NCDS: Ryan Pedon, Asst. Coach - Miami of Ohio ("Life on the Road")

By: Ryan Pedon, Asst. Coach - Miami of Ohio

Well, I am writing this from a hotel room in Buffalo, NY as we are in the midst of preparing for our Mid-American Conference opener vs. Buffalo tomorrow afternoon. We have been on the road since last Sunday, and as we have traveled over 3,000 miles in the past five days. We left Oxford last weekend for the snow-capped mountains of Boulder, Colorado to face-off against The University of Colorado and unfortunately, lost another close game (our sixth loss by 7 points or less).

With our travels this week, we were faced with an unusual travel schedule that kept us on the road a little bit longer than usual. We played Tuesday night in Colorado, and instead of flying home back to Oxford, OH, we decided to merge the Colorado and Buffalo trips into one. With school being out for winter break, we were able to do so without our players having to miss any class.

Every team across the country will encounter these types of trips throughout the long regular season, and this was ours. From a coaching standpoint, these extended periods of time with your team can prove to be very valuable...........or not. Our head coach, Charlie Coles is always very particular about what our players are doing/not doing on trips like these. Despite all the extra time, we really try to scrutinize our every move in order to keep our players as sharp (mentally and physically) as possible.

For example, our schedule on Wednesday was completely dedicated to travel, as we flew from Denver to Atlanta, and then Atlanta to Buffalo. By the time we arrived in Buffalo on Wednesday night, we had dinner and sent the players to bed.

On Thursday, Coach Coles met with the team immediately following breakfast to outline our plan for the next few days. It was important, in his mind, that he set the tone with our team for the next few days in that initial meeting. Since we were already in Buffalo, we knew we would be in that same environment for the next three full days.

Anytime you are on the road for more than a day or two, it becomes very easy for things to get stale, and for players to fall into a comfort zone. I think when that happens, players tend to lose their competitive edge, their focus, and even their sense of urgency. Anyhow, our practices on Thursday and Friday were intense, and that was very important. 

The dead time on long trips like these are very important. We try to mix appropriate levels of activity and rest for the players in our down time. Too much of either will wear them out mentally, and of course that's not good.

On Friday, we practiced in the morning, gave them an hour and a half off, and then met for a few hours in the afternoon. Coach Coles talked to the team about our season, and then tied his comments into a discussion about a book that we are reading together as a team called Peaks and Valleys. The book is actually very appropriate for our team at this point in our season and it spurred a lot of discussion from our players. I think this activity was good because (1) it occupied more dead time, and (2) it provided an opportunity for productive conversation with our team- not regarding our next opponent.

Anyhow, it has been a great week (despite our loss at Colorado) and it has given our team valuable time to grow up together. As I said before, I think having extra time when you are on the road can be a great thing........or a bad thing. I sure hope that our productive use of this time will help to benefit our team, if not this weekend- then at some point down the road very soon.

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