What is the 'right' amount of scrimmaging? For younger players with low skill levels, scrimmaging with limited practice time competes with skill building. Remember the discussion in The Talent Code about Spartak Tennis. Spartak was the most successful tennis 'factory' in the world and players worked on fundamentals for years before playing.
First, I digress. Where does scrimmaging impact results?
- Economics - allocation of scarce resources (e.g. practice time, subsections of practice, number of hoops)
- Accountability - holding ourselves to a high standard (limit turnovers and poor shot selection)
- Organization of play - initial setup, player and ball movement, 'scoring moment'
- Individual development - skill, strategy, physicality, psychology
- Core Philosophy - "Teamwork, improvement, accountability"
Find better ways.
- At high school and beyond, make our process impact results (improvement or winning)
- How much should we scrimmage during practice? "It depends."
- What counts as scrimmaging?
- How much should we 'control' it with teaching stoppages?
- How can we utilize it best, e.g. with situational play (tie score, ten seconds left) and "specials" (ATO, BOB, SLOB, etc.)?
- How can we add constraints (time and score, team and individual fouls)
- Allocate one timeout for each side.
Scrimmage options (examples)
- Classic five on five full court
- Five versus seven no dribbling (advantage-disadvantage)
- Half court (e.g. versus specialty defense - zone, box-and-1)
- Small-sided games (e.g. 3-on-3, with or without constraints)
- Vary the competition, better opponents (e.g. higher level team, girls vs boys), intrasquad versus interscholastic
- Three-possession games (O-D-O is offense, defense, offense starting with either SLOB or BOB)
- Continuous 4 vs 4 vs 4 (offense out, defense to offense, third group to defensive coverage and protection each possession)
Add options:
- Rewards for winning
- "Foul out" best player
- "Unfair officiating" - coach players to play through adversity
- Confirm victory with a made free throw.
We had three hours of practice weekly in middle school. Scrimmage-type activities (per practice) included three-on-three (with constraints) at each end with a coach (10 minutes). We worked on full court press breaking 5 vs 7 (7-8 minutes), and three possession games (O-D-O) starting as a BOB, SLOB, or ATO (15 minutes). About 32 minutes of 90 included simulated game activity. Sometimes we'd play 4 x 4 x 4. Almost half of practice was devoted to skill building with shooting the biggest share. We conditioned within drills.
What do you think? More scrimmaging, less, or the same?
Lagniappe (something extra). "Movement kills defenses."
Lagniappe 2. Learning and skill acquisition takes high effort (from The Talent Code).
