Managing Your Program: Giving Players a Focus for the Off-Season

For most programs, January is the start of the off-season.The gains made in the next six months are critical and must happen in order to have success in the fall. Keeping players focused and moving toward their goals and the team’s goals sometimes is a challenge when the season is so far off. Having a system to provide feedback and recognize the accomplishments of players as they develop themselves helps motivate and create excitement while working through the winter months.Following the 2008 season, I began my first off-season with a struggling program. We played a varsity schedule in 2008 with only two senior starters and two junior starters. We were basically a junior varsity team made up of freshmen and sophomores. While we were able to compete in every game, at some point our lack of size, speed, and strength caused us major problems. Coming in, I knew an off-season commitment