Coaches, how to maximize your time in practice.

I need to prepare my team to face tough challenges and adverse situations.  If I don’t do this, then our opponent and their coach will do this for us.  

The above statement is the overriding purpose behind my practice planning.

The hardest thing to do consistently is to give 100%, when less than 100% would have gotten the job done.

The above quote is the standard of which I want my team to operate from in each rep, of each drill, in each practice.

John Wooden said that his practice preparation time to practice length was a 1:1 ratio, meaning that if practice lasted two hours, then he prepared for two hours for that practice.  At first, I thought this was “coach speak,” but after doing this for almost three decades, my best practices are a result of my best preparation.  I am of the opinion that most coaches start their practice season with vigor and inspiration to have each practice be its own masterpiece of basketball perfection.  However, as the season wears on, coaches will often lose the desire to throw themselves into the daily details of practice planning.  This just doesn’t occur to those coaches that are losing games, it happens to those coaches who are winning as well.  I’ve coached at the college level longer than the high school level.  Yet, as a high school coach, I realize that finding the time to prepare for practice each day is much harder than it is in college.  College coaches don’t have to teach six class periods, monitor a cafeteria, and do their obligatory bus duty.  Regardless, practice planning is the key to proficient practices. 

Rather than write an essay on maximizing practice time, I’m going to detail what I think are 10 best practices for maximizing your practice time.

1. Every minute should be planned and accounted for.  
   1. There should be specific time allotted for every drill.
   2. Attending a Duke basketball practice years ago, I noticed that Coach K would stop a drill when the time ran out, even when he wasn’t pleased with the output from the drill.  Afterwards, he said he will add more time to that drill in tomorrow’s practice, and take away time from another area.  But, he will not let himself get off track due to poor performance in a drill.  Speaking from experience, when we react emotionally to poor performance, we tend to lose ourselves in our emotions.  We assume the players are just as emotionally tied to “getting it right” as we are…. they are not.  
   3. Build in an extra minute or two between drills.  For example:  if I have Drill A lasting 5:00, from 3:45 - 3:50, I won’t label the next drill until 3:52.  If you stay on task, great.  Most likely you will need those small buffers of time.
2. Your practice should mimic what you want your team to look like in a game.  I know this sounds somewhat obvious, but as coaches we can be duplicates of who we played for and who we coached under.  It almost seems sacri-religious to not do drills you’ve done for twenty years.  The fact is, before practice even starts, you should describe in detail what your team will look like on the floor.  Your staff should be on the same page with this model, and most importantly, so should your players.  Practice the HOW of WHAT and WHO your team is.
3. Press Offense should be a daily occurrence. I like to utilize dummy press offense early in practice to serve as a loosening drill and to get our guys going up and down the floor.  In high school, too many press offenses are like set plays.  Press offense should be rhythmic and ready to execute blind folded.  Free insert:  always have your inbounder exaggerate running the baseline.  This is one of the least utilized aspects of press offense.
4. Every drill is a rebounding drill.  I won’t tell you how to track or keep analytics about whether your team is rebounding in practice or not.  For many of us, we don’t have the personnel to keep tabs on that stuff in practice anyways.  Just emphasize it in every drill!
5. I believe in static 3FG shooting.  If you watch film (including your own team), over 85% of your 3FGA are off the catch.  It’s okay to spend 18 minutes doing 1:00 rotations of 3-Man-2-Ball shooting (1 shooter, 1 rebounder, 1 passer) at six different spots.  I do place an emphasis on the passer making sure each pass is snapped to their strong side shoulder.  In college, this would be part of our pre-practice or post-practice routines.

6. Close-outs. Close-outs. Close-outs.  Whether you are a man or zone team (or both), you have to master (listen closely to the words I chose…) containing the offensive player’s first step.  Work it backwards:  if an offensive player gains a paint touch from his or her penetration, his or her team will increase their shooting percentage.  If that drive leads to a kick-out, followed by another drive to the lane, then they are playing with house money, shooting percentage wise.  The more you can contain first step penetration, the more your opponent will have to rely on making contested shots.  Containing the dribble is a combination of athletic science, and athletic art.  Regardless, it takes thousands of reps to master.

