December: Where Grit Meets Growth

By Brock Sawyer | Vision Sporting Goods

Key Takeaways

For Athletic Directors:

• Winter sports need facility space and budget flexibility for weather-related scheduling challenges

• Spring sports require access to strength training facilities and early season planning now

• Mental health resources and academic support systems are critical during finals week

• Mid-year program reviews in December allow time for meaningful adjustments

For Coaches:

• Winter sports: Focus on smart adjustments based on competition data, not experimentation

• Spring sports: December is for building aerobic base, strength foundation, and team culture—not sport-specific intensity

• Adjust practice loads during finals week; well-rested athletes perform better

• Monitor for overtraining and create environments where athletes report injuries without fear

For Student Athletes:

• Mid-season mental toughness separates good from great—focus on process over outcomes

• Time-blocking and early professor communication make finals week manageable

• Spring athletes: December workouts when nobody's watching create April and May dominance

• Sleep 8-9 hours, address pain immediately, and don't skip the "boring" foundational work

December presents a unique moment in the athletic calendar. Winter sports are hitting their stride with competitions in full swing, while spring sports are beginning the foundational work that will determine their success months from now. For athletic directors, coaches, and student athletes, this month demands a delicate balance of maintaining competitive excellence while building for the future, all during one of the most academically and personally demanding times of the year.

Managing the Winter Sports Surge

Your winter athletes are deep in their seasons right now, and the demands are intensifying. Basketball teams are navigating conference play, wrestling squads are hitting their tournament stride, and swimmers are chasing qualifying times. This is when the groundwork laid in preseason either pays dividends or reveals gaps that need addressing.

For Coaches: December competitions provide critical data points. You're no longer experimenting with lineups or strategies; you're refining them based on real performance. Pay close attention to how your athletes respond to pressure in these mid-season contests. The teams that emerge strongest in February and March are often those whose coaches made smart adjustments in December based on what the competition revealed. Film study becomes invaluable now. Dedicate time to breaking down not just your opponents, but your own team's patterns, both productive and problematic.

For Athletic Directors: Your winter coaches need support in ways that differ from the fall season. Facility management becomes more complex with multiple sports competing for limited indoor space, especially when weather forces outdoor teams inside. This is the time to ensure your scheduling systems are airtight and that coaches have clear communication channels to resolve conflicts before they escalate. Budget monitoring is equally critical as winter sports often face unexpected expenses related to weather cancellations, tournament travel, and equipment replacement from heavy use.

For Student Athletes: The middle of a season can be mentally exhausting. The novelty of the first competition has worn off, but the excitement of playoffs still feels distant. This is where mental toughness separates good athletes from great ones. Focus on the process rather than outcomes. Every practice, every drill, every strength session is building the athlete you'll be when championships arrive. Your body is adapting to the demands of competition, and consistency in your preparation will compound into performance gains.

The Academic-Athletic Balance During Finals

December brings a challenge that's unique in its intensity: finals week coinciding with active competition seasons. This isn't new, but it never gets easier, and it requires proactive planning from everyone involved in athletics.

For Coaches: Your athletes are under immense pressure right now, and you have an opportunity to be a source of stability rather than additional stress. Consider adjusting practice intensity or duration during finals week when possible. A well-rested athlete who has studied adequately will perform better than an exhausted one who squeezed in an extra hour of conditioning. Communicate with your athletes about their academic obligations and create an environment where asking for academic accommodations isn't seen as weakness. The athletes who succeed long-term are those who learn to manage competing demands, and you can model that balance.

For Athletic Directors: This is when your relationships with faculty and academic support services matter most. Ensure your coaches know the protocols for academic conflicts and that they're consistently applied across all sports programs. If your school has study halls, tutoring services, or academic monitoring systems, December is when these resources prove their worth. Consider whether your competition scheduling gives athletes reasonable opportunities to meet academic obligations, and advocate for adjustments when necessary.

For Student Athletes: You already know this is a challenging time, but having a strategy makes it manageable. Time blocking is your friend. Designate specific hours for studying, practice, meals, and rest, and protect those boundaries. Communicate early with professors if you foresee conflicts; most are more accommodating when approached proactively rather than reactively. Use your teammates as accountability partners for academic work. Study groups can be remarkably effective, and knowing your teammates are also balancing the same demands can provide motivation when yours is flagging.

Laying the Foundation for Spring Sports

While winter sports capture the immediate attention, December is actually the most critical month for spring sports success. The work done now, largely out of the spotlight, will determine whether your spring teams are prepared to compete at their highest level when their seasons begin.

For Coaches: Spring sport preparation in December should focus on building aerobic base, developing strength, and establishing team culture. This is not the time for sport-specific intensity; it's the time for laying physiological and psychological foundations. Runners should be accumulating mileage at conversational pace, building the aerobic engine that will support faster work later. Baseball and softball players should be in the weight room developing power and addressing any imbalances or weaknesses identified in the previous season. Lacrosse and soccer players need a blend of conditioning and skill work that maintains touch while building fitness.

