Goal for Pre-Season

Coach, what are you goals for pre-season?

Unlike the NBA or college where there are scheduled exhibition games, high school teams may or may not (under their state rules) have a scrimmage but more often than not you're playing games that count right out of the gate.

How do you use your 2-3 weeks of practice before the games begin and how do you use your first games? Is it exhibition season and you're trying out different lineups with the results being secondary? Or are you playing damn the torpedoes right out of the gate and doing everything possible to win?

A lot has to do with your philosophy of the season, if every game is a must win, you'll probably have your all your sets and defenses and you'll play your top 6 or 7 to win. Sure you'll win games but at the expense of your bench and mastery of your stuff.

If you view the season as a marathon, you'll most likely have stuff you're going to put in later in the season and you'll spend time on developing players 8,9, and 10 on your roster by giving them playing time. The negative is you might lose games early on and your players might lose some confidence.

Either philosophy isn't bad. A team that plays to win early and succeeds will have almost unstoppable confidence as the playoff season comes closer. A team that is taking the longer view of the season will see growth along every step of the way and be a really tough team to beat in playoffs.

There is no right or wrong answer to this subject, you as a coach much determine your philosophy and stick to it.