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A Few Simple Tricks to Optimize Basketball Practice Time and Get More Done... Without Sacrificing Your Tight Schedule
- By Jeff Haefner
One of my biggest frustrations as a basketball coach was finding enough time to teach everything...
You're constantly struggling to find time to teach proper shooting fundamentals, man offense, zone offense, press breaker, man defense, zone defense, end of game plays, passing, redounding, free throws, and the list goes on. Time management is a constant battle!
It's frustrating, especially when you end up sacrificing fundamentals, which you know are extremely important for all young and aspiring basketball players.
So what do you do?
Let me share an extremely simple technique with you that amazingly enough, very few coaches utilize.
Start utilizing pre-game warms ups as mini-fundamental-practices.
Let me explain...
And before you jump to conclusions, hear me out. Because this could be something that turns things around for you!
Think about it.
How much time do you spend before every single game just going through the motions?
On average, you probably spend at least 20 minutes warming up before each game.
Now if you play 20 games in a season, that's almost 7 hours of additional practice time!
I'm amazed how very few coaches take full advantage of this precious time. And I don't mean just doing a few shooting and passing drills. I mean really teaching kids something.
I must admit, when I first considered this concept, I was scared of sacrificing everyone's focus for the big game (including my own focus)!
In fact, that was the biggest reason I didn't try it for many years.
But as I matured I came to a two very important conclusions:
- Teaching kids the fundamentals is much more important than winning. This includes all those goofy coaching tricks to win the game, like yelling at the refs, trying to out smart the other coach, trick plays, and mentally intimidating the other team.
- Even though there are a million other things to do, spending more time on fundamentals will actually help us win more games.
So I finally decided to give it a shot and started aggressively working on fundamentals before every game.
Let me tell you. It's one of the best things I've ever done!
I was finally getting time to work on those little things I never could get to.
I was teaching some of the offensive moves and footwork we just never had time to do. I was getting in defensive positioning reps, blocking out techniques, jump hooks, and a bunch of little fundamentals that were getting neglected.
As it turned out, the team showed obvious improvements and I believe that we actually won more games because of the extra practice time.
So I suggest that you to try it out too.
But before you get started, I have a few tips for you...
Tip 1 - Treat it just like practice. Work with the kids closely and make sure they are learning.
Tip 2 - Pick out drills that work in half court. Here are just a few that worked great:
- Form shooting, for half of the team, and partner passing for the other half.
- Defensive shell drill. Not only do you get more reps in but this reminds players of their positioning right before the game, which actually reduced our game slippage.
- Big man moves for half of the team and zig zag drill for the rest.
- Any drill you can do half court. Just think about the things you really wish you could work on and then pick out some half court drills that will help you improve those areas.
Tip 3 - Start getting to games a little bit earlier. I know it depends on your situation but when I coached sophomores, we almost always played the first game of the night, so we had plenty of time before each game.
Tip 4 - Don't let the kids get away with things just because people are watching. Hold them to the highest standards so they develop good habits.
Tip 5 - Plan ahead. Treat it like a practice and put together a practice plan with times, notes, and the whole nine yards.
Teach those kids fundamentals! That's what really helps your players in the long run. Things like teaching an advanced offense might seem like a good idea in the short term. But in the long run, it's not the best thing for those players. In fact, they might not use that offense ever again. Coaches change things all the time. Not to mention, coaches come and go all the time.
These little tricks should help you find time for those fundamentals.
What do you think? Let us know by leaving your comments, suggestions, and questions...
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Comments
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maurice says:
12/27/2006 at 5:22:13 PM
I just started that last season and you are right it works great you just give more things to work on thanks
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Jeff Webb says:
12/31/2006 at 5:33:16 PM
I coach 5th graders and I can't tell how right you are about fundamentals. I had the same group last year and tried to teach plays, what a disaster. Now we focus one practice on ofensive fundalmentals and one practice on defensive fundamentals. We are 2-0 It really works
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Tim Tripp says:
1/1/2007 at 8:22:49 PM
I've coached AAU and travel teams for 15 years and early on came to the same conclusion. Teach the kids how to play - using every available minute - and then let them play. Too many coaches want to run complicated set patterns and spendd all their time teaching that. This turns the kids off and doesn't develop them.
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Ivy says:
1/3/2007 at 10:39:09 AM
I do the same fundamentals everyday for 25 minutes and it is amazing how much we have improved in these areas. Keep up the good work!
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Yvette Perry says:
3/14/2007 at 10:22:52 PM
I am a basketball official who just took over a 12 & under and 14 & under girls YBoA team. I am having a ball teaching fundamentals. The girls and parents are appreciative of the patience I have to show them what they need to know before running a complicated play. Thanks for the tips and reassurance that I am doing the right thing.
