We Didn’t Just Say It…The Success of an Extended Pre-season

Soccer participates in a Scrim Fest in North Adams, MA

The 2014-2015 Miss Hall’s athletic year officially began on Friday as soccer and volleyball players returned to begin pre-season practices. The girls and coaches will have a week and a half of practices before official varsity tryouts on Sunday. We’ve been on the fields and courts for only three days, but the progress has been tremendous and the work has been intense. After three days of double sessions the girls have today off before getting back after it on Wednesday. To say that they are happy to be back and out there is an understatement. These kids, coaches, and our trainer have worked extremely hard so far, challenged themselves in many ways, had a bunch of fun, and have all gotten better.

I’ll never forget my first pre-season as a volleyball coach in 2009. We had a good first day, but the second day didn’t go nearly as well. Practices were inefficient and I wasn’t nearly as prepared, as I should have been. I remember my dad telling me, “It’s pre-season for you too.” I certainly learned from that, but our coaches this year have brought a tremendous amount of passion, energy, and excitement to their respective sports. I’m proud of them for their work and preparation. I’ve said for a few years that I believe our School’s collection of coaches is one of the best in NEPSAC. We may be in pre-season on the athletic calendar, but our coaches are in mid-season form.

 When I started in 2009 our pre-season was only three days. We’d have two days of doubles sessions and a fifth practice on Saturday morning before opening meetings. There was so much going on during this time that we only had all of our kids for one of these practices. We then had tryouts on Sunday and our first game in less than a week. There were many discussions about extending the pre-season to not only give the girls a chance to practice more, get into game shape, and begin the team bonding process, but also to reduce injuries. Since we extended the pre-season from three days to eight days we have certainly seen a decrease in injuries, but also an increase in performance. Volleyball has been one of our most consistent programs making the tournament in 4 of the past 5 seasons, while soccer recorded its best record in program history last year.

I recently started watching Grey’s Anatomy. I figured that since I’m married to a healthcare professional I should have some idea of what goes on during the day at a hospital and, from what I’m told, Grey’s does a pretty good job of displaying what goes on. Obviously not 100% accurate, but the show is entertaining nonetheless. A great line I recently heard from the show was “Don’t just say it, do it.” We didn’t just say it…we did it. Without the support of the current administration, faculty, staff, for AD, Abbey Nyland, former Dean of Academics & Faculty, Jenny Chandler, and, of course, the student-athletes and their parents and guardians, the extended pre-season wouldn’t have happened. I’m not sure where our programs would be without it. Maybe our records would’ve ended up being the same even without the increased amount of practice time, but to be honest, I doubt that. Our school values athletics and values the experiences of our student-athletes. Our kids and coaches do what they do because they love it—they learn a number of life lessons, while always having fun. At the same time, they want to win and play to win. They’re hungry to improve and get better every single day, which in my opinion, is admirable. Our student-athletes have made us all extremely proud…we owed it to them to give them the best preparation and situation to be successful. We didn’t just say it…we did it.

Finding Time To Relax

As we head into mid-August and we start to focus on getting back in the groove of school and pre-season, it’s more important than ever to find time to just kick back and relax. There’s no doubt that this is important to do this throughout the year, but there’s nothing like entering a new school year feeling refreshed and excited. One of the two books our Student Life Team was to read this summer was Thrive by Arianna Huffington. In short, it’s about what she defines as the “third metric” of success.  Claiming money and power as the first two metrics, she discusses how the concepts of well-being, wisdom, wonder, and giving make up this third metric that ultimately fulfills our lives. I certainly had mixed feelings about this book, but I don’t know if I’ve ever gotten a more important message. I’ve taken time to get back into yoga, meditate, give back in a number of different ways, and truly appreciate myself and life in general.

In fact, I feel healthier, which I believe was the point of this book. She described the first two metrics as two legs of a three-legged stool–without the third leg, you’ll eventually fall over. This image stuck with me. I’ll be honest, I couldn’t stand the book for the first 40 pages. I didn’t want someone who had money and power to tell me how much those things don’t matter, especially when there are people out there struggling everyday to make ends meet. As the book continued, she came more humane to me and I focused more on the message. It’s true…no matter the amount of money or power you have, you need other things to feel fulfilled. I feel like I’ve always been a relatively calm person, but also an anxious person. I feel like since starting yoga again and beginning meditation and taking time out of my day to simply relax, take to my wife without cell phones or the TV on, breathe, take my dog for a walk, etc. has improved my overall health and well-being. I feel much more at ease and comfortable when making decisions, while being able to focus better. I read a quote the other night by David Sanbonmatsu that said, “People don’t multitask because they are good at it. They do it because they are more distracted.” Finding time to relax, regardless of what avenue you choose, helps you focus. I’ve found that meditation helps tremendously with this. You sort of train your brain to focus on one thing.

I spent time this past weekend with some good friends in Rhode Island. We relaxed, ate good food, went to the beach, went out to Block Island, and just had some good fun and conversation. I came back yesterday refreshed and ready for the week. I saw my office and basketball courts in the gym in a whole new light! Imagine that…and it wasn’t because there was new lighting.  I was excited to get going and thinking about school and fall sport.  It’s often hard to find this time as we are so often debilitated by time or a lack thereof. Trust me, I was terrible at this. I’m still not very good at it as I always have my phone with me and out (except when driving) and I feel the need to constantly feel connected to information. But for what? It will be there an hour from now. This is something I’m trying to get better at. The small changes I’ve made have helped me appreciate myself and the people in my life in a whole new way. A challenge to myself is directly involved with my phone, computer, and iPad. I’ll let you know how that goes. I challenge you to find this time in your life if you haven’t done so already. I still have quite a long way to go to be as successful as I want to be….don’t we all?