There will come a time when winter asks ....

"What did you do with your summer?"

In our state the governing body that rules high school athletics made a significant decision a number of years ago. The decision allowed coaches to work with their players basically during June and July. When this change

was made I had an AD predict it would lead to "burn out" in basketball coaches. I respected his opinion but I did't see any significant evidence that it has contributed to coaching burn out. I believe there are a number

of factors which can and do contribute to coaches feeling exhausted and

spent. The key I think relates to one of John Wooden's favorite concepts ..... balance. You as the coach have to make a judgement call about how much

is enough. I have known coaches and programs that practice 4 or 5 times a

week and play in tournaments almost every weekend in the summer. Other

coaches and programs did not practice at all and might play in 1 or 2 or no

summer tournaments. You get paid the "big bucks" to make these types of

decisions. Try to find the best balance for your players and yourself.

"The road less traveled."

Since we live in a democracy you as the coach have the freedom to use the summer period as you wish. Some coaches do nothing with their players or teams during this period. Some coaches have individual workouts during this period. Some coachers supervise open gym situations. Some coaches have their team play in summer leagues. Some coaches have camps or encourage their players go to camp. Some players decide to get involved in AAU programs. Some programs have summer practices.

Now our approach in the summer was this: We had a 4 or 5 day summer camp usually early in June. We practiced for an hour and a half twice a week in June and July. We played in 3-5 summer tournaments. These were almost always 1 day tournaments so we could keep expenses down. As the summers went by I switched from weekend tournaments and tried to find tournaments that were held during the week. This freed up weekends for players and their parents to do other summer type activities. We tried to play in competitive tournaments outside our areas so as to play teams we would not see during the season. I am not a big fan of local summer leagues. I really see little value in playing teams you play all winter and the officiating in most summer leagues I have seen is questionable at best. I felt going to summer tournaments that were well organized and well officiated gave our players some confidence but it also made them aware there were a lot of good teams and players throughout the state and if they wanted to compete with them they would need to play hard, smart and together.

I wanted our top varsity players to play together during the summer. So we tried to schedule tournaments that did not conflict with other summer sports, if at all possible. If we had players who were involved in summer baseball, or where playing in tennis tournaments, we tried to schedule around those events if possible. We tried not to put our athletes in a position where they had to chose between sports in the summer if possible. (And of course, sometimes you can not avoid having scheduling conflicts.). If there

was a scheduling conflict, I allowed the player to decide which event they

would participate in and NEVER pressured them or held it against them if

they decided to attend the other activity.

NONE of the things we did during the summer period were mandatory. Rarely, did we have a player not participate in any of the summer opportunities but we did not pressure them to participate. We WANTED them to WANT to participate in the summer program NOT pressured to do it.

Yes, I have heard stories of some coaches telling their players that they were expected to participate in the summer basketball opportunities available and if the players did not they should not come out during the season. I do not agree with this type of approach, but to each their own.

My experience comes from coaching at smaller schools where I felt it was important to share athletes and respect the other programs at our school. I wanted our players to play other sports and not become specialized. I wanted our players playing summer baseball/tennis and going to football camps when possible. I always preferred multiple sport athletes. I believed the more competitive situations a player is exposed to the better. I wanted the athlete who knows what its like to be at the plate with the bases loaded in the bottom of the last inning. I liked having football players in our program because football is a rare sport where you have the opportunity to respond to being physically confronted. Each sport presents its own challenges which I believe can benefit the participant and make them a

better competitor.