September marks the beginning of the fall high school season here in Massachusetts. As I prepped for the 2017 season, one of the topics that I looked to address was the pregame warm-up for my boys’ side at Pembroke High School.
Through many of the camps that I participated in over the summer, I brought this topic up with my fellow coaches to seek their advice, thoughts and opinions on what they do and what they valued. Below are my thoughts on how to best prepare your team as you build for kickoff.
Time management
For home games, you typically will have as much time as you need because you will not need to board a bus and travel. For Pembroke, all of the players are asked to be dressed and ready to go 45 minutes before game time. Unless a player has to stay after school for academic reasons or they are delayed in the trainer’s room, there are no exceptions to being on time. This is non-negotiable for our squad. The 45 minutes is broken up into five stages in order to maximize our time and to properly prepare both physically and mentally for game time.
