Summer Goals:Our primary goal was developing team chemistry. We tried to do activities during the summer that we wouldn't have time for during the season. We would always take an overnight trip usually to Galesburg to play 5 or 6 games against teams we don't normally play. This was a great opportunity to develop team chemistry in a relaxed setting.
Our second goal was working on fundamentals. We would spend mornings working on fundamentals and then would play games in the evening.
Our final summer goal was to play teams that would expose our weaknesses and make us aware of anything we might need to work on. We liked playing teams that pressed so we could work against it.
Hopefully by the end of summer I knew area we needed to work on and the players had an idea where they fit in.
When coaching football, our main goal was to improve quickness, speed, and strength while hopefully increasing team camaraderie. We had a very simplistic scheme so we did not have to spend a ton of time on X's and O's.
We actually wanted them to spend as little time with the coaching staff as possible. We didn't want to spend endless hours with them and then peak in week 3 while experiencing burnout at the end of the season. Again, that is easier to do if you are not running a very sophisticated scheme.
The best thing I ever did was turn summer workouts over to other coaches. For a while I was coaching basketball and football and I had numerous different people coaching summer basketball leagues for me. It was nice to have other people instruct them so they would hear a different voice. With football workouts, I had numerous people around me with great strength and conditioning backgrounds. Job Linboom and Jim Noonan had extensive experience so for numerous summers I had them running summer workouts.
I think one of the things we changed the most over the years was our summer program. You have to build in the right amount of work, with also making sure kids are doing normal activities. What I mean by that is working, hanging out with friends and going on family vacations. Our main goals for our program during the summer were to getting stronger and faster, install our basic drills and schemes we would use during the season, and compete to be a better athlete and young man.
Getting stronger and faster were elements that continued from our winter and spring sessions. We would open our weight room in the morning and afternoon/evening to accommodate people’s schedules, especially athletes that are involved in other sports. We would try and have our kids in and out in under an hour. This was also a great team bonding time when you would have a lot of your team in there.
Competition was a key component in our summer as well. We would do some 7 on 7’s. We were a wing-t team and ran all the stuff we would run in the regular season. Some teams would run special plays and defenses in these competitions. For me it was to get better at what we do. Sometimes we would have competition Fridays. We had always divided our team into other teams with seniors or certain juniors to run these. It was a way for upperclassmen to get to know younger players. Winners of that week would get out of certain conditioning or something else. Most of these competitions had nothing to do with football. My favorites were dodgeball and Simon Says.
The absolute best thing we did was we went to a team camp with the varsity at the 4 time consecutive NCAA Division III National Champs…the Augustana Vikings! We would have 2-3 practices a day but that was secondary to the leadership and team building activities we would do. Our players were given a schedule and they had to make sure they were at practices, meetings, and meals without a coaches help. At the end of camp we would vote on our captains for the year. It was my favorite thing we ever did.
I have always been a believer that productive summer activities were very significant to our overall program success in both basketball and football. As I was coaching both sports, we set our schedules so that summer basketball was in June and summer football took place in July.
All of our athletes were encouraged to participate in strength, speed, and conditioning training through the summer. Although we stressed the importance of the summer program, for both team and individual development, we did acknowledge that summer activities were not mandatory and accepted the fact that many of our players would be unavailable at certain times.
Summer basketball for us normally included a one week camp of daily practices, biweekly open gym/practices for the remainder of the month, two or three summer shootouts, and participation in Evan Massey’s “almost world famous” Galesburg Summer League.
Our primary goals for the summer always included the introduction of freshmen and other new players to our basic playbook/drills, polishing basic skills/fundamentals, and developing chemistry/execution heading into the upcoming season.
One of the most beneficial aspects of our summer program was the fact that we always played a challenging schedule at summer leagues and shootouts. Playing larger schools and schools with traditionally strong programs, pushed us to improve as a team and made us tougher/more resilient.
Our summer football program included a two week camp of daily practices, a biweekly 7 on 7 passing league, passing league/skills position practices, and an “end of summer” 7 on 7 tournament that also included a lineman skills challenge.
