#8 “Off-Season”

       This one can be summed up in one sentence: “there is no ‘off-season’”. The academic school year consumes 9 months of the year. This was designed on purpose for its practicality in productivity of early American education. Brains were thought s muscles that needed to be rested at some point. Enjoy this break and come back in the fall prepared to have your best academic year. Athletically, however, every sport is different. There are intricacies to each pre-season, in-season, school season, travel season, etc. However, one thing they all have in common is the “off-season”. Mediocre student-athletes see this time as a break, but successful student-athletes do not. This is the time to work out all the kinks, recover from injuries, and enhance the smaller pieces to your game. The ‘off-season” is a blessing to athletes who want to be successful. The weight room can be used to its full potential, the facilities and fields can be utilized as personal training grounds. No interruptions to shared playing time, just raw improvement and concentration on you. This is the only time of year that the player can think about themselves before the team, because ultimately their improvements help the team in the long run.
      In order to fully capitalize on an “off-season” a student-athlete must come into that season with specific goals that will challenge them and if completed leave them in a dominating position for the next season. Goals must be tangible. Numbers that can be measured. They can not be open ended objective goals left up to interpretation. Clear goals create clear results and prohibit excuses. Every day is a bonus day to get ahead of the game, a chance to reach the next goal and be that much better. These days can not be wasted. There can also be no steps taken in the wrong direction. Players can not shoot themselves in the foot during the off-season and expect to perform when the season rolls around. More importantly, athlete’s mindsets cannot slip during their “off-season”. This is not a time to become soft and forget about the hard work that goes into being a competitor. Expectations must stay high and the grind cannot slow down.
      Taking full advantage of an off-season will make that off-season disappear. Rather, it will become a hard-worker’s dream. Having strong goals and a good work ethic during the off-season will boost an athlete’s game to a whole other level.

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