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ahmed says:
5/19/2007 at 4:53:18 AM
I am a basketball official who just took under 14 & under 14 girls in sports school in egypt Thanks for the tips but we want drills ball handing photo Thanks
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kim says:
6/2/2007 at 7:40:29 AM
asatre
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steve says:
6/28/2007 at 8:20:48 PM
let me blaze
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Michelle says:
11/13/2007 at 10:10:19 AM
Great idea will start this tomorrow!
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terry brownlee says:
11/18/2007 at 1:51:32 AM
love it, the time we have for pratice is one hour two time a week. so what are some good fundamantals of the game i could teach,ages 12 & up to 18 boys & girls
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Kenny Robinson says:
11/21/2007 at 7:27:17 PM
I have to agree with this article. I started coaching 5th grade girls basketball a few years ago. My first season was just a mess. We had 1 hour for two days to practice. I had those poor little girls so confused. To this day, when I see them, I still apologize for putting them through that terrible year. Thank my lucky stars none of them stopped playing basketball. But I agree with this article, when they are young stick to the fundamentals...winning is secondary.
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john says:
12/5/2007 at 12:03:45 PM
what are some good drills for jr high... ?
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coach George says:
1/10/2008 at 10:37:10 AM
this is the best thing I've heard since mircle whip. And thanks for the extra practice time.
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Paul says:
1/25/2008 at 10:09:35 AM
I am a parent and not a coach and my Daughter (first grader) and I meet for 45 min. before each game and do what drills we can. How can I ask my coach to treat the 20 min. pregame warm up as a learning opportunity without insulting him? All the team typically does is shooting drills and I think they should be doing man defense and man offensive drills.
Paul
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Joe (Co-founder of Breakthrough Basketball) says:
1/25/2008 at 10:18:31 AM
Hi Paul,
That's a tough situation. You have to be careful with your approach. Some coaches feel insulted when you tell them to do something for various reasons.
First thing I would do is compliment the coach on what a good job they are doing. Second, bring up the suggestion. Tell them you don't want to step on their toes, but you thought it might help.
For example, "Hey, great job. These kids have improved soooo much in the last few weeks/months. You know how getting enough gym time is a struggle every week? I actually found this article while browsing on the web about time management. They suggested working on fundamentals and treating it like a practice for the pregame warm-up....."
You may word it differently.
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Steve says:
1/25/2008 at 4:38:08 PM
I'm ready to do a 180 on this subject. This is my first year as a coach of a girls 5th grade team. I used to think the team should relax while warming up before a game. Don't try anything new. Let them ease into the game without too many things to think about.
I've found there is lots of socializing during warm up. The last thing they thing about is getting ready to play. I'll try this this weekend and see how it works.
Thanks,
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Telisa says:
1/30/2008 at 12:23:11 PM
Thanks for the info......I have a problem with keeping my 7/8th grade girls focused and my 5/6th girls jusjust t don't seem to get it....but they are great athletes....(a little frustrated)
any suggestions?
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reggie says:
1/30/2008 at 1:19:26 PM
I have use this drill before. We have loss the first two game, so it was time to try something new. The drill work now we use it before every game.
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Joe (Co-founder of Breakthrough Basketball) says:
1/31/2008 at 9:34:33 AM
Hi Talisa,
At that age, players naturally lose focus. Be patient and keep reminding them to stay focused. This is a never-ending battle and you'll find that even NBA coaches have trouble keeping their players focused.
Always teach the game to your players. Be patient with their learning curve. It will come around. Also, don't forget to explain the reason you do certain drills and skills. Players are more likely to buy in to what you are teaching when they understand why they do it.
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Telisa says:
1/31/2008 at 2:48:29 PM
Thanks Joe,
Well i have a game tonight...wish me luck...my 5/6th girls are playing......I'll keep you all posted:)
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Henry says:
2/19/2008 at 12:37:55 PM
I have a question. My name is Henry and I coach a 7th and *th grade church basketball team. I had to pull players from my other 7th and 8th grade team(including my 12 year old son), to help the team. We are not executing our offenses properly. How can I get my church team to run the offenses properly during game time. I have a handful of offenses that I run(motion offenses/simple zone offenses). I've been coaching for over twenty years, I haven't encountered this problem at this level. Some of the young men on the church team seem to want to do their own thing. Thank you......Henry
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Marco says:
3/13/2008 at 3:16:59 PM
i will try this for our first game March 22. I get frustrated that practice goes by so fast and there is so much more that i would like to teach. Thanks
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