PIGEON FORGE — Casey Ragan pulled his team in for some parting words before the Dead Period.
The Fighting Cocks had just wrapped up their summer basketball slate against Bell County (KY), and Ragan held a serious look as he gazed around the huddle.
With the break looming at the time, I thought Ragan was about to tell his team about what they would do after the break — or at least what he wanted them to work on while apart.
He did not.
Instead, to kickstart his final spiel of the summer, Ragan offered three words: “Be a kid.”
He went on to reference the different directions his players are pulled in on a daily basis — some going from from sport to sport, others venturing from practice to summer jobs, etc.
So as Ragan talked, he told his players that if they step away from one thing over the next couple of weeks, let it be basketball.
Play video games. Go to the pool.
Just, in some form or fashion, let yourself step away from the grind — and relax.
“You guys are only 15, 16, 17 once,” he told them. “Enjoy it.”
“It’s just what I believe in,” Ragan said later, digging into the message in an interview. “It’s like I told them in the huddle: they’re only this age once. Go be a kid.”
“Now obviously we’ll have a shoot around, and we’ll do skill development and stuff like that,” he added. “But not every single day, especially if they’re multi-sport guys.
“Their bodies don’t need that. Their minds don’t need that. They need to shut it off, go relax, and go decompress like I do, or like anybody does.”
The take was a refreshing one, like a splash of cool water with the sun beating down on the hot pavement outside that gym.
And it applies not just to Ragan’s players, but to teenagers across the country.
Whether it’s a high-profile recruit being hounded by SEC programs or a 17-year-old trying to decide what to do with his or her life after high school, this period is fleeting.
It is here in a flash, gone even faster.
Factor in grades, sports, and the constant pressure and privilege that comes with social media, and all of it congeals together into a whirlwind that can grind on kids, leading to anxiety and more.
For those reasons and more, Ragan encouraged his players to step away, even if they do not take the same form of reprieve he did.
“I did get away from ball, and I had some good coaches in my life that told me to get away from it for a while,” Ragan said, a smile emerging as he spoke. “I actually traded my basketball in for a disk, and my friends and I would play ultimate frisbee three times a week.
“We even split up teams, bought shirts, and had a series. We had a big time.”
Like most people in the summer, Ragan’s down time also included some form of water, whether at the beach or the pool.
But the question that still remained — does he have any idea what his own players do for fun?
“Honestly, I don’t know,” he said with a grin. “I’m sure it has something to do with a PlayStation or an XBox — which, the new NCAA game comes out on July 19.”
So if nothing else, Ragan’s players can take solace in the fact that they will have that day off after returning from the Dead Period, which ends July 7.
“Because I’ll be playing it,” he said.
Don’t worry, Casey — I will be, too.
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