Equally important is team building during this phase. Spring sports often struggle with cohesion because preseason is short once the season officially begins. Use December to establish your culture, clarify expectations, and build relationships among athletes. Captains should be emerging as leaders, and younger athletes should be integrating into the team dynamic. The teams that hit the ground running in February are those that already feel like teams in December.

For Athletic Directors: Spring coaches need your support in accessing facilities and resources during what can feel like a forgotten time. Winter sports rightfully command attention during their active seasons, but spring sports shouldn't be left to improvise. Ensure weight room schedules accommodate spring athletes, that field houses or indoor facilities are accessible when weather prevents outdoor work, and that coaches have the equipment necessary for productive training. This is also the time to finalize spring schedules, arrange transportation, and confirm officials and venue bookings. Problems identified and solved in December don't become crises in March.

For Student Athletes: If you're a spring sport athlete, December training might feel disconnected from your ultimate goals. You're working hard with no immediate competition to validate that work, and it can be tempting to coast or skip sessions. Resist that temptation. The athletes who dominate in April and May are the ones who showed up consistently in December when nobody was watching. This is when you develop the discipline that defines elite performers. Show up, do the work, trust the process, and know that you're building an advantage over competitors who aren't willing to do the same.

Strength and Conditioning Across All Programs

December is a pivotal month in the strength and conditioning calendar regardless of sport. The approaches differ based on where athletes are in their competitive cycles, but the importance remains constant.

For In-Season Winter Athletes: Maintenance becomes the priority. You're not trying to build new strength during competition season; you're preserving the qualities developed in the offseason and managing fatigue. Strength sessions should be shorter and less frequent than preseason work, typically two sessions per week focusing on compound movements that maintain power and prevent injury. Volume decreases while relative intensity can remain moderate to high. The goal is to show up to competition fresh, not depleted from the weight room.

For Spring Sport Athletes: December is your opportunity to build. This is when you should be progressively overloading your system, increasing both volume and intensity in the weight room. Focus on developing maximal strength now because you won't have time to build it once your season starts. Compound movements like squats, deadlifts, presses, and Olympic lifting variations should form the foundation of your program. This is also when you can address movement quality issues, mobility restrictions, and muscular imbalances that could lead to injury when competition begins.

For Coaches and ADs: Strength and conditioning requires dedicated time, adequate space, and qualified supervision. If your school has a strength coach, ensure they're integrated into your sport programs and that their training philosophies align with sport-specific needs. If you don't have a dedicated strength coach, invest in education for your coaches on proper strength training principles. Athletes lifting weights without proper supervision and programming are at risk for injury and are unlikely to see optimal results.

Injury Prevention and Recovery

The combination of academic stress, competitive demands, and harsh winter weather makes December a high-risk month for injury and illness. Proactive management of athlete health should be a priority across all programs.

For Coaches: Monitor your athletes for signs of overtraining, which include persistent fatigue, declining performance, mood changes, and increased injury rates. The athletes grinding through their winter seasons may be accumulating fatigue that their bodies can't recover from, and pushing through symptoms rather than addressing them leads to more serious problems. Create an environment where athletes feel comfortable reporting pain or fatigue without fear of losing playing time. Smart load management now prevents season-ending injuries later.

For Athletic Directors: Ensure your athletic training staff has adequate resources and that injury reporting and treatment protocols are clearly established. If weather is causing facility crowding, work creatively to find solutions rather than forcing athletes into unsafe conditions. Cold weather training requires attention to proper warm-ups, appropriate gear, and modified expectations. Budget for quality cold-weather training equipment if your athletes are training outdoors, and ensure facilities are properly heated and maintained.

For Student Athletes: Your body is not invincible, and December is when that becomes obvious if you've been ignoring warning signs. Sleep becomes non-negotiable during this month. Aim for eight to nine hours nightly, and recognize that athletic performance is directly tied to sleep quality. Nutrition also requires attention; stress and busyness often lead to poor eating habits precisely when your body needs quality fuel most. Hydration matters even in cold weather, perhaps especially so given how easy it is to become dehydrated without noticing.

If something hurts, address it early. The difference between a minor issue that resolves with a few days of modified training and a major injury that ends your season is often whether you sought treatment immediately or tried to push through. Athletic trainers are your allies in staying healthy; use them.

The Mental Game During Holiday Season

December brings unique psychological challenges that affect athletes differently than other times of the year. The holiday season creates emotional complexity, winter weather affects mood, and the combination of athletic and academic pressure can feel overwhelming.

For Coaches: Recognize that your athletes are human beings navigating complex lives, not just competitors. The holiday season can be joyful for some and difficult for others. Family dynamics, financial stress, loneliness, and seasonal affective disorder all impact your athletes' mental states. Create team traditions that build positive associations with this time of year. Holiday practices can include team-building activities, celebrations of the work accomplished so far, and acknowledgment of challenges overcome.

