It is now football time. It is a time I dread each year. It is the time that both of my boys will put on their helmets and pads and go get smashed around while opposing teams try to throw them to the ground. It will all be legal but, oh, how I pray they do not get seriously injured while they do it. Basketball season is just fifteen weeks away from starting and both of them have been able to work over the summer to improve their game. I sat down to think about how they can keep their hoop talents honed while still playing another sport as their primary sport for the next few months.

We will not have an issue with the lack of time to devote to their basketball workout until school begins in a few weeks. Until then they will dribble and play daily with their friends in our backyard and we will wrap up our summer basketball leagues. There is still some good basketball left to play. When school begins football will dominate their time. They will get home after dark on some days and will not have the opportunity to just go to and play like they were able to all summer long while they played baseball.

My solution for a young athlete is something that is hard for them to do successfully. The solution is to plan a lot more to be able to schedule time to get the work in for the out of season sport. The way I like to do it best is to say that a player will play the out of season sport for at least 3 hours per week in a basketball practice mode. Ideally they will not wait and get the whole time in on a Saturday afternoon but if that is all that is available, I will take it. In a perfect world they can get to a gym a couple of nights per week and do basketball shooting drills (not goofing around but actually shooting drills being done at game speed). I would then ask that they break off a little additional time on the weekends to be able to devote to different skills such as basketball dribbling. In a perfect world they can play pick up games with players of similar talent on the weekend to really round out the effort and keep them almost game sharp. I realize that sometimes the coach of the in-season sport will not want the players to participate in any off-season games. If that is the situation you are in you have to acknowledge and abide the rules of your team.

When I was growing up I was brainwashed by my mother who used to tell me that the only reason they had football season was so that the rest of us could get ready for basketball season. My mother was also afraid of us getting hurt and losing our basketball season so she forbid us to play football. I loved her.

My kids go to a small school so most kids play multiple sports. If the students decided to focus on only one or two sports the football team would barely be able to field a team. That is not fair to the football program so there is a lot of coordination that goes on to help the athletes play multiple sports. It is a joy to watch.

The one thing you can do to keep your skills honed during the season leading up to basketball is to keep playing. Basketball is the sport that a player can lose their touch in the shortest amount of time and it can take the longest time to get it back. Don’t get caught losing the ground you have gained over the summer with all of your hard work by not playing over the next couple of months.