As it took place right before the “real” season, our primary goal usually centered around installation of our base offense, defense, and special teams. Taking care of this before starting true practices allowed us to spend more time on opponent preparation and position specific activities when regular practices commenced.
I always felt that having the majority of our playbook installed, before starting “real” practices, was the most beneficial aspect of our summer program, as it gave us a “head start” on many of our opponents and put us in a much better position to to get a win in week #1.
I wanted the summer to be something that got the players excited about basketball and excited about their team. Each summer we tried to travel to tourneys and camps. We would go to Maine West and Stevenson to play weekends in Chicago. At different times, we went to camps at U of Wisconsin, U of Michigan, Purdue, Missouri, U of North Carolina, and U of Tennessee. These were great basketball experiences but they were also fun for the players and got them excited.
I wanted our high school camps to establish how we want to approach practice. We may have only gone 90 minutes and for two weeks, but we wanted them to understand the intensity of how we were going to practice.
For the players, early in the summer we wanted to give them ideas of how they could work on their game to improve their skills. So we gave them workout ideas.
For me, I wanted by the end of the summer program to have an idea of how this group could score and who in this group could score. Year to year, we didn’t necessarily change our offense, but we changed how we ran things to take advantage of our best players. I didn’t want to have to experiment in games in November and December, I wanted to go into the season knowing there were things that worked for us.
I had the players at the end of the season “nominate” players to be captains. We announced the next year’s captains at our banquet. I wanted to use the summer to develop our captains’ leadership skills and their relationship with me as a coach. I had the captains responsible for 100 little tasks in the summer to practice being leaders. I had the captains work every youth camp we ran. I wanted them to feel like they were on the coaching staff.
Bob Anderson- Williamsfield
I had about 3 things that i wanted to accomplish in the summer.
#1 was to see who could compete on the varsity level.
#2 to get an idea of whether we could compete as a team on the varsity level.
#3 was to keep the ball in these kids hands during the summer months. we all know some kids wouldn't touch a ball if we didn't make it available to them.
Another thing I did was to let my asst. coach the team during the games in the summer and I took notes and talked to them after each game.
One of the first things that comes to mind is how we handled camp time. We all know for the high school (especially varsity) teams, this is summer practice. It would include skill work, even though I was finding in the past few years many of our guys had been in the gym with AAU teams or working on skills on their own during the spring. The other aspect we focused on at camp was implementing our system and trying out any new ideas we were possibly looking to install to see how they worked.
The other aspect of the summer was playing games to see how we were progressing as well as evaluate players in game-like situations. One important thing we reminded players of was that their camp fee was only for camp. The entry fees for summer tournaments were paid for from our basketball account. We made sure players understood that meant not every player at camp was going to be going to all the games with equal playing time. We would try to rotate some guys for different events in order to give them a chance to play in front of the coaches.
Making the summer schedule was always something I tried to evaluate from year to year as well as basing it on the level of our experience. We generally didn't play in a weeknight league because of players who were involved in other sports. I believe playing teams from around the state was important for our players to see where we stood in order to focus on how we needed to improve. If we had aspirations of making a post-season run, it also gave us a chance to see top teams from other areas. And it usually involved one or two overnight trips to work on team chemistry.
One potentially dangerous thing that could arise is putting too much stock in your summer record. Summer games don't always translate to regular season games, and expectations of players or the general public could become a little unreasonable.
I think one of the better things we tried for 2 or 3 summers (2015-2018 time frame) was to go back to pre-Contact Days in our summer games. We had some experienced teams, so we allowed them to coach themselves with the coaches sitting in the stands. It was amazing how different it looked. The players and some fans wondered how that could work!
Obviously, they didn't realize that is how it looked before the IHSA instituted Contact Days around 2000 and let coaches be on the bench and coach. We realized right away how much the players relied on us to do almost everything. As the summers went on, we saw leadership start to develop as they had to substitute, call timeouts, and determine game situations on their own. There were a few times it cost us a close loss, but in the big picture, we figured we were getting more of it in the long run
Mike Tracey- Alleman, UTHS
Summer camps can be positive or dangerous. I think the coach must really know his community before he sets up his schedule and his demands.
