Building off of Coach Kay's Corner this week, let's dive deeper into practice planning. Yes, you need to get the tactics and activities organized, but what do they ladder up to? We need to have a consistent point-of-view on our approach to practices. Consistency is absolutely one of the keys to kids reaching their potential. 

I've found the thinking below to be valuable "north stars" as I get in the weeds of practice planning, and reference them often while developing practice detail. You don't need any avoidable variables introduced to your games/practices, as you have enough on your plate already.

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John Wooden's 8 Principles of Practice Plan Design

• Fundamentals before scheme and creativity
• Use variety
• Teach new material at the start of practice
• Quick transitions between activities
• Increase complexity from practice to practice (progression)
• Conditioning for learning (can they get their conditioning while practicing, rather than specific conditioning periods)
• End on a positive note (but start 10 seconds of complete silence – think about what you need to work on)
• Avoid altering a plan during the lesson

Philosophy

"Quality preparation for game day is a life skill."‍

- USA Football

"Practice is about building success and improving confidence for later performance."

- USA Football

"Long practices are neither desirable nor particularly beneficial."

– Tom Coughlin

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• Long practices create a lack of focus and quality
• Players need to learn time management
• End drills and practices on time to maximize player attention
• Guidelines for ~8 years old – 60-75 minutes; 2x per week
• Encourage competition and celebrations

Key Questions

• What are we trying to accomplish?
• How can we link to prior and future practices?
• What do we need to consider from a developmental standpoint?
• What drills and activities are appropriate?
• How are we accounting for varying skills of players?
• How are we helping them grow as individuals, not just players? How much do we want to sequence the drills and activities?

Tips from Coach Bruce Kay

• Make drills fun. With 12 kids on a team, try to organize your drills in 3 groups of 4 kids.
• Most coaches talk way too much. Kids want to move and play, so make your drills simple, meaningful, and get them moving. They learn from doing, not a lecture. Obviously, you need to coach them up, but when I consult, one of the biggest things I see in coaching is repeating themselves and kids standing. Have the drill emphasize one thing, like a pursuit angle, and create the drill so the player can learn to take the proper angle to head off the ball carrier and make some kind of a race out of it – e.g., agility drills around cones where you emphasize proper cutting technique of bending the knees, chest over toes, etc.
• Simplify your football strategy. Have some simple plays out of one to three formations. Limit all the fluff with motions and shifts, have a formation, and know why you want to use it, and if you add a formation, ask yourself why are we doing this and can the kids understand it?
• Organize your practices. Have a plan that is divided into 5-10 minute sessions, the time can vary but avoid long, repetitive sessions. If you have something that you believe needs 20 minutes of practice time, consider two, 10-minute sessions with an agility drill or some kind of relay race in between the two sessions.
• What fundamentals are you going to develop? For example:

1. Passing
2. Receiving
3. Running
4. Offensive Stances
5. Blocking (if it's allowed)
6. Defensive Stances
7. Flag pulling

Other Tips 

A little encouragement goes a long way with kids. Take the time to celebrate and cheer on every kid. Build it into practice and make sure the celebration is evenly spread out. Here's how:

As a group: 

• Have kids shout out what the team did well.
• Kid to kid: Make time for kids to complement each other. This teaches teamwork, inclusiveness, and makes them feel good. Cooldown sessions are an excellent time for kids to compliment.
• From the coach: Be specific with your feedback. Tell a kid exactly what they did that you're calling out and how you feel about it. "Wow, Jasmine, you did three headers in a row! That's the most you've ever done. Way to stick with it. I'm so proud of you."
• Unexpected moments: Be sure to find times to compliment kids when they think you aren't watching.
• Every kid, every day: Make sure to celebrate every kid for something.

Teaching Techniques

The IDEA Method (also called Tell, Show, Do)

The IDEA Method is great for teaching the technical skills of any sport, especially new skills, drills, or concepts. It provides a framework from which the coach can build on and can be easy to remember if you just realize you are teaching an IDEA to the players: 

I – Introduce the skill: Announce the skill to the players and make sure they know what it's called, what your teaching, and what is going on.

D – Demonstrate Skill: Take a moment to demonstrate the skill yourself or get a player on the team to demonstrate the skill or drill that is being taught. Don't worry about being perfect – just be sure you are offering players the chance to see what is being asked of them. Even if you have to pull up an example on your cell phone – be sure they see a demonstration.

E – Explain Skill: Touch on the critical areas of focus when your players execute the skills. Be sure to start with the most important and only hit a few items at a time. You can always tighten up or add things later on, but hit the most important things first.
A – Attend to players practicing skill: Now, as you have the players practice the skill or run through the drills, be sure you are in a position to observe and give feedback to the players as they practice the skill. Remember – they are practicing the skills, so don't overcorrect or be negative – they are practicing, and your players will need repetitions to get better at things. Last, be sure your players are in short enough lines that they are getting the most reps possible. Some drills require a few moments of rest, but if your lines are too long, they won't be getting better.

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Next week: Player evaluations and what to talk to kids about before and after practice