Preparation + Hard work = Success

Preparation and hard work are two things that you hear over and over again in the sports arena and you hear it because it’s true. You can’t be successful without preparation and you can’t become prepared without hard work.  It’s really a very simple equation and I think that the women’s basketball team has embraced this motto.

The grind that is college basketball at the Division I level at an Ivy League institution nonetheless, is based on these two principles and this summer I’ve seen a tremendous amount of preparation and hard work from the players and coaches this summer.

As most of you know, my office is in the main corridor of Alumni Gym and most times, I get to see the players both coming and going from practice or workouts. This summer I’m seeing them A LOT (Granted, I wasn’t here last summer, so I’m really not sure if it’s a lot or not but we’ll give them the benefit of the doubt:)

I’ve seen Eve Zelinger and Nicola Zimmer, sweating it out on multiple occasions and from what they tell me the newcomers and other players are going just as hard on their own.  That is both preparation and hard work at its finest.

The coaches are working equally as hard just in a different way. July is recruiting month for collegiate basketball coaches. They pack up and live out of a suitcase or suitcases as they crisscross the country looking for the next member of the Dartmouth women’s basketball team.

If you think about it, that’s a lot of hard work too! There are TONS and I mean TONS of youth women’s basketball players out on the summer circuit (Thank you Title IX, for making this possible) so it takes a lot of prep work to see who will fit in with our system, culture, etc.   Again, preparation and hard work at the highest level.

The hard work and preparation that I have seen from the players and staff this summer can only mean good things are to come in the fall and winter. I smell Ivy League title No. 18 in the very near future.

Jess Poole