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5 Activities Hoopers Must Do While In Isolation

Writer's picture: Jack McveighJack Mcveigh

Forced time away from anything is hard, let alone doing what we love. Downtime takes a toll physically and mentally when you're attempting to maintain a high level of success, and the stress of not having control over the current situation can apply a lot of pressure. Whether the sacrifice is not being able to hang out with friends, continue a school/ work project, play basketball in the NBL or continue the daily habits that we love to do, we can find these times very difficult.

Most of us will face 7 days in isolation at some point, so we better be prepared with how we are going to handle it when it occurs to us. This can be a time to help ourselves build good habits we've been wanting to try for a while, catch up on that New Year's resolution or pick up a hobby that we have always blamed not having enough time as the reason why we haven't started it.


I'm proud of the way I handled my isolation, and my current basketball performance is paying dividends all thanks to the daily habits that I relied upon in isolation.

The first thing we have to do when starting our isolation is to make sure we are feeling healthy and ready to go, don’t push ourselves past fatigue or stress. Health is wealth and we want to make sure we are feeling 100% healthy before getting back into the stride of things. Before feeling 100%, focus on drinking water, eating healthy, getting some daily light movement and plenty of sleep.

So now we are feeling fresh and healthy, let's use this time to grow, learn and challenge ourselves, here are 5 Activities Hoopers Must Do While In Isolation.

1. Morning workouts

Routine. Routine. Routine. Dominate the morning and you'll control the day. My entire mental and physical clarity, motivation, and energy levels are dictated largely by how I start my day. Now we don’t need to wake up at 5 am singing our praises about being early birds or dropping motivational quotes as we wake up the whole house. All we need is a designated regular time to wake up and work out. My iso consisted of a 7:30 am alarm every day followed by an 8 am workout. The workout varied in difficulty depending on how I planned the rest of my day (most days consisted of 2 workouts.) It set the tone, it doesn’t matter if I'm in iso or not, I control what time I wake up, and I still dominate my workouts.

2. Daily Meditation

We have all read about meditation. We all know the positives and potential gains from meditation. We all at some point deep down know we should try meditation. No more excuses. You have the time. Meditate. Now. It changed my life forever and it has that potential for you as well, build the habit this week and don’t look back. I'd recommend the Calm app, with the 30 days how-to meditate playlist. I've finished the 30-day playlist 3 times haha. If you want a different type of vibe id highly recommend Wim Hoff breathing and cold showers to give yourself that little spicy challenge over the week. Build that mental strength.

3. Watch Basketball

We've never had this much spare time on our hands before, it’s a tough balance between video games, Netflix shows, and aimlessly wandering around. It's the best time to chuck on a bunch of NBL games, sign in to KAYO, and watch as many games as you can. Now there's a huge difference between watching a game as a fan and as a student. Watch a single-player, look at the small details, ask why they are doing certain things and how you can replicate that into your game. Consistently being a student of the game is very important. It's one of the biggest skills I took away from Adelaide 36ers big man DJ. Watch film young fella, watch lots of film.

4. Self-indulge A Little

Make sure to look after yourself here. Plan some fun relaxed activities, whether it’s a board game day or a lord of the rings marathon. Eat that chocolate that’s been sitting there or sing that song that’s been stuck in your heart. Treat a day or two as a holiday, shut down from the basketball talk, and plan on coming back rejuvenated and fresh. A break can be extremely healthy for the mind and soul, ready to work harder and be more grateful for the opportunities to lace them up. My biggest goal leaving iso was making sure I approached every day of basketball with more fun and passion, to enjoy every single day of hanging out with my friends and going through the work. This all started with me taking a couple of days off.

5. Reach out to a friend or teammate

This is the perfect time to make sure you reach out to a friend or a teammate. We have some long days ahead, and there is no better way to spend them than a quick chat with a friend or two. We may have to physically iso, but that doesn’t mean we have to socially iso. Jump on a game, talk about your wordle or challenge them to a rhyme off on the phone. Check-in on a friend or two, and who knows, a friend or two might check in with you.

These isos can be very difficult. Make sure to keep eating and drinking well, keeping in touch with loved ones, and trying to make the days as fun/productive as possible. The challenge can feel overwhelming for some people, and that’s okay, keep doing your best and I know you’ve got this!

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