My 5 Top Tips for Running Effective Practices
No matter the sport, practice time is valuable. Effective practices can be the difference between a well-prepared team and a sloppy team. You want to make sure you are getting the most out of the time you get. There are a few ways that you can ensure that you make that happen. Over the years, I have tried a large number of different strategies to create better and more effective practices. These strategies work for pretty much any sport.
What are My 5 Top Tips for Running Effective Practices?
1. Have a Plan.
I have observed too many practices where the coach shows up and then decides what they are going to do on the fly. If you want to get the most out of your valuable practice time, this cannot happen. To run effective practices, you must have a plan. Decide ahead of time what your goals are for that practice and develop a plan to make it happen. Effective practice plans can be as simple or complex as you would like to make them.
One thing that can help you plan is knowing how many players and coaches will be there. I always make a point to make sure parents let me know as soon as they know that their kid will not be there. This goes for my coaches as well. Nothing is worse than spending your effort planning a practice around 12 kids and only 8 show up. Again, same goes for coaches. If I plan for 5 drill stations and only one coach shows up, my effective practice just took a step back.
2. Start on Time.
I know this seems obvious, but it is easier said than done sometimes. In my tips to new coaches, I talk about setting expectations at the initial parent meeting. This should be a point of emphasis, then emphasize it again. You cannot have an effective practice planed if kids are showing up at all different times. Make sure parents understand that the practice start time is when practice STARTS. It is not the time that kids start putting on cleats.
Later tips will address this more but, I am not a fan of kids starting to throw as they trickle in. I like to have them all there and go through warmups as a team. For this to work, everyone has to be there on time ready to go.
3. Everything Should Have a Purpose.
When putting together your plan, be sure that each activity has a purpose. I have witnessed practices where kids are out there playing “jackpot”, a game where one player throws a ball up into a crowd of other players, for large chunks of time. I fail to see how this is providing much value and will more likely lead to an injury. Practice should have some fun activities, however, even games and competitions should have a purpose.
I always make a point to talk to the kids as a group before even starting warmups. I let them know that they are there for a purpose and in order to have an effective practice, they must be focused. After warmups, let them know what the plan is for the rest of practice and the purpose of each drill and the skills they are expected to be focusing on improving. In my experience, this gets more buy in and less playing around.
4. Establish a Set Warmup Routine.
Having a set warmup routine has a lot of benefits. However, it relies on the earlier tip of starting on time. It does not have to be anything fancy but should follow a set structure. Regardless of the sport, I like to start with some stretching and then some light form running. Keep stretches to the basic large muscle groups as well as some for your specific sport.
Your warmup routine will also include a few basic activities to get kids ready. Baseball or softball for example, will go through throwing exercises. No matter what activities are customary of warmups for your sport, make sure they are focused and don’t drag on too long. I generally allow about 15 minutes of my practice time for warmup activities. As with all other practice activities, make sure these have some purpose and that they are building fundamental skills. Warmup time does not have to be wasted time.
The main point of having this set routine is consistency. You want it to become automatic so that everyone knows the expectations and can efficiently execute. Once the routine is set, I usually have an assistant coach run it while I set up the next part of practice.
5. Keep Them Moving.
One of the major keys of running an effective practice is to minimize having kids standing around. The best way to do this is through the use of stations and small groups. Some game concepts may not be teachable in small groups and that’s OK. Just try to make sure that those times are as focused as possible and only take as much time as necessary.
When planning my practice, I generally like to start with station-based drills and divide the team up into small groups of 1-2 players. Once everyone rotates through each station then move on to some drills that involve larger groups. Team drills follow as needed then leave some time at the end for some sort of fun skill-based activity.
Put it All Together into Effective Practices.
The key to running effective practices comes down to keeping kids involved and keeping them focused. Set expectations and make sure they are followed. The fewer deviations you have to make from your plan the better. Routines help make efficiency but, you must make sure they are committed to putting in the effort and not just going through the motions complacent.
I hope you found these 5 tips helpful in your journey to running an effective practice. If you would like to learn more about me, you can find it here. You can also send me questions or suggestions to CoachFreddy@coachthemkids.com.
Thanks for reading and GOOD LUCK!
