NCDS: Pat Skerry, Asst. Coach - Providence ("The Importance of the Offseason")

By: Pat Skerry, Asst. Coach - Providence College

Unfortunately, our season ended earlier than we would have liked here at Providence. But rather than dwell on what could have been, we are excited about the offseason with an eye to the 2010-2011 campaign. It is said while teams are made in the winter, players are made in the off-season.  In order to improve as players, our guys must be willing to put in the same effort and work ethic and have the same focus from April to October that they exhibit from October to March. With that in mind, we will give our players some time off in order to reflect on the season that was and focus on their academics before we jump right back into basketball mode with individual and group workouts within the next few weeks until the end of the school.

Over the next couple of weeks, our staff will meet with each player individually to go over the areas of their game that they are strongest in, where they must improve and what they can do to getter better and achieve their goals both on an individual basis as well as within their role on the team. Goals are extremely important because they help to keep a player on track and provide a great benchmark for success. We will also meet with all our returning players as a team before the end of the school year in order to reinforce what we expect over the next seven months.

The offseason is especially significant when you have a young team as we did this past season. This year our roster included eight new faces – six freshmen and two incoming junior college transfers, many of whom arrived on campus early to participate in summer classes.  This time allowed not only our new guys but our returning players as well to get to know one-another in a non-basketball setting. The camaraderie of a team can have just as much an impact on the success of a team as their performance on the hardwood.

Finally, in many ways, the offseason is just as important to the development of our players as our in-season practices and workouts. This is a time when our players can continue with their conditioning, improve their strength and maintain (and in some cases increase) their weight, as well as work on specific skill sets – whether that is low-post moves, ball handling or their perimeter shot to name a few.  Outside of the individual workouts run by our staff, we encourage our guys to get into the gym on their own – by themselves, with a teammate or as a team when playing pickup.  During these sessions in the gym, we want and are looking for the guys who will push and motivate each other to get better so that by the time the start of the season comes around, we will be ahead of the curve.

We are excited about the future of Friar Basketball and we are confident that the effort our guys will put in during the next several months will pay great dividends on the court next season!

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