All of the research I have seen strongly suggests the people you coach have shorter attention spans than the people you coached even five years ago. I have never been accused of being the "sharpest pencil in the box." That said it seems to me our obsession with computers & cell phones have contributed to our players having shorter attention spans. Most commercials and even current cartoons change images much more rapidly than they did say ten years ago. If you can find "old" cartoons or "old" commercials try to compare the time spans of the current & past. Tell me current stimulation rates are much more rapid. Also, I believe contributing to a shortening of concentration and attention spans.
So what's the point? The point I believe is your students/players are more difficult to instruct because they have been programed by our culture to desire constant stimulation. Boredom comes more quickly than it ever has.
One of my constant concerns was how I could keep our players more focused during practice. My belief was if players were more attentive during practice they would learn more. Better students would lead to better players.
One of my favorite coaching axioms is .... "Sometime less is more." Some of the adjustments I made to hopefully decrease boredom were ....
1) During the season, the length of practice was shortened. Generally we started with two hour practices until around the end of December. Somewhere in early to mid January practice time was decreased to around an hour & a half. By the middle of February, we often practiced no more than an hour.
2) Practice drill times were shortened. Instead of spending 10 minutes on a drill, drill time might be 7 minutes or even 5 minutes.
3) I looked for good times to take a day off. For example, if you had a week in February where you played on Tuesday but did not play again until Saturday, I might cancel Wednesday's practice.
4) New practice drills or at least tweaking old drills.
5) New set plays added.
6) Spend time at the end of practice on special situations. Such as last shot offense & defense. Intentionally how to take a foul. Missing a free throw to possibly get an offensive rebound. Etc.
7) Shorten any team meetings.
8) Give your team the option of practicing in the morning & cancelling the afternoon session.
9) Instead of going on the floor to practice, have a short video practice & send them (your
players) home.
10) Instead of practice, play dodge ball or volley ball.
*These are just a few ideas. You can come up with your own to beat practice boredom!
**One indicator your players are bored is when you end practice, do your players all leave the floor immediately. or do some stay on the floor for a few minutes to work on their game?
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