Options to Build Team Chemistry and Physically Prepare for August

Planning Ahead

As you enter the summer, what steps will you take to increase your team’s opportunity for success in the fall?

High school programs vary greatly when you consider the flow of the players through an annual cycle. Once the regular season has concluded, what will your players do? Think about the supports will you provide. Consider these items:

Fitness Plan

Your players should understand that a successful season will be directly impacted by their physical preparation. Provide them with a summer training plan that has clear progressions and, when followed, will have them ready for double days/preseason practice.

Personnel

A successful program is not just a function of the varsity team’s results. To build a long-term, winning program, you must incorporate a player development system. This entails a plan for all of your high school team’s personnel, the positions, and a contingency plan (for injuries, players moving away, etc.). During the past school year you should have evaluated all players in your program along with the 7th and 8th graders that will be coming to your school. Your development plan should list players by grade/position with a four year cycle (outlines how the players might move through the system). This plan will continually flex as specific players improve (or not), new players enter the program while others opt to no longer play.

Strengths and weaknesses - As part of the evaluation, you should make notes about each players strengths and weaknesses. This list will be used to plan your preseason practices.
Offensive and Defensive Systems - There must be continuity in the training of systems throughout the program. Though a freshman team will not be as skilled as a varsity team, this is your opportunity to start their training on the primary systems you plan to use. For my program, our freshman and JV teams were taught to swing block, run 1’s, learn to use their vision and read the opponent, and play a version of our middle-middle defense. How quickly one or more of these skills were implemented varied each season based on the skill level (mentally and physically) of that particular team.
Club - If you have players that are involved in a club program, I would recommend you spend time watching these players compete on their club team. You will learn significant information in regards to their skill development. How does each player compete on their club team, what position are they playing (it may not be the one you plan to have them play), what role do they have, how are they being trained, and what systems are they being taught.

Staff

Will there be changes to your staff for the fall season? A strong program should be developing coaches as well as players. Have a plan for potential staff changes and provide current and future coaches with opportunities to improve their knowledge.

Schedule

By June your fall season match schedule should have been completed - either by you or your Athletic Director (hopefully your Athletic Director works closely with you to fine tune the schedule to meet your team’s needs and goals).

In summer - plan your actual travel itineraries (bus times, meals, etc.) and include fun/interesting activities for team bonding. For example, go see a collegiate match on the way to a preseason tournament. Also, look for opportunities to include educational/historical sites when those are available.

Opponents

As you prepare your development plan for the fall season, consider your opponents (league and possible playoff schools). What are their strengths and weaknesses for this upcoming season. How does your team match up?

What offensive or defensive system adjustments should you add into your training plan to properly prepare your team for success? Keep in mind that these systems must be designed based on your player’s abilities. To be successful in the long run, the system must fit the players. Evaluate your player’s strengths and then consider decide what changes to apply to your team plan.

If you want additional information/guidance for fitness, player evaluation, schedule considerations and opponent planning - look through the various categories in our Nuggets of Wisdom.

Summer