San Marino High School boys’ basketball coach Mihail Papadopulos has retooled his program amid distance learning and has even found that the new technology has unintended benefits.
Though his season is slated to begin at roughly the same time of the year when it traditionally ends, San Marino High School head basketball coach Mihail Papadopulos is preparing his troops as if the first game is right around the corner.
High school basketball traditionally starts near Thanksgiving, but because of the COVID-19 pandemic, the CIF adjusted all high school sports schedules and nudged basketball to the spring season.
Last season, the Titans were dispatched from the CIF playoffs on Feb. 12. They are slated to begin the 2020-21 campaign exactly a year and a month later, on March 12, 2021. And though a lot can change in seven months, anyone familiar with the man affectionately referred to as “Coach Pop” knows the squad will be ready, barring any major impediments.
About to begin his 11th season at the helm, Papadopulos — a technological service technician for the San Marino Unified School District — is using his vocational skill set to the program’s advantage.
“We have figured out that there is a lot we can do, even with the conditions that have been created by the COVID-19 pandemic,” he said. “We haven’t just sat here and waited for something to happen.”
Drills?
Check.
Weight training?
Check.
Strategy sessions?
Check.
To compensate for distance learning, the Titan basketball team holds practices via Zoom, allowing coaches to monitor the progress of each player.
Papadopulos has set aside three hours a day for his players to participate in remote sessions via Zoom, and said that his club hasn’t missed a beat since the program was initiated in the spring.
“We have live strength and conditioning workouts three days a week and we work on our basketball skills two days a week,” said Papadopulos.
The team congregates virtually via a connection that allows players and coaches to be on the same computer feed. Team members dribble, pass and shoot — just like they would in the gym — under the watchful eye of the coaching staff. The squad participates in conditioning drills in a similar manner.
“Our program invested in resistance bands and our strength coach, Brandon Garner, re-created all of our weight training exercises using resistance bands and it has worked out really well,” said Papadopulos. “Ever since I came to San Marino High School, weight training has been crucial and I am glad to say that it is able to continue with Brandon’s creativity and the dedication of the student-athletes.”
Papadopoulos said the key to the program’s success is using the live feed.
“One of our coaches can demonstrate something and the others are there to watch how it is implemented,” he said. “Also, we have built this program to thrive on interpersonal relationships and Zoom allows us to do that. This time has really helped the younger players and has helped us build a sense of camaraderie and brotherhood. It has also been good for our seniors to develop their leadership skills.”
The team is also able to watch and diagram film and slides together of workouts and previous games.
“We have been able to put in a lot of material in a short amount of time,” Papadopulos said.
The team has also used the virtual platform to stay in touch with former players. Papadopulos invited Jadyn Torres and Alex Cate, hoop alums who have gone on to play in college, to virtually visit their successors to take part in skull sessions and share career advice.
“That is the powerful part of this environment we have tried to take advantage of,” Papadopulos said.
He also said the digital format allows coaches to have better connections and will possibly allow for practices to continue if facilities are unavailable or weather conditions make it impossible to easily congregate in the future.
“Getting all of our coaches together used to take a lot of planning and changing and now we do it all the time,” Papadopulos said.
The coach, who was a standout player at St. Francis High School and later at Loyola Marymount University, also knows the proper playing of the game requires a significant amount of hardware that is absent in the online version of basketball.
“We certainly can’t simulate full-court competitions,” Papadopulos said. “I can’t wait to get back in the gym, but in the meantime, there are a lot of individual things we can do. From a physical and athletic skill-set standpoint, we will be further along this year. If we can get into the gym in January, I think we can be prepared for our season. And be prepared well.”
