At our facility, we are getting a lot of fall athletes who are wanting to begin their off-season training.  They have the winter months off, so there is a good 3-4 months of uninterrupted training before most of these athletes will have to do a spring sport.

With that in mind, there are 5 things an athlete must do in the off-season to assure that they will be better than what they were at the end of the previous season.

These 5 items are listed in no particular order.

  1. You would be wise to have a meeting with the coach of the sport you just finished to get an end of the year review. You should discuss how the season went for you personally and what you need to work on for the next year. This is important because you might have a different perspective then the coach on what you need to work on. But, ultimately the coach should have the best insight because he/she knows their team best and how you can be productive for that team.

  2. Now that you have an idea what you need to work on for next season from the coach, you need to figure out what your goals will be for next season and WRITE THEM DOWN. This will be an important tool for you not just in sports, but for life in general. As you look to get ahead in life, mentors will tell you to write your goals down. If you don’t write them down, then they are just wishes and dreams.  

    Once you write them down, you can begin a plan of attack on how you will want to accomplish these goals. If you want these goals bad enough, then do what you need to do to accomplish these goals. Instead of watching the computer for hours on end, take an hour and do something towards this goal.  

  3. Off-season work will include some type of strength and conditioning program. Maybe it will be a speed program. Maybe it will also include a specialty coach giving you lessons on the skill of your sport. Now that the games and practices of the season are over, this needs to be a priority. Get your eating right as well. If you need to gain weight, figure out what you need to do to get in the right calories for that.

  4. Maintain good grades. If you are talented enough to have college coaches look at you, they are going to want to see your grades. They don’t want dummies. If you are getting good grades that might give you a leg up on other athletes they are looking to give that same scholarship too.

  5. Be organized so you can have some fun. Yes, you might need to sacrifice some fun things in order to accomplish some of the above items. If you are organized though, you can still find some time to have some fun and be a kid. Hang with your friends and just veg on the couch sometimes. But, you have to be organized.

If you can do all five of those items, I can almost guarantee that you will go into the next season the best version of you that has been seen thus far!

Photo courtesy of Peter Gordon on Flickr: https://www.flickr.com/photos/superwebdeveloper/