I really think the idea of physical fatigue is greatly overrated, as pointed out. But mental fatigue, pressure at both ends of the floor for 32 minutes, has a real effect. Again, drawing from my own experience, I really didn't do much conditioning, as I thought that a 16-year-old athlete can handle 32 minutes of play with plenty of breaks. But what we did work on was constant pressure, on the ball and on offense. We were always in attack mode, at both ends of the floor, so the other team never had a chance to relax mentally.
Maybe it was just my desire to see my theory proved, but it seemed to me that we were more effective in the 4th quarter than other teams, even though we did less physical conditioning.
That said though, it's very hard at the high school level to be able to play multiple tempos effectively. Generally, you have to do what you do – and if you run into someone who does what you do better than you can, you're in trouble. I never had a team flexible enough to play slow as well as it played fast. Molding a program requires a vision, and part of that vision is the tempo you want to establish. It's not that easy to establish tempo, and it's not that easy to instill a mindset of either all-out aggression or we're going to pass it 12 times before we shoot. There are a few coaches at the high school level who are able to teach effectively enough to deliver multiple tempos, depending on the situation. But for most of us, it takes all our time to get the team, the program, to embrace a certain style of play.
Finally, the issue with pressing teams at the end of the year isn't really fatigue, I don't think. It's more that the teams you pressed effectively in November have now played 30 more games, and can handle pressure much better. Remember that an entire high school career for a girl who plays 3 years at the varsity level is 90 games. So her improvement from the start of the season to the end of the season could be as much as 50%, considering how long her career is.
And also, eventually you run into a team that does what you do better than you do, unless you're good enough to win a state championship. And there are only 6 teams like that in the entire state, so I think that trying to define the success of your season by only winning a state championship is a mistake. Did you get the most out of your team? Did the girls have a good experience? These are things that a coach has much more control over, because if you play a team with 8 Division I players, it doesn't matter what tempo you play it.
Maybe it was just my desire to see my theory proved, but it seemed to me that we were more effective in the 4th quarter than other teams, even though we did less physical conditioning.
That said though, it's very hard at the high school level to be able to play multiple tempos effectively. Generally, you have to do what you do – and if you run into someone who does what you do better than you can, you're in trouble. I never had a team flexible enough to play slow as well as it played fast. Molding a program requires a vision, and part of that vision is the tempo you want to establish. It's not that easy to establish tempo, and it's not that easy to instill a mindset of either all-out aggression or we're going to pass it 12 times before we shoot. There are a few coaches at the high school level who are able to teach effectively enough to deliver multiple tempos, depending on the situation. But for most of us, it takes all our time to get the team, the program, to embrace a certain style of play.
Finally, the issue with pressing teams at the end of the year isn't really fatigue, I don't think. It's more that the teams you pressed effectively in November have now played 30 more games, and can handle pressure much better. Remember that an entire high school career for a girl who plays 3 years at the varsity level is 90 games. So her improvement from the start of the season to the end of the season could be as much as 50%, considering how long her career is.
And also, eventually you run into a team that does what you do better than you do, unless you're good enough to win a state championship. And there are only 6 teams like that in the entire state, so I think that trying to define the success of your season by only winning a state championship is a mistake. Did you get the most out of your team? Did the girls have a good experience? These are things that a coach has much more control over, because if you play a team with 8 Division I players, it doesn't matter what tempo you play it.
