When I was younger, being an athlete during the summer wasn’t that complicated.  You went to a camp or two for your sport.  Not necessarily with your team, but sometimes it was.  Maybe there were some summer workouts.  Maybe some open gyms, but nothing super structured.

Nowadays, I might be a little off base, but it is way out of hand.

When I got into the private sector, I thought summers would be huge for our business.  Finally, our athletes would have some free time to do uninterrupted training with the exception of the family vacation.

YEAH THAT ISN’T THE CASE.

If you are a fall athlete then you have about 8 weeks of summer, maybe 9, before you have to report August 1 for practice.

You have to now split your 8-9 weeks of summer between the 1 or 2 teams that your athlete potentially plays for.  And those teams are planning your athletes’ summer to the T.  Here are a few of the items that your athlete is doing this summer:

    • “Optional” Lifting/Conditioning – This could be 2-3 times a week run by your coaches.  Attendance is usually kept so that the coaches can see who has been coming often thus working hard.  In theory, this is a good idea.  The problem is if the group is too large and or the coaching not the greatest, it could be a waste of time for some athletes.  Meaning, they might not lift properly, do the right weight, and not accomplish what you want to accomplish – a stronger, quicker, athlete.  Plus, the potential for injury could be high.

    • Leagues – There are basketball leagues, 7 on 7 leagues for football, travel baseball, and it goes on and on.  Athletes are asked to participate in these with their teams.  If you play two sports, you might be in two leagues.  Which means your time is shrinking for extra training.  In theory, leagues can be good for competitive play.  But, with leagues comes some practices to get ready for the leagues, which means more time on your sport.  Ultimately, will this get your athletes better?  Possibly.  

    • Team Camps – I’ve come to the realization that going to your local college for a basketball camp to play more is a waste of time and money.  Hardly anyone practices what they learn at these camps.  Consequently, coaches now will go to team camps.  But these aren’t your typical team camps.  These are basically with 3 or 4 other teams and you either play all the time against each other or practice plays and then scrimmage.

    • Vacations – Families now stress out when they can get a family trip in.  They don’t want to take them for fear of harming their kids chances of doing well with their team.  But, trips are realities for most families and so you have a week or two where the athletes are away from training.  Maybe it could be a good thing to get away from the constant training and let the body rest and recover.  That way they can come back ready to rock and roll for their sport.

 

  • Open Gyms/Fields – All the above items are all structured and planned out.  Yes, kids could get better in the right scenario, but I think the open gym/field is where it is at.  Kids need to play without adults saying a D@MN word.  Roll the ball out there and let the kids pick teams, keep score, call fouls, etc.  They learn better the subtle nuances of the game that could be over-taught with all the structured camps, leagues, etc.  They also learn by trial and error.  “This kid keeps burning me, why is that, and how can I not let that happen again.”

 

I think kids can get all the team camaraderie they need through the open gyms/fields.  You group the kids appropriately and have the right workout programmed then your athletes can really prosper.  You eliminate all the time wasted for the other things and then maybe spend some time on some private instruction for your sport if you need it.

I know that you can’t ignore all those things for fear of not giving the right impression to your athlete’s coach.  But, if I were to make a suggestion, I would definitely focus on the open fields/gyms, with one short team camp, and make sure I had the right guy doing the team conditioning/lifting.  Ahem!

Photo courtesy of Travis Wise on Flickr: https://www.flickr.com/photos/photographingtravis/