This time of year is always the most grueling for high school and college players and coaches, as most nights are a dog fight in conference play and most teams are battling tooth and nail for a playoff spot or an improved national ranking. Players are in a constant state of fatigue and exhaustion, since most have been going non-stop since late August. Nagging injuries, minor sickness, and the daily grind begin to add up. While the end of the tunnel is near, it becomes harder and harder for both coaches and players to stay motivated for every practice, every team meeting, every film session, and even for every game. Players bicker with each other, like brothers and sisters do, as they feel like they spend 24/7 with their teammates and even the most minor things get on people’s nerves. This time of year is known as the “hump.” Average players, teams, and coaches will crumble and fall back down the hill, while the exceptional ones will continue to climb over the hump and chase the lofty goals they set during the pre-season.
And no team or program is impervious to this. At Montrose, we experienced this the past two weeks and it was getting progressively worse by the day. Despite the fact we were continuing to win, we had not played very well our previous two games, and our players seemed to have lost their intensity, motivation, and work ethic. Our guys just looked like they were going through motions with everything they did. Even worse, they looked like they had lost the love. This spoke volumes, because our kids love to play basketball.
This past Wednesday our guys were off from a formal practice but needed to get a lift in. When I arrived I noticed our guys looked overwhelming tired, no one smiling, and everyone kind of just laid around the weight room ready to start. They looked like zombies. There wasn’t an ounce of energy or enthusiasm. This was rare, because we have a tremendous group of kids in our program, kids who are normally highly motivated, and kids who always give me 100%. So I sat them all down and had a little impromptu team meeting. I asked them what the deal was. “What’s the problem guys? You all look dead. You look like you don’t’ care. How can you not care any more, we are having a great season?!” After beating around the bush for a few minutes, they finally came clean. The general consensus, from our heralded freshman to our senior captains was loud and clear: we aren’t having any fun!
Despite the fact we play in front of huge crowds, we currently hold the Washington DC area’s #1 ranking in the Washington Post, we have remained in the top ten nationally in the USA Today and ESPN, we only have one minor blemish on our record (a double OT loss to Oak Hill in the championship in Hawaii), and we are still very much alive in the hunt for a national championship… our guys were down, mentally and physically drained, and not having any fun. You could see it on their faces and in their body language… they were telling the truth.
While I had pretty much drawn the same conclusion in my mind ahead of time, I sincerely appreciated their honesty. So I garnered some feedback from them and then brainstormed some ways we could make things fun again. I called Coach Vetter that night and we had a wonderful conversation. Now, Coach Vetter has been coaching longer than I have been breathing, and he is one of the winningest and most decorated high school coaches in history. I have worked for him for 6 years, and in all honesty, I wasn’t expecting him to make any changes to the current routine or weekly schedule. I was actually expecting him to recite the famous line from Hoosiers when Gene Hackman said “My practices are not designed for your enjoyment.” Boy was I wrong! He got the message loud and clear and responded brilliantly.
On Thursday when the guys drudgingly showed up to practice, to everyone’s pleasant surprise, we played indoor whiffle ball instead! Coach got out the automatic pitching machine, set the court up like a baseball field, and we played a full 9 innings of fast pitch whiffle ball. The kids were shocked, but better yet, had an absolute blast! They were laughing, smiling, and finally enjoying themselves again. Despite having some very high level athletes on our team, watching kids who have never played baseball swing a bat and throw a ball was hysterical. Do you know how big the strike zone was for our Nigerian sophomore, who is 7’1”, 310 lbs.? The assistant coaches played too which made it even more fun, as the kids tried extra hard to get us out (I went 3 for 3 with 2 RBI’s… but who’s counting?). That was just what our guys needed. Afterwards I took them in the weight room for a quick upper body lift, which they did with effort and enthusiasm, and then I talked with them afterwards. I told them that fun things like this would continue to occasionally happen, if and only if, they took care of business at all future practices and games. They smiled and nodded.
They responded very well and had one of the best practices of the year on Friday. Then instead of a dreaded Saturday morning practice, Coach Vetter again stepped up to the plate (pun intended) and arranged for the entire team to go to the Georgetown vs.Cincinnati game instead! Our guys were ecstatic and very appreciative.
I am confident this little boost of fun will help get our players (and coaches) over the hump and will help our guys get the love back. We will see Tuesday night when we play again. My gut feeling is we are going get back to playing as well as we were in the beginning of the year. I feel bad for our next opponent.
Now, I am not suggesting you turn the end of your season into a tea party, work still needs to be done and players and teams still need to strive to get better every day. But… if you are sensing your players are miserable, have lost motivation, and aren’t having any fun… you can find ways to make things more enjoyable for everyone in the program and it will result in improved performance on the court. Need some ideas? Instead of a normal practice, why not take your team bowling? How fun (and funny) would that be?! Instead of a film session, why not buy a few pizzas and watch Hoosiers or Blue Chips? What about ending practice an hour early and having a H-O-R-S-E competition or a game of Knock-out?
If you are a player and you recognize you and your teammates aren’t having any fun, you have a few options too. You can schedule a time to sit down with your coach, one on one and in private, and express the sentiments and suggestions mentioned in this blog… highlighting the fact you believe this will drastically help your team’s morale and thus performance on the court. You can also take it upon yourself to organize some fun stuff with your teammates; maybe a team dinner at Chipotle to watch a Laker’s game or a Wii competition at someone’s house?
People, at every age and in any walk of life, are always more successful doing things they enjoy and have fun doing. One of the reasons I have been able to attain a certain level of success in the strength & conditioning industry is because I have put a lot of time, effort, and thought into making my workouts as fun as possible. Granted, they are still brutally hard and intense and progressive, but I try to make them fun as well because I know if they are fun the players will give a better effort. And if they give a better effort they will get better results. Period.
The same is true for getting over the hump and finishing the season strong!
If you would like to contact me about this blog, my training and/or camps and clinics, please email me at Alan@StrongerTeam.com. I will respond as quickly as possible!
Train hard. Train smart.
Alan Stein
www.StrongerTeam.com