’t be one dimensional by only playing basketball. Many more doors will open up when you have a good education, trust me.
Join a Gym
If you are in highschool, I think it’s a very good idea to join a local gym that has a basketball court. I worked a part-time job in high school so that I could pay for a gym membership. This will enable you to practice at night or when it rains and possible play with some competition. You can also run, lift weights, swim, do yoga and more at a gym.
Play on the weekends and play alot
Weekends is a great time to get together with other players and play ball. During the week is where you should craft your individual skills and the weekend can be for playing 3 on 3 or 5 on 5. I’ve said it before in previous posts, playing against good competition is just as important as practicing on your own. I remember when I was in middle school and high school, I would call up all my friends and tell them to meet me at a certain time. I would probably get 75% of them to show up but we would play for hours.
Play a Fall Sport
Playing a fall sport doesn’t directly affect your game but it does help with conditioning and staying in shape. I recommend this to all kids prior to highschool. I believe it’s very beneficial to play three sports in order to be an all around player. For example, soccer helps with your endurance and foot work which proves to be extremely helpful on the basketball court.
Final Thoughts
I just want to make it clear again regarding my first point. School work is more important than basketball so please don’t ignore your studies.
Before the start of the season, I think it’s important to practice and play (with good competition) whenever you can. There is a fine line though, you don’t want to overdue it because the winter season is long and you want your legs to be fresh going into tryouts. If you took my advice, you should have been practicing during the summer which makes it easier for the months ahead. Play hard and work hard should be your motto for the next couple months!