Watch for signs of mental health struggles, which often intensify during this month. Changes in personality, social withdrawal, dramatic performance declines, or concerning statements should prompt private conversations and connections to mental health resources. You're not expected to be a therapist, but you can be an attentive adult who helps athletes access support when they need it.

For Athletic Directors: Mental health resources should be prominently available and actively promoted during December. If your school has counseling services, ensure athletes know how to access them and that doing so carries no stigma. Consider bringing in speakers to address stress management, mental performance, or related topics. The investment in athlete mental health pays dividends in performance, retention, and overall program culture.

For Student Athletes: If you're struggling this month, you're not alone, and you're not weak. The demands you're navigating are real and substantial. Reach out for support whether that's from coaches, teammates, family, friends, or professional counselors. Mental health is as important as physical health, and addressing challenges early prevents them from becoming crises.

Develop coping strategies that work for you. Some athletes benefit from meditation or mindfulness practices, others from journaling, and others from simply ensuring they have unstructured time to decompress. Protect some time that's not scheduled, not productive, and not optimized. Rest is not weakness; it's a requirement for sustained excellence.

Goal Setting and Performance Review

December provides a natural inflection point for reflection and planning. Winter athletes are midway through their seasons with data to analyze, and spring athletes are beginning their preparation with clean slates.

For Coaches: Conduct mid-season or pre-season assessments depending on your sport. For winter sports, evaluate where your team stands relative to preseason goals. What's working? What needs adjustment? Have honest conversations with athletes about their roles, their progress, and the standards expected moving forward. For spring sports, establish clear, measurable goals for the preseason training phase. Athletes perform better when they understand what they're working toward and why.

For Athletic Directors: Review program-wide metrics at mid-year. Academic performance, participation rates, injury frequencies, and competitive results all provide insight into program health. December is early enough to make adjustments that impact the remainder of the year. Meet with coaches to discuss needs, challenges, and successes. The best athletic programs are those where administrators and coaches work in partnership rather than isolation.

For Student Athletes: Set or review your goals for the remainder of your season or for your upcoming season. Effective goals are specific, measurable, and focused on processes you control rather than outcomes you don't. "I want to start" is less effective than "I will complete every conditioning workout with maximum effort and arrive at every practice 10 minutes early to do additional skill work." Control what you can control, and trust that results will follow from consistent execution of processes.

Communication and Team Culture

December tests team culture in ways that easier months don't. The combination of stress, fatigue, and external pressures reveals whether your team has genuine cohesion or merely situational cooperation.

For Coaches: This is when your investment in culture pays dividends or its absence becomes apparent. Teams with strong cultures support each other through difficult times, hold each other accountable to standards, and maintain belief when results aren't immediately favorable. Teams without those foundations fracture under pressure, and December provides plenty of pressure.

Model the behavior you expect from athletes. If you want them to handle stress with composure, you must do the same. If you want them to support teammates, you must show that you value people beyond their athletic contributions. Culture is built through consistent actions, not inspiring speeches.

For Athletic Directors: Support coaches in building positive cultures, but also hold them accountable when culture problems become apparent. Toxicity in team environments affects athlete wellbeing and retention. Monitor team dynamics through multiple sources of information including athlete feedback, parent communication, and your own observations.

For Student Athletes: You create team culture as much as coaches do. How you treat teammates, especially those who aren't stars, defines the environment. The player who encourages the teammate struggling with playing time, who celebrates others' successes genuinely, and who maintains standards in practice regardless of who's watching is building a culture that leads to sustained success.

Looking Ahead While Staying Present

The temptation in December is to let your mind drift toward future goals: championships for winter sports, upcoming seasons for spring sports, summer training, and beyond. That forward thinking is valuable, but it shouldn't come at the expense of present focus.

For Everyone: The work you do today is what creates the future you're imagining. Championships aren't won in March; they're won in December when nobody's watching. Spring season success isn't determined by February practices; it's determined by December workouts when training feels disconnected from competition.

Stay present with the task in front of you. Execute today's practice fully. Complete today's study session thoroughly. Get tonight's sleep properly. The accumulation of well-executed days becomes weeks, then months, then seasons of excellence.

Final Thoughts

December in athletics is demanding, complex, and often underappreciated. It lacks the excitement of season openers and the drama of championships, but it's foundational to everything that comes after. The choices made this month, the work put in when it's cold and dark and difficult, the discipline maintained when motivation flags—these are what separate programs and athletes who achieve their potential from those who fall short.

For athletic directors, this is your opportunity to support coaches and athletes through proactive leadership and resource allocation. For coaches, this is when you prove your value not through inspiring speeches but through thoughtful programming and genuine care for athlete development. For student athletes, this is when you build the identity that will define your athletic career.

December is the bridge between seasons, between semesters, between where you are and where you want to be. Cross it with intention, effort, and focus, and you'll find yourself exactly where you hoped to be when spring arrives.