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Off Season Chronicles

What Officials should do...
Basketball is regarded as among the most difficult sports to officiate, due to the speed of play and instantaneous judgement required. Officials are usually referred to as referees, however the title of official also applies to the scorers and timekeepers, as well as other personnel that have an active task in maintaining the game. So what at all should officials do during the off season apart from taking a break.

In our L where there's been so much complain of low level of officiating, I think our referees should really make use of all the time of and better themselves.

The off season is the best time to learn more. Spend time at clinics, training camps, watching films of games, and studying the rulebook. Where clinics are not available sit with other officials and watch game tapes, go through the rulebook and learn together...remember it's a team sport!
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Off Season Chronicles

What Coaches should do...
Coaching is an all encompassing job. It takes time, devotion, and is very crisis oriented. To do it well, you have to plan your year, just as you have to plan your practices. Those outside the profession don't understand it especially in our part if the world where most coaches do their jobs out of the love for the game. Don't try to explain it to them or expect them to understand. Coaches are a special breed.

1. Relax - After every season, there are decisions to be made. Whether they are career, personnel, or personal, immediately after the season is not the time to do it. Take some time for yourself, catch up with family and friends and try to settle back to a traditional lifestyle. Let your mind and body rest.

2. Organize - collect all of your practice plans, put all your game films in order, and collate your statistics(if available).

3.Make time to think about the past season -- If you're like most coaches, you'll have some amazing clarity a few days or weeks after the season is over. It's very important to document what you've learned while it's still fresh in your mind. You'll find that this tip alone can have an enormous impact on your team's improvements next year. You never think it will happen, but it's amazing how much you forget during the off season. And you'll be just as amazed how much documenting these thoughts will help you. Document what you've learned. Document what you should do different next year. Get those thoughts and ideas down so you can reference them next season.

4. Be sure your players have their priorities straight. Players often let their schoolwork slip after the season. Be sure they are caught up and on time with their classes. For the workers in the team, encourage them and make sure they spend more time at work to compensate for the amount of time they were absent from work due to basketball.

5. Begin your evaluation process. Interpret your stats and decide what you feel is important and what you can affect by coaching. Evaluate what you did well and what you did poorly. Evaluate your practice plans and determine what type of practice flow was most effective. Be sure to include your assistants in this process. Different points of view can be very helpful.

6. Meet with your players. Discuss their thoughts of the season. What do they feel the team did well, what was done poorly? What do they feel they did well personally and what they need to work on? Discuss your feelings in regard to their performance. Talk about expectations for the next season.

7. Develop an off-season development program. Many coaches also have other responsibilities so the program should be simple and self moderating, the players should be able to get through it themselves but if you can work with your players on skills, do so. At least the first half of the off season should be spent on development as opposed to playing. In addition, if you wish to have your team strength train, maximum gains should be achieved during the first 75% of the off season.

8.Start to improve your team's shooting percentage. In order for you to have a great team of shooters, you must get started right about now. The off season is the time to fix mechanics, start implementing player development programs, and give your players instructions on how to develop their shot. Great shooters become great in the off season.

9. Sharpen the stone. In other words, continue to develop your knowledge and personal development. Never stop learning. Read books, attend clinics(where available), talk to other coaches, and gather ideas for the next season. Shore up your coaching weaknesses by exploring other philosophies and teaching techniques. Expand your strengths by exploring additional areas that you can apply what you do well.

10. Experiment in privately organized competitions with new ideas. Decide what you can live with and what you can't. Try new offenses and defenses. Evaluate how your team has improved and how the players have worked on their game. Let them play different positions, allow them to experiment and expand their game. Don't overload your team with these competitions. Don't worry, they will get enough play. On the whole, players don't do enough skill work.

11. With about 6 weeks to the season,Put together your playbook. Decide what offenses and defense you think you can succeed with.

12. Build a master practice schedule (which will be suitable for everyone) when you are going to install each aspect of your program. Establish your teaching progressions.

13. Start your preseason program. Work should be about 25% skills, 75% play. Change your strength training program to one of endurance and maintenance.

14. Be sure that your players are doing their best in school / work. They should use this period to try to get ahead.

15. 2 weeks before the season -- Start to taper off of your workouts and reduce the work load. 16.

16. 1 week before the season -- Give everybody a break. Do some things with your family and friends. It might be months before you get to do it again.



...more comments still welcome.
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Off Season Chronicles

What Players should do...
Routines change(no more 3 hour bus rides from Cape coast to Accra for matches), friendships have grown, priorities change(spending more time on school/work). As a player, what should you do now? When practice time comes and there is no practice, what do you do? When there are no games to prepare for, what do you do with your time? Considering that ours is a-non-paying-league-that-everybody-plays-for-the-love-of-the-game, I tried to custom the resource to our setting.

1. Go about your daily activities with less pressure for 2 - 3 weeks to keep you relaxed. It has been a long, physically and mentally draining season. If you want to improve, you have to give yourself a chance to recover.


2. Depending on your stage, catch up and get ahead of your schoolwork / spend more time at the office to and work more to compensate for the times you were absent.

3. Talk to your coach(or any other knowledgeable person who watches you play and evaluate your season. Talk about what you did well and what you did not. Determine the areas you need to improve on. Discuss the things you would like to do and how to accomplish them.

4. After taking the 2-3 break, start on your off-season workout program. The program should be about 75% skill work and 25% play.

5.Develop your shooting stroke. If you want to become a GREAT shooter and raise your percentage, it MUST happen during the off season. It's just TOO difficult to develop these skills and improve during the season. It must be done during the off season!

6. Start a strength training program. Your objective should be to gain strength from now until the season is near. But be careful not to over work one part of the body more than the other as several players lift weight and forget the need stronger legs to carry the muscles their putting on.

7. As you progress, add more play to your workout. You should be at about 50% skill work, 50% play. Don't neglect your weight work. Great strength gains can be made during this period.

8. Go to camps and clinics or train with other teams in situation where the camps and clinics are non existent. Learn form other coaches, play against different players. The more diverse your off season experience, the better player you will become.

9. When the off season is over, your routine changes. GET AHEAD in the classroom / do more work. Once the season starts, it is easy for your schoolwork to slip/ get permission from bosses to play.

10. When the season starts change your workout routine to 25% skill, 75% play.

11. Switch you strength training routine to an endurance and strength maintenance routine.

12. A week before the season, take some time off. Get ready to go!

As said in the previous post, lots of comments are welcome, remember its a team sport.
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Off Season Chronicles

Yea, like it or hate it the off season with all its issues(player movements especially) are here with us. After about six months of exciting but stressful competition(five months regular season and another 12 days of Thome Cabalan), everybody definitely needs a rest.

From the players, to the coaches, to the officials and even fans(I know lots of you wont agree because you wish there was all year round basketball). Everybody does take a rest or a vacation from their jobs once in while even if its not regular. But for us in the sports world, the off season should be more than a rest period.

I have been reading around trying to gather some information about what exactly we could do to help make us better for next season. This is going to be a three part article. For the next three days we see what players, coaches and officials are supposed to do in the off season to make them better for the next season. Remember, lots of comments are welcome.
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