Midwest

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3 mistakes players make heading into the off-season

Avoid these mistakes and you'll be well ahead of the competition

The off-season is the time to develop your game through your personal training and workouts. So look to our website and this newsletter over the coming months.

We'll give you the tools and information to help you get the most out of your off-season training so that you're ready to dominate come next season.

With the season over, it's only natural to take a breath and relax a little bit. And you should. After a long season, your body needs time to rest and recover. But after you give yourself plenty of time to re-charge (both mentally and physically), it's time to get put your training program into high-gear.

The off-season is where you really develop your individual skills. And the best way to do this is to create a solid, well-thought out off-season training program.

But I find that many players don't really have a plan for their personal skill development. They'll say things like "I'm going to work on my game," or "I want to get better," or "I'm going to work out hard this Summer." But if you press them for specifics, they really don't have any.

To train effectively, you can't just have a hazy "I want to get better" plan. To get the most out of your training, it's best to develop very detailed and specific steps about what you will work on, and how you're going to do it.

The 3 biggest mistakes you can make going into the off-season are the following:

1.) Not evaluating the prior season

The best way to determine what you need to focus on this off-season is your performance from the past season. Where did you excel? Where did you struggle? What moves seemed to work and which ones didn't? What did your coach tell you was a strength or a weakness?

Be honest with yourself and really evaluate what your strengths and weaknesses are. And also take a look at what your team's strengths and weaknesses were and will be next season. Did your team's star point guard graduate? If you work on your ball handling and court leadership, maybe you can step into that role in the upcoming season. These are the things you need to look at as you plan your Summer workout and training program.

2.) Create a plan

We already touched on this, but it's so important that we'll emphasize it again here: you've got to develop a plan. You becoming a better player isn't going to just "happen". You going out and shooting around for 20 minutes a couple times a week is not going to help you get to the next level.

Sit down, think through this past season, write down your strengths and weaknesses, and plot out what you need to work on. Really develop a comprehensive plan on how you're going to improve. This plan should include basketball skill work (i.e. work on your shooting, ball handling, rebounding, etc.), but also strength and quickness training as well.

One of the best ways to develop an off-season workout plan is to talk with your coach, or work with a personal trainer/private coach. You may have some great ideas about what you need to work on and how you can do it, but a coach with lots of experience can often give you input and insight that might really be beneficial to you.

And guess what? A full off-season training plan doesn't really become real until you write it down and put it on a calendar. Lots of players will say "It's in my head...I know what I need to work on." Well, that may be well and good, but to really have an effective, multi-month plan, you've got to put it down on paper. To really make it real (and effective), you need to get it down on paper and a calendar.

3.) Not following through on your workout plan

A small percentage of players (below the pro level) actually create an off-season training program for themselves. Fewer still follow through on it.

If you really have the dedication and desire to improve, you have to work on your game day after day, week after week, month after month. Working out hard a couple times here and there will help, but repetition is the mother of skill, and the only way you can really improve as a player is to work on your game again and again.

You can separate yourself from a lot of your competition simply by outworking them. People don't like to feel uncomfortable, or work too hard, or get out of their comfort zone. So you can easily get the jump on a large percentage of your competition by following through, day after day, with your workout plan.

Dedication and follow-through can be your "secret" weapon to dominating the competition and taking your game to the next level.

So there you have 3 of the most common mistakes I see players making as they head into the off-season. By taking an honest look at your game, putting together a plan, and following through on that plan, you'll avoid these mistakes and become a better player.