Early Risers

Last week marked the beginning of our conditioning and fitness workouts.  Fall is an important time for a basketball team.  Not only do we get in shape-we team bond.  Something about shared pain brings people together.  Teammates find out a lot about each other as they file into the gym before the sun is fully up.  Sometimes it's hard to understand how chasing tennis balls around the gym floor and trying walk with really tight bands around your ankles is going to lead to hitting 40% of your 3 point shots.

Playing college basketball is a huge commitment.  We are running sprints on September 15th in order to have a shot at being in a championship game on March 15th.  Fall is the time when toughness is revealed and team cultures are formed.  Players have to ask themselves "how much do I really love this" because it is way too hard to fake it.  

I love this time of year and sometimes my smiles during a particularly grueling session are viewed as sadistic.  But I smile because I know our team is being transformed.  I know we are going through a fire that, if we embrace it, will make us resilient and unbreakable when we are being tested.  There is no glamour or fanfare this time of year.  No family or friends make the trip to be in the stands at 7 am to cheer for a perfect plank.  It's just you and your teammates, pushing each other to get better and leaning on each other to get through that last sprint.

It's when the championship dreams come to life.       

New Year's Resolution

I have never been one to commit to any kind of new year's resolution in the past.  Frankly, I think the whole thing is kind of silly.  Anything that I really want to do for myself-I will just do.  Plus, New Year's is a really busy and stressful time in the life of a college basketball coach.  We barely even notice there is an event going on (unless you mean watching more game film for the next conference opponent) and we certain don't stay up til midnight!

Now is the true New Year for coaches and teams.  We are excited and anxious to get started and bring our new players into fold.  Everyone has great dreams and expectations and we will all be asked to renew old commitments and make many new ones, as well.

One of the commitments I'm going to make is to stick with this blog for the whole year.  It's good for me to take the time to reflect on what is going on in the midst of the craziness of our season.  It's good to share with the people who care about us and love to have an "inside peek" into our day-to-day. Basketball is one of the longest seasons in all of college sports.  We will start going conditioning and preparing 5 days a week on September 15th.  Our season ends in mid-March.  We have many, many ups and downs, joys and sorrows, pains and triumphs.  Remembering to enjoy the ride and truly embrace the whole experience (good and bad) is sometimes very difficult.

So please, come along for the ride.  Let me know your thoughts from time-to-time and we'll see where the New Year takes us!

Coach Bain