Five things to help prepare for basketball season

The start of high school basketball practice is about one month away. At this point, serious basketball players have probably put in a heavy offseason of training. But this is not the time to slow down! With one month to go, there are still some important things you can do to prepare for basketball season and make this your best high school season yet.

Here are five things that you can do to prepare for basketball season and make sure you are at your peak when the season gets here.

#1 – Talk to your high school coach

The coach is going to determine the team you play on and the role that you have on your team. So, if you haven’t done so already, be sure to touch base with them and ask them how you should prepare for basketball season. If you already know the team you are going to be playing for (Varsity, JV, Sophomore) ask that coach for 10 minutes of their time to discuss what your role will be on the team and the skills you need to work on. This way there are no surprises when the season starts. If the coach is serious about coaching, they will gladly keep you going in the right direction.

#2 – Start the season in shape

One of the biggest pet peeves for a coach is having to spend extra time conditioning their players. Your team’s practice time is limited. Before your first game, your coach has to put in offensive sets, man-to-man and zone defense, full court presses, and half court traps. They need to teach defensive principles and rotations. There are sideline and baseline out-of-bounds plays.

Putting all this in and teaching it takes time. The last thing a coach wants to worry about is whether their players are conditioned to make it through a whole game or even practice.

Be sure you spend a good amount of time each week building your distance and sprint conditioning. Basketball requires both. You have to be able to sprint up and down the court and do it for an entire game. Conditioning is an important yet often overlooked way to prepare for basketball season.

#3 – Fine-tune your skill sets

You’ve only got a month to get ready but it is not too late to tune up those basic skills. That means tightening up your ball handling, improving your footwork in the post, or coming off of screens, quickening your shot release, and improving your passing accuracy.

#4 – Get up to pick up

The best way to test where your skills and conditioning are is to put them into game-like situations. Pick up games, showcase camps and open gyms are great because you get to play at game-like speed but your mistakes don’t count. At the end of the day, you never take home a loss but you can learn a lot about where your game is at. Dissect what you did good and bad and then make your adjustments.

BONUS: Increase your discipline and confidence by playing in pick-up games before school. Few things will build you up more than proving you are ready to play anywhere, anytime. Find a pick-up game before school at a local church or rec center. Can’t find one? That is a great chance to build your leadership skills. Convince 3-7 teammates to meet you before school, either at the gym or a park, to play 2 on 2 or 5 on 5.

#5 – Adapt to your role to be a great teammate

As you play more and more with your teammates, your role will start to become more obvious. Sometimes that role is not what you expected it to be. But that is how life works. Embrace that role and become the best there ever was at it. You may now be the defensive specialist, the big-time rebounder, or the key screener on your team. If you become elite at any of these roles, your coach will find it very difficult to take you out of games.

By looking at all five of these items and working toward their completion, a player can be confident that they have maximized the opportunity to prepare for basketball season and will give themselves a great chance for success.