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At LSU, we strongly believe that the structure and organization of a practice session is without a doubt the biggest determinant for the success or lack of success of our team. We tell our team that our practice time — from the first day to our first game — will strongly lay the ground work for the kind of season we can expect to have.What we do, how well we do it and our total approach to practice, both mentally and physically, will greatly enhance or hinder our ability to reach the goals of our program. There are several aspects to our practice program that must be addressed. They are preparation, teaching structure, repetition, teaching emphasis, overload drills, emphasis of the day, practice outline, practice statistics and practice video.
PREPARATION
Our staff meets for a short time following a practice to evaluate the day’s results. We go over both the good points and the bad points and note some things we need to do at the next practice while that day’s workout is still fresh in our minds. This gives us an edge when we sit down the next day to begin organizing our practice.
When organizing a practice, we first try to set goals, then follow that with the drