Effective Practice Planning
“The absolute bottom line in coaching is organization and preparing for practice.” – Bill Walsh
Effective practice planning is a matter of time management. Before you can begin to plan your practices, you must identify and/or define your respective Offensive and Defensive systems. Once you have these systems defined, you must determine the necessary skills to make your system(s) a success. Finally, you must organize the skills that are to be taught into a structured and organized plan.
The topic of System development is beyond the scope of this article. You can find more information on this subject in the article: Organizing Season Plans
Typically, your practice sessions will be divided into the following groupings:
- Warm-up period
- Individual period
- Group period
- Team period
- Cool down period
Description of Periods:
- Warm-up period
- The goal of this period is to elevate your players heart rate and prepare them for the more strenuous periods that are to follow.
- Individual (Indy) period
- This period is for the development of the individual skills necessary to play any given position. e.g. stance/start, drive blocking, block destruction etc.
- This period can be against Air, Pads or controlled contact with other players.
- Group period
- The Group period is focused on ‘putting the pieces together’. At the conclusion of the Indy period, players (DL/LB/DB’s or OL/QB/RB/WR’s) are brought together to practice as a Unit.
- This period can be against Air or Pads. There should NOT be live contact in the Group period.
- Team period
- The Team period is where the action takes place. This is NOT a period for scrimmaging.
- This period is a live contact session. 11 on 11 is preferred, but if you do not have 22 available players you may adjust in the following manner:
- half-shell: aligning offensive and defensive players to one side of the mid-line. Plays can only be run to this side.
- inside run drills: No Wr’s, no DB’s. Only players in the box. Plays can only be run between the tackles.
- Goals:
- Full speed execution as a Unit
- Proper execution of assignments against ‘live opponents’
- This period MUST be controlled with a quick whistle. We are concerned with assignments and timing, NOT TACKLING DRILLS!
Individual Period
To effectively plan your Individual period, you must identify the pertinent skills to be taught. The image below is a simple format for directly translating the needed skills into tangible Everyday drills.
To effectively plan your Individual period, you must identify the pertinent skills to be taught. The image below is a simple format for directly translating the needed skills into tangible Everyday drills.
Img 1: EDD’s
Group Period
To effectively plan your Group period, you must recall your Key Offensive/Defensive concepts. The image below is a simple format to categorize your Key concepts:
To effectively plan your Group period, you must recall your Key Offensive/Defensive concepts. The image below is a simple format to categorize your Key concepts:
Img 2: Key Concepts for the Group period
Team Period
As mentioned earlier, the Team period is for the development of timing and execution during live contact. To ensure that you do not stray from the goals of this period, it should be scripted from beginning to end. This means your plays and the defenses you will face are predetermined and executed in a specific order. The image below is the Offensive side of the script:
Img 3: Script for the Team period
When executed at a brisk pace, you should be able to rep 3-4 plays per minute. This will result in a total of 63 reps in a 20 minute period. Remember, this is a quick whistle phase. As an added bonus, you will not need to plan for or implement ‘gassers’ or wind sprints for conditioning.
For obvious reasons, do not provide the Defense with the plays the offense is going to execute. The defensive side of the script should only provide the various defenses the offense needs to execute against.
Img 4: Defensive script for Team period
An additional component of the Team period is Special Teams. On Offensive days, we will spend 15 minutes working on our Kick return and Punt return phases. On Defensive days, we will spend 15 minutes working on our Kick-off and Punt phases. The Special Teams period follows the same rules and goals as the Team period.
Cool Down
The final period of Practice is Cool Down. In this phase you want to begin easing the players out of ‘attack mode’. A gauntlet-style relay is a great way to transition out of the adrenaline packed action of the Team session while maintaining football relevance. A very short stretching period will complete the cool down phase.
Practice Plan Templates
Most of us will have 2 hours or less to execute our practices. So, time is of the essence. To that end, I have included three sample practice plans that will address the phases discussed above in less than 2 hours.
***Each plan includes a reference to the Fundamentals Coach. This is a Coach or Coaches that are designated as ‘tutors’. Their primary purpose is to provide one on one and/or small group instruction for players while the Group/Team continues at full speed. You can read more about the Fundamentals Coach here: The Role of the Fundamentals Coach
Beginner Template
The first sample plan is appropriate for younger players that need increased Individual and Group instruction. Each day will have an Defensive or Offensive emphasis, but both sides will be broached.
This Plan is comprised of the following sections:
- Warm-up - 8mins
- Indy’s - 20mins
- Group - 20mins
- Sp. Teams - 10mins
- Team: Offense - 25mins
- Team: Defense - 25mins
- Total time: 1 Hour and 56 minutes
Example 1:
Intermediate Template
The second plan is appropriate for Intermediate players. This plan will spend less time on Indy’s and Group but will retain the 20 minute period for the Team period. Also, this plan will focus on either Offense or Defense for a given practice.
This plan is comprised of the following sections:
- Warm-ups - 8mins
- Tackle Circuit (regardless of offensive/defensive emphasis) - 15mins
- Indy’s - 10mins
- Group - 15mins
- Team - 20mins
- Sp. Teams - 15mins
- Cool down - 8mins
- Total time: 1 Hour and 41 minutes
Example 2:
Advanced Template
The third plan is for more advanced players. This plan will cover both Offense and Defense in equal portions on each day of practice. The Water breaks are no longer called out into individual sections. To maintain the tempo of this plan, water is to be provided ‘on field’ throughout the duration of practice.
This plan is comprised of the following sections:
- Warm-ups - 5mins
- Emphasis: Defense
- Tackle Circuit - 15mins
- Indy’s - 10mins
- Group - 15mins
- Team - 15mins
- Sp. Teams - 5mins
- Emphasis: Offense
- Indy’s - 10mins
- Group - 15mins
- Team - 15mins
- Sp. Teams - 5mins
- Cool Down - 5mins
- Total Time: 1 Hour and 55 minutes
Example 3:
As a coach, the Practice Plan is the most valuable resource in your toolbox. Week in and week out, games are won and lost based on a team’s practices.
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Demiko Suggs
Coaching for Coaches. It's about the Process, NOT the Result.
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