7. How should I practice our plays, you ask?  Well first of all, know that every coach at every level is always looking for the most effective 5-on-0 offensive practice methods.  My favorite way to practice offensive install is to execute half-court dummy (5-on-0), then transition to full-court dummy on the other end, then transition back live against the next group to go.  Place constraints on the live defense (no switching, ball screen defense, gap coverage, etc.)

A. Additionally, I never install more than two plays in a practice.  In studying sports science, I’ve learned that in order for players to play instinctually, they must subconsciously be able to recall skills and actions in a millisecond.  The only way for this long term memory to develop is to install intensely, then practice consistently in small increments of time, over a long period.

B. So, If I want to install our ball screen actions, I will probably only focus on ball screen install for a week, with each day building on the previous day.

C. I think coaches tend to forget that installing offense is a great time to teach specific defensive actions.  In the ball screen example listed above, we will also implement our various ballscreen coverages this same week.

D. The opposite is true as well.  If you are installing a defense, then that provides you an opportunity to implement certain offensive actions that counter the installed defense.

8. Stretching and dynamic warm-ups.  I have spent 6:00 minutes at the start of every practice trying to “loosen and warm-up our bodies.”  It is my opinion that this is wasted time.  Shooting non-stop for 6:00 will achieve the same physiological effects as dynamic stretching, and in a game format that their body will need to be used to.  This year, our players will stretch on their own before practice starts.  I will also add that if you cannot let yourself do this, then compromise and add 6:00 at the end of practice for static stretching - it’s more important anyways.

9. Competition:  Getting your players to compete, how can I do it?

A. The best way is usually the hardest.  If you are wanting them to compete defensively, then set the standard of “three stops in a row.”  This is very hard to achieve.  In a high school game, if we achieve six of these (kills), then we usually win.  Have no mercy for an “almost stop” or a “great effort” that still gave up a bucket.  A stop is a turnover, offensive foul, or a missed shot without foul that results in a defensive rebound.  If it’s other than that - “same” = same group, start over at zero stops.

B. You have to build in extra time in your practice schedule for this.  I don’t think you can do this every day, unless you are going 3 1/2 hours.

C. But how do we do it offensively?  What I’ve found is that if your defense is busting its tail, your offense will compete as well.10.

10. Post Practice:  get on board with sports medicine.

A. We purchased 2 cold tubs for our locker rooms (placed them in the shower room) and a three minute dunk post-practice can really impact your players recovery.  It should be around 45 degrees, and don’t let them stay in for more than three minutes.  

B. Use of Norma Tech and Game Ready compression sleeves are valuable for after practice as well.  Don’t let the, “we don’t have any money for those,” stop you from asking your local orthopedic office or physical therapy office for their used ones or to purchase some for you.  You send them way more business than they send you.

C. This isn’t for all players, just the ones who logged the most minutes in practice and games.  

D. Explain to the player’s parents why Billy was done at practice at 5:00, but won’t be ready to leave until 5:30.  Billy has a post-practice routine that he needs to adhere to.

E. Our players will drink ReHydrate by Advocare (no I don’t sell their products) after practice, and most players will make a protein shake after practice as well.  We have invested in a nutrition station.

F. If you aren’t intentionally taking care of your players bodies, then you can’t expect them to give you their best every day.

11. Bonus*

A.I think you should scrimmage a lot in practice.  Specifically, micro-scrimmages.  For example, let’s say you just installed a secondary ball screen action.  Then scrimmage that action live, up and down for 2:00, and don’t stop play.  Make yourself wait until after the 2:00 period to teach and instruct.

B. You can also work on a specific ball screen defense during this micro-scrimmage.

C. This format allows ten players to practice new execution, rather than just five.  I don’t know why, but we often practice new installs in half-court.  Remember:  practice like your team will play.

D. I like micro-scrimmaging our full-court defenses as well.  2:00 of nothing but “Black Press,” and offense is working on “Press Offense 3.”

E. You can even micro-scrimmage OBU and SOB actions.  Start with an OBU, then transition game-like (make or miss) and all dead balls, fouls, etc., result in an OBU or SOB.  When you scrimmage this way, your players see it as working on OBUs and SOBs, but you are actually working on the entire game (transition, half court action), both offensively and defensively.  

F. This is very game-like.  Very rarely do our players play for 2:00 non-stop in a game.  This is great conditioning without the players thinking of it as conditioning.

G. It is normal for me to micro-scrimmage probably 20-30 minutes worth in a practice.