An Easy Week For The Weary

My parents taught me to work--that you couldn't get anywhere in life without working harder than the next person. We were a family who thought a weekend off meant going to the farm, cutting hay, fixing fence, and burning brush. Relaxation was kin to sin and so I never really learned how to simply sit and enjoy the moment as a youngster. I knew if I wanted to be successful I had to work while my opponent was resting.

I gave some personal background to assist you in understanding how challenging it is for me to provide the team with an active rest week. This is a week where we continue to train but we change the methods of our training. Instead of running timed sprint sets, we play games like Ultimate Frisbee, Gator Ball (an adapted form of soccer where you can use your hands), Hungarian Dodge Ball, Czechoslovakian Dodge Ball, and Russian Tag.

All of the games are running games involving strategies to win where I can legally watch under NCAA rules how players perform under pressure scenarios. We can determine if they grasp such concepts as ball pressure, spacing, screening, cutting and passing. We can also quickly analyze whether or not they are smart, how quickly they grasp tactics, and how competitive they are.

One of the things I love to do is to make horrible officiating calls to watch for negative reactions. I simply make up rules to the games as we go along, trying to bait a player to get angry. Whenever I am successful, I stop the game and the team runs sprints. This is meant to assist them with the idea we cannot control the officials and to focus instead on their reactions which are controllable. We believe yelling at the officials or showing anger or disbelief at a call not only angers the officials but it gives power to the opponents. Opponents can gain momentum when they feel the disruption in our belief system. We allow ourselves to be victims when we give our power away to the officials.

Active rest week is also meant to provide a mental break, to allow the players to recover from the intense work we've been doing, and to add the feeling of fun back into training. While it is true I enjoy watching them battle through timed sprint sets, I'm not so certain they feel the enjoyment as much as I do. I do know this, though, they love it when the sprints are over and feel as if they have achieved something remarkable, which they have.

This team is special and I know I say that every year, and it is because I believe it every year, but this team--there is something amazing about them. I think it is their energy; it is like they are bound together in a team energy which flows in and out of each one of them gaining power with every practice. I like the feel of being around them.

Last week was a good recovery week and now we are back to getting tougher and becoming stronger.

PLAY HARD. PLAY TOGETHER.