First Tournament Win During AAU Season; Photo Credit: Sean Rochester
I would be lying to you if I said that I loved traveling on a small bus with my team. I’ve never liked our small bus that smelled like sweat and worn-out basketball shoes, the A/C never worked, traveling for four hours to play one game, and immediately returning home to go to school the following day. Though I did love bonding with my team, the only highlight of being on that small bus was the snack bags my mom made me the morning of game days. As a student-athlete, you don’t always get the home-field advantage. 50% of the time, you’re traveling to face competition and still learn to perform well no matter the time on the road. For years, because of high school basketball in the winter, driving around multiple states for AAU tournaments all summer, and playing club basketball at Furman currently, I have had to adapt to life on the road as an athlete.
Away games can drain you. It surely drained me. When I first started traveling with teams, I only thought about going back home and sleeping rather than being hyped for the game. Throughout time, I taught myself habits of maintaining a “game ready” mindset, and not being too exhausted when I stepped foot off the bus and onto the court. Whether it’s certain things in my backpack or tips on how to still get hype on a bus, I will prepare you to survive away games and continue peak performance, despite not having a home-field advantage.
The objects in my backpack had to prepare me to handle both a short and long bus ride. These objects I believe are needed to have in your bag on game day:
Go-To Backpack Essentials:
o Game-day uniform
o A bottle of water
o Gatorade or Body Armor (any drink consisting of electrolytes)
o Headphones or earbuds
o A mini speaker
o A pair of extra shoes in addition to game shoes
o Advil
o Deodorant
o Granola bars
o An extra change in clothes (for long bus rides)
Despite the objects in your bag, your game day attitude and hype should still be top priority with the bond you have with your team on the bus or in the away-team locker room. These three important tips will help you in the long run:
Game Day Tips:
1) Don’t sleep the entire ride
Sleeping on the bus the whole ride will kick your butt when stepping onto the court because you’ll be more exhausted than when you got on the bus. If it’s a long bus ride, wake up 45 minutes before you arrive at your destination. Whether it’s listening to music, talking with your teammates, or eating your favorite snack, do anything possible to wake yourself up so you can be game day ready.
2) Make a ‘game day’ playlist
Music sets the tempo on how ready you are for a game. Headphones or earbuds are necessary on the bus ride if you want to focus on your personal hype-up, but once you head to the locker room, someone needs to have a speaker. During my athletic career, my team relied on me to have my speaker and have a good playlistin order to get the pregame jitters out and to do our pregame “breakdown”.
3) Always have a charger on you!
Keeping electronics charged is always very helpful on the road to stay connected. Making sure your phone is always charged is crucial, especially at night when returning home. Also, being a student athlete means balancing homework as well, so if you have the time to do work while on the bus or in the gym waiting for the game, make sure you bring a charger with you for your laptop!
Traveling on a small bus for away games has been brutal at times, but I also learned a lot along the way. I learned that you must get on the bus early in order to get your own row to yourself, so you don’t have a “sweat sister” for a few hours. You make some sacrifices when playing on the road, depending on the duration of time, but I wouldn’t trade the experience for anything. Most of my experiences on the bus brought me and my teammates closer and shared many memories with each other. With these tips and tricks, I hope this helps a lot more in preparation for your next away game!
Senior Year Run Out; Photo Credits: McKenna Byrne