Pregame warmups

I recently wrote at length about the role of warmups in our offseason workouts. With that in mind, I want to turn to pregame warmups.

First, let’s start with the constraints. In Ohio high school basketball, we get 15 minutes on the main court (with one hoop and a full roster of players who need to get ready). That reality has to shape everything we do.

Too often, though, I see things that don’t make sense—like leaving the court for a locker room talk (wasting valuable court time on something that could and should have been handled earlier) or doing activities on the court that could have easily been done elsewhere.

Beyond that, players often aren’t mentally engaged at any point in the warmup process. Locker room talks are passive. Dynamic warmups are routine. On-court drills are scripted and repetitive. It’s no surprise, then, when teams come out flat.

Here’s how we’ve restructured our pregame warmups. All stretching, movements, and dynamics are done in another gym (before home games) or in a hallway (before away games). By the time we hit the court, we are full-go:

• Traditional layup lines to get comfortable in a controlled setting.
• Guided press scenarios to engage our minds and our movements.
• FIBA 5v5 to prepare us for the demands of the game environment.
• Extended shooting decisions for our high-volume shooters and freestyle time for the others.

My goal is to keep exploring ways to use the entire halfcourt space, hit the big skills, and involve all players even more. (For example, while one team uses the hoop for a finishing or 1v1 game, the other group is outside the 3-point line doing a ball handling game, and then they switch.)

Because practice warmups are meant to prepare us for practice (and practice is meant to prepare us for the game), it makes sense that both warmups should look and feel connected. The only differences should come from the unique constraints of each setting. And when our warmups look distinctly different, it’s simply a sign there’s room for asking better questions and being more intentional in our planning.