The build-up before the "second season" begins
Check out Ryan Finn's occasional blog for CMSportsNet, where he will post his thoughts and experiences from playing high school sports in Carroll County.
In my last blog, I talked about what our team needed to do in order to prepare for our playoff game against Southern of Anne Arundel County. What I didn't talk about was how different the atmosphere is during these last couple weeks of practice.
After a long season, it seems that we are back to the start of the year. Going in 0-0 with any chance to lose, there's a different mindset to be had while getting ready for such a big game.
Practicing Hard
Practices before playoff games are always super intense and competitive between our team. Our practices usually consist of a lot of skill work based on how our opponent will play, such as shooting and defensive drills.
Something new we did this year was we did a fully simulated game against the starters and the second team (in this case, Southern). Using this game, we are really able to gauge how our opponent plays, and what tendencies each player has.
The Night Before
The night before the game can always be a rough one. Thinking about what plays could happen, the crowd, the other team, etc. The nonstop thoughts and nerves spiraling through one's brain will keep you up at night.
Although the nerves are there, it exemplifies for our team that we really care and want to win the game. If a team has no nerves, then they do not care about that game.
So even though the nerves will keep us up at night, they show that our team cares.
Different Mindset
With playoff games, there's a lot going through our teams head. For me and our other seniors, this could be our last game in our high school career.
To combat this feeling, keeping the energy high before games always helps us "lock-in." Our goal is to not only win the game, but play our hearts out no matter the outcome.
With that, building off the student section's support always helps ease our jitters before such a big game.
Even though we will have nerves about every game we play, it won't affect us. Our team puts a lot of time and effort everyday at our practice to be successful.
Coming on Tuesday, we are ready to play our hearts out no matter the outcome.
NOTE: The regional basketball playoffs got started last weekend, so let's take a look at a 2A West quarterfinal between a pair of our Carroll County rivals.