Our goals for summer camp were simple. We wanted our kids to get better physically and mentally. We counted on our veteran players to be leaders. It wasn’t just coaches doing the coaching.
It was the responsibility of the juniors and seniors to show the younger kids how to practice. It was also their responsibility to demonstrate what was expected during our workouts. As our program grew and progressed over time, it was very rewarding to observe the older guys teaching the younger guys.
It was very important for our coaches to realize that our players were involved in other sports and had their commitments for summer camps other than football. We did our best to treat our players and their families with respect in regards to their other summer activities.
Communication was extremely important. We shared a daily schedule with each player and their families. We were very clear about what we expected on each date. It was then the responsibility of the family and player to communicate with us about potential conflicts.
Jeff Parsons- Wethersfield, Fulton
Our goals in the summer was 2 fold. We wanted to take our in players and make them better individually with Skill Work. We felt like if our players were better individually, than that would translate to more wins and sucess as a team. We focused on different moves of the dribble and pass. Being able to create your own shot, being able to let other help you create your own shot via screening and cutting actions. We focused of dribbling vs pressure and shooting the basketball more consistently. We wanted to make sure we were putting the time in to help develop players of all levels.
As a team, one of the best things we did over my time as head coach was play less games in the summer and focus more on skill development. We would give players a chance to play with different groups in the summer to see what players messed with each other the best. It’s a myth that you start your 5 best players. You start the 5 best players that work together the best that give you the best chance to win. That process always started the summer.
Summer (with Volleyball in the fall) was obviously very important… our goals and calendar over the summer changed as contact rules changed, and evolved over the years.
I always thought it was important to get something going early so it kind of became part of their routine. We had a once or 2x a week league up to about 4 July. Sometimes we hosted our camp in June.
Maybe not every year, but 4 out of 5 we did a team camp on campus. Back in the dark ages they were 5 days, now’s probably overnight.
Kids who were invested in the summer became kids committed during the season. If younger kids were going to be incorporated obviously this was a great opportunity to do that.
The team camps were certainly the best. It was tremendous team building, on & off the court.
Bob Anderson- Williamsfield HS
Bob is retired as boys basketball coach at Williamsfield. At a school of only 89 students, in 45 years, his teams won 732 games along with numerous tourney and conference championships. His 1997 team made it to the Elite 8.
Mike Cooper- Ottawa HS
Mike is the retired Athletic Director at Ottawa HS. He was varsity girls basketball coach for 22 years, as well as sophomore football coach for many years. He was inducted in the the IBCA HOF.
Tim Engebretson- United HS
He was varsity head football coach for many years at United HS. He also has coached basketball at different levels. His 2005 team won the Illinois State Title, and Tim is in the Illinois Football Coaches' HOF as well as the United HOF.
Greg King- Sterling HS
In his head coaching career at Sterling, his football teams went 78-28, and had 10 straight play-off appearances and 5 conference titles. In addition to his success as a football coach, he was inducted in the Illinois Athletic Director's Association HOF.
Mark Massey- Clinton HS
Mark was the head volleyball coach at Clinton for 38 years. His teams won 818 games, and twice took second in State. He is in the Iowa Volleyball HOF and Clinton HS HOF.
Thom Sigel- Rock Falls/Rock Island HS
Thom coached basketball for 32 years. His teams won 502 games, and he has the distinction of winning the State Title at both Rock Falls and Rock Island. Thom is in the IBCA HOF.
Mike Tracey- Alleman, UTHS, Moline HS
Mike coached football at Alleman, UT, and Moline for over 20 years. He is considered the premier football coach in WB6 history. His teams won 140 games, and twice finished second in State. Mike is in the Alleman HS HOF and the Illinois Football HOF. He was also selected Illinois AD of the Year.
Greg Bennett- Lewistown
Greg coached many sports at Lewistown. He had teams go to State in girls basketball and football. He is in the Illinois Football HOF as well as being in the Illinois Basketball Hall of Fame. He is know for his commitment as a coach and his high energy level.
Jeff Parsons- Wethersfeild, Fulton
Jeff was a highly successful baseball and basketball coach at Kewanee Wethersfield. He was inducted into the IBCA HOF. Presently he is the Athletic Director at Fulton.
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