Building a Team

Every season ends in some degree of disappointment for all but one team. That's just part of sports. I took over the Escazu team halfway through the season and we were able to go from fifth place to second place, in large part because I was able to bring in some good players. A few key injuries derailed us in the playoffs, ending the season on a sour note.

As the season ends, the process turns to the next season and its new challenges.

My off-season process goes through the following steps:

1. Evaluating your team: what worked, what didn't work, what players developed, what players are not a good fit for your program. I have found that it's best to let a few days pass so that you're not making knee-jerk decisions.
2. Sponsors & financial: the greatest challenge in Costa Rican sports is raising money for alternative sports. Football is king here, so raising sponsorships for other sports is a challenge. Year in, year out this is the greatest challenge for any franchise.
3. Recruiting your roster: one crucial step is figuring out who you keep from your current roster, and who wants to stay. Sometimes, things don't work out with players, either because of playing time, chemistry or things popping up in their personal life. One key aspect is other teams poaching your players, particularly teams with deeper pockets.
4. Free agents: Just like teams pick players off your roster, it's fair game to recruit players from other teams. I love it when teams call me to complain about going after their guys. Motherfucker, you took one of my guys last year, and now you're complaining that I'm going after your guy?
5. Season projection: besides the financial challenges, the creates challenge in Costa Rican basketball is the ever-changing landscape on the administrative side. What will the league look like? What crazy new rules will be implemented? Who is in charge of what team? What does the calendar look like? What do the rules look like?
6. Practice planning: once you know what the season will look like, I like to sit down and plan my practices for the pre-season and regular season. As time has passed, I've decided on a detailed pre-season plan, and then a more general monthly plan for the reminder of the season, so that I can adjust to the tempo of the season.

This has actually been one of the more successful off-seasons. We landed a landmark sponsorship deal with Coopeservidores, a local credit union. We put together a good roster combining young guys with experienced vets. With a month of practice under their belts, the players are looking forward to starting the games.