There are so many variables when it comes to designing and implementing a practice plan. Every coach puts his or her own spin on how to develop a productive, engaging practice. While some of the nuances vary sport to sport, in particular team sports versus individual sports, the main foundation of a well designed practice is fairly universal. Here are the Top 5 Coaching Tips for a Sports Practice.
- Unit Planning
As with all proper planning, there must be a blueprint for the preseason and season. Good coaches have objectives mapped out over the course of a longer period of time. Just as a good teacher maps out their curriculum for the year, a good coach must have their curriculum mapped for the season.
A football coach must have its offensive and defensive installation mapped out over a period of time. A soccer coach must know when set pieces are introduced. A basketball coach must be able to properly teach man to man defense. Coaching is about organization. A well prepared coach is able to develop a foundational plan to ensure that all fundamentals and essential skills are covered at the appropriate times.
Unit planning should start well in advance of the season. Once a coach knows the general timeline in terms of the date of the first practice, the date of the first games, facility availability, game schedules, etc., the coach can plan out how to attack the season.
Larry Simcox, a college baseball coach at the University of Tennessee posted a document on X. His page was a 70 item checklist that detailed everything that a baseball coach had to teach his or her team. The checklist included everything from cutoffs and relays, to outfield positioning, pitch outs, squeeze bunts, baserunning, and even how to speak to umpires. The list is exhaustive and so perfect.
With a list this extensive, how could any baseball coach run a two hour batting practice where the coach throws 1,000 pitches and one player stands at the plate and hits for a few minutes? That should never happen.
A good coach must have an overall teaching plan for a season. Unit planning can set a structure where elements are covered in a specific order that allows for proper preparation prior to scrimmages, regular season games and post season contests.
- Overall Practice Planning
Just as a teacher has unit plans and lesson plans, a coach has unit plans and practice plans. Within the construct of the unit planning, each practice must be meticulously planned. There must be an overall objective for each practice.
How you design a practice depends on the sport and the number of players and coaches. A baseball practice that has one coach and 12 players will be structured much differently than a football practice that has five coaches and 50 players. Every sport is structured differently.
With that being said, a coach should design a practice to the minute. I loved having a posted practice plan scripted. Warmups from 3 p.m. to 3:07 p.m. Throwing from 3:07 to 3:14 p.m. Long toss from 3:14 to 3:18 p.m. Not only did it keep us flowing, but it demonstrated to the athletes that we had a plan and we would be staying on script.
Obviously, the plan could be adjusted during the practice. Some drills required more time. Others less. I would constantly adjust, just as a good teacher adjusts during a class period. However, there was a very specific plan in place and we followed it.
- Practice Objective
Every practice must be based around an objective. What is the main focus of today’s practice? This can be more scripted in the preseason and usually becomes more fluid during the actual season.
Unit planning will help to determine what the practice objectives are. Let’s go back to Coach Simcox’s checklist of 70 baseball items to be covered. A coach has to determine, based on ability and skill level, what essential elements have to be taught prior to the first scrimmage and first game. Setting up practice objectives early in the season is fairly straightforward.
I would not set up more than two or three objectives in a practice period. Figure out what you want to teach and center all of your drills around that objective.
For example, if a basketball coach is going to focus on implementing a 2-3 zone during the practice, then the drill period should incorporate defensive drills that will culminate in the teaching of the 2-3 zone. The coach can do slide drills, communication drills, closeout drills. The drills must have a purpose.
The players will then understand that you are building towards something. Once the drills are completed, you can show how they apply to the teaching portion – in this case it would be running the 2-3 zone.
All drills should be done with a purpose. That purpose should be directly linked to the practice objective.
During the season, the practice objective may not be as planned and scripted. While there should be a unit plan to govern the overall approach, challenges will come up during the season that will alter the practice objectives.
After a game, you may identify mistakes that have to be corrected. Therefore, your plan must be fluid. Your unit plan may have one thing for Monday’s practice but the game over the weekend demonstrated that your team needs more work in another area. After determining that this is more pressing, you can adjust your objectives and practice planning accordingly.
- Player Engagement
From start to finish, all players should be engaged in practice. PERIOD.
While there may be times when players are standing around, in particular during a teaching period, it is essential that they are active for most of the practice and engaged in all of the practice.
Classroom teachers will tell you that attention spans are at an all time low. You can not expect players to only participate in action part time. It has to be a full time job.
Player engagement starts from the moment athletes arrive at practice. Coaches must engage with the players and then ensure that practice design incorporates engagement and activity throughout the period.
This is why I recommend a scripted practice plan. It eliminates a haphazard design that features too much down time. A scripted practice plan lends itself to more player engagement as drills and teaching periods are timed and there is a purposeful flow.
All players should be involved in drills. No player should have any significant amount of down time during warm up and drill periods.
Teaching periods should be kept focused, with player involvement and walkthroughs an essential element. If a coach is teaching a specific skill, it should appeal to different learning styles and should feature player modeling.
Teaching can be done through an auditory portion, where the player listens, and a visual/kinesthetic potion, where the player actively takes part in the instructional process. This breakdown should be part of the script and carefully set up with player involvement on a rotational basis. Don’t fall victim to having the same players demonstrate the skills.
- Communication and Connection
Throughout the practice there should be constant communication and an established connection between the coach and players, as well as players to player. Coaches should be engaging with the players, even if there are individual skills portions.
The basis for communication should be that every drill or skill is properly introduced, with the objective or goal in mind. Players should have a clear understanding why a drill is a part of the practice plan or why a certain skill is being introduced.
Coach to player communication is absolutely essential to the success of a practice and the culture of a team.
One significant piece of communication is the post-practice communication. I preferred to do this on a more of an individual basis. Check in with all of your players (rotate who you speak with at the end of practice). Get valuable feedback from them. Did they like the drills? Did they feel like they understood the skills that were implemented? It is ok to express what you think in order to break down barriers and elicit honest feedback. Be open with the players. Tell them you did not feel one of the drills was effective. If you had to do it again, you would substitute a different drill. Allow them to take ownership of the structure of practice.
If you are able to incorporate these five fundamental building blocks into your practice plans, you are well on your way to a more effective and structured practice.
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