Serious coaches maintain a "Drill Book" to assist with practice planning.
I include conditioning within drills and scrimmaging; I don't have enough practice time to carve out separate blocks for exercise.
Not having an experienced assistant limits the 'division of labor'.
Hubie Brown shares his practice organization:
1) Exercise
2) Shooting drills (rotated) but relate to offense
3) Defensive block (5 x 2 minutes)...part-whole method
4) Offensive block (whatever you're teaching)
5) Transition (including advantage-disadvantage)
6) *Defeating pressure
7) Special situations (BOB, SLOB, full, 'go to' plays)
Most of us have "fundamentally challenged" and developmental players who need the majority of practice time devoted to building fundamentals. I generally commit 30 percent of practice to shooting...and that never seems like enough.
Bad News in Practice
1) players standing around in lines
2) coaching soliloquys
3) low tempo
4) drills irrelevant to game play
What elements are indispensable to every practice? For example, we would all agree that poor free throw shooting dooms a basketball team. How much time and what techniques deserve consideration? Ideally we combine multiple elements within a given drill.
Regular Features
Individual skills:
multipurpose ballhandling (dribbling plus passing on the move)
multipurpose ballhandling (dribbling plus passing on the move)
shooting and finishing (separate perimeter and post for part of practice)
individual/small group defense (ball pressure, ball and help side action, post, pick-and-roll)
Offensive forced movement (e.g. pass-and-cut drills)
I want to vary the drills yet also make them competitive. Players must learn to shoot off the catch, off the dribble, coming off screens, and with defensive pressure.
individual/small group defense (ball pressure, ball and help side action, post, pick-and-roll)
Offensive forced movement (e.g. pass-and-cut drills)
I want to vary the drills yet also make them competitive. Players must learn to shoot off the catch, off the dribble, coming off screens, and with defensive pressure.
Offense/Defense:
includes part-whole (1 v 1, 2 v 2, 3 v 3)
SSG (small-sided games) in limited space (e.g. from split to sideline)
Zone offense (boggles the mind that I have to invest time on this in middle school)
SSG (small-sided games) in limited space (e.g. from split to sideline)
Zone offense (boggles the mind that I have to invest time on this in middle school)
set plays concepts (limit): e.g. DHO, Horns variations, 2 guard fronts
4 on 4 no dribble
"Component" actions: ball and off-ball screens, back-door actions, UCLA and Flex action
4 on 4 no dribble
"Component" actions: ball and off-ball screens, back-door actions, UCLA and Flex action
Transition:
This includes work applying and defeating pressure
Advantage-disadvantage (5 v 7, 2 v 8 - 4 sections, 1 v 2)
Advantage-disadvantage (5 v 7, 2 v 8 - 4 sections, 1 v 2)
Special situations/Scrimmage: (players favorite time)
Combine special situations with O-D-O (offense-defense-offense) by initiating the sequence with special situations plays
Miscellaneous:
Offensive and defensive delay
Game winners
"Rare birds" - intentional missed free throws, up 3 on D
Miscellaneous:
Offensive and defensive delay
Game winners
"Rare birds" - intentional missed free throws, up 3 on D
Every practice needs energy, tempo, competition, translation to game play, and fun. We have to PLAY basketball.
