NCDS: Jeremy Shyatt, Assistant Coach - North Florida ("Boot Camp")
By: Jeremy Shyatt, Assistant Coach - North Florida
The capstone of our preseason workouts
consisted of five days of conditioning that we referred to as
“Boot Camp.” While all teams have some type of physical
and mental preparation prior to starting practice, ours was
especially intriguing.
Our format was basic. Each day we would gather at 6am in the gym,
and Boot Camp would last for about 75 minutes. Activities would
consist of various stations for the first half (cone slides,
closeouts, intense agilities, etc.), and then some type of team
conditioning exercise for the remainder of time (20 22 second
sprints, the “ladder” up to 11, etc.)
Now while most college preseason conditioning regiments consist of
something similar, there was one aspect of our Boot Camp here that
I loved…themes.
Each day in Boot Camp had a theme for the day, hand picked by the
staff as something we felt vital as a message we needed to get
across to our guys that would have an impact on winning…
Monday: Take One for the Team Day
-Self explanatory…we need to be selfless and
servants…in order to achieve success, we must be willing to
sacrifice ourselves for our teammates. Whenever Coach Driscoll
would toss a fake explosive (racquetball ball) at a random time
during the day on the ground someone had better see it, and dive on
it within 5 seconds to prevent a team run, instantly.
Tuesday: Bad Call Day
-Everyone knows that you are going to have those games when it
seems all three officials are out to get you. We try to teach our
guys to “do the next right thing” and in order to win a
championship, you must be able to not only handle adversity, but
persevere in the end. Throughout the day, Coach Driscoll may call
out a player, saying he wasn’t going hard enough, or he
didn’t make his time, or he did not touch a line during
sprints. The entire group would have to do the station or sprint
over again. Some call outs may be blatantly false, but as a staff,
we wanted to see which guys would get past this quickly. It
wasn’t until the end of the day that Coach Driscoll told the
team that that day was “Bad Call Day,”
Wednesday: Talk Day
By far, my most favorite day, as I love when guys are loud on
the court. We have an expression that you must be “Early,
Loud, and Continuous” at all times in order to be the most
effective communicators as a team. During this day, each coach
would have three terms from our basketball terminology that we want
our guys habitually yelling out (Mine were “Use Me,”
“Get Me,” and “One More”). Whenever a coach
would yell out that term, the entire group would have to echo the
call three times (Early, Loud, and Continuous). Again, another way
to build good habits.
Thursday: Come From Behind Day
-Obviously, coming from behind is one of the toughest things to
do as a team in order to win a basketball game. On this day, we did
not have a clock for stations. Guys needed to understand that they
had to go hard for the ENTIRE time (no matter how many overtimes
you play) or there is no way you can mount a massive comeback to
win a game.
Friday: Win on the Road Day
-The culmination of Boot Camp was a field trip to the beach at
5:30am. We wanted to show our guys that the mark of a mentally
strong team was being able to conquer all types of adversity-away
from our home gym. We all went out to Atlantic Beach where the guys
had to complete “the ladder” up to 11. It definitely
wasn’t easy to say the least, but unique—Coach Driscoll
even received a ticket from a police officer because he failed to
adhere to the city’s “Noise Ordinance Policy.” I
guess that is what happens when you interrupt a sunrise wedding
with whistle upon whistle upon whistle!! It was well worth seeing
the guys faces of accomplishment and also seeing them dump Coach
Driscoll into the ocean at the end.
-Besides getting the guys in shape and ready for the season,
getting up early and going through these themes definitely brought
us closer as a family.
