The unexamined (Coaching) life.

In just a few weeks you will be on the practice floor. Time to seriously begin

to plan your first week of practice.

Coaches love drills. Many have files filled with drills. Come to think of it, I have several three ring binders filled with all kinds of drills myself. I might be considered a drill hoarder!

Being concrete sequential, I will list some of the positives and negatives of your drill philosophy: (Obviously, these points are my opinion(S)

1. No drill should be longer than 10 minutes (In my opinion.) For example, If

you want to work on defense, for say 20 minutes, do so with at least two

ten minute drills. KEEP THE PRACTICE MOVING. THERE NEEDS TO BE A PACE

TO YOUR PRACTICE.

2. What is/are the reason(s) for the drill? What's the point of running that

drill? As an illustration. How often are you going to use a three man

weave in a game? Try to use as many game like drills as you can.

3. Explain the "non-negotiable" in each drill. For example, all defensive drills

will end with a block out! All offensive drills will end with a transition from

offense to defense. (Make your drills "game like" whenever possible.)

4. Shooting drills should have at least one of these elements in them ....

a) Have a time element. b) Make the drill competitive c) Record results

*ALL SHOOTING DRILLS ARE PASSING DRILLS!

5. Good drills should be "dual purpose" drills. Don't just coach the offense if

its an offensive drill but also teach and correct the defense in the drill.

6. Involve as many players as possible in each drill. The less standing

around the better! Your players need repetitions.

7. Utilize your resources as best you can. How many baskets and floor space

can you use? How many players do you have? How many basketballs do

you need? How many coaches do you have?

You never miss "it" until its gone!

8. Whole - part - whole is still an effective way for your players to learn.

Show them the whole, then break it down, and then put it together again.

9. Evaluate your drills .... a) Are they game like? b) Are they appropriate for

your skill level? c) Can you tweak them so they do not become boring

c) How many players are involved d) Maybe even more important how

many are standing around? e) When in practice is the best time to use

the drill? f) How many reps are your players getting in the amount of

time you are using the drill? g) Can it be converted to a full court drill?

h) Does it have a conditioning element to it? i) Can you add a competitive

element to the drill? j) Can you make the drill better by adding to it or

by removing something from it?

10) Name your drills. Announce the drill then have your players yell out the

name of the drill. For example, you say "3 man/person 2 ball shooting"

your players repeat the name as they are moving into running the drill.

11) Remember, or at least keep in mind, the attention spans of your players.

Don't run the exact same drills three practices in a row. Change drills

and look for ways to tweak drills you are currently using. For example,

you might one practice use the 3 man/person 2 ball shooting drill with

1 minute rotations. Next practice use the same drill but players rotate

as soon as they make 2 shots in a row. The third practice you might rotate

on each shot with the passer executing a closeout.

12) Resist the temptation to stop the drill and talk. Try to teach while the

drill is going on.

*One of my haunting memories is watching one of our youth teams practice

and they ran a full court transition type drill for 20 minutes. If I remember

correctly, these were 6th graders. My obvious question was considering

the age, skill level, and attention spans of your learners .... Does spending

time on the same drill for 20 minutes make sense?

What made matters worse was the coaches participated instead of

coaching. It appeared to me to be a "time killer" drill rather than a skill

development part of practice.

If you can, use the scoreboard timer to keep you on track. START and END practice on time. During a practice, you may need to skip a portion(s) of your practice schedule in order to finish on time.

If a drill goes poorly .... move on. Resist the temptation to extend the drill.

Repeat the drill, if necessary, the next practice.