Pre Season

When programming practices there are a few things to keep in mind:

 - Where in the season you are at

 - The players skill level 

 - How well the team works together- 

To make the most out of your practices the players should always try to keep the most amount of players engaged at one time- whether that is by them actively moving, or by intently paying attention to what is happening 

  • Pre-season practices should include -
  • individual skill focused drills 
  • A focus on the fundamentals 
  • More conditioning drills to get players used to moving at game speed
  • Drills that can help team cohesiveness:
    • Have them work together within a drill to accomplish the task. (examples: double plays, or hitting the cutoff player in baseball, or pass-pass-shoot basketball drills) 
    • Have the entire team work together to accomplish a goal. (ten perfect plays in a row in baseball, basketball, football, or a full team relay in swimming for time) 

Early in season practices 

Our main goal as coaches for early in season practices should be to make the team move as a singular unit, by having the team working together in practice it builds trust and reliance on their teammates.

In season practices should have:

  • Teamwork drills, getting the players involved in playing together and working together to accomplish a group goal 
  • Running plays that improve team skill and developing on skills that the team knows such as, adding in small changes to drills, increasing goal amounts, or decreasing the amount of time to accomplish the goal. 
  • Making sure the team is mentally and physically prepared. Ensuring that their conditioning is in check to be able to slow down in practice come playoff season

Late season practices 

When practicing late in the season the emphasis is no longer on building a team, they are already a team. Now the goal is to get the team perfecting plays and perfecting drills that you have worked on. 

Key parts of Play-off practices will include:

  • Lower physical intensity, more mentally intense practices. Having the players focus on different perspectives of the game, what could happen, how they should react to different game scenarios 
  • More technically focused drills compared to the usual intense cardio drills that pre season and in season practices have.
  • More perfection of gameplay focused in the practice to ensure proper execution in the game