The NBIAA season begins next week, at least for Junior teams, but it seems like we have had no time to properly prepare. Not only are soccer and football keeping players from practice but now the flu season has hit the school system with full force.
Including the tryouts, which began on October 20, we’ve had eight practices but on only two occasions have we had all players present. This past Thursday was the low point with only seven bodies at practice. I cancelled practice yesterday to give kids a rest but still only had nine players today.
As a result we have basically no team systems in place other than some basic man-to-man team concepts. No zone offense, no team defenses, no press break and no inbounds plays. Normally I wouldn’t be too concerned because we would still have nine days to go, but this year my team plays at home on Tuesday against Simonds, travels to Harbour View on Thursday then hosts a tip-off tournament on Friday and Saturday.
I think we will be coaching and learning on the fly for a few days. Hopefully we all are in the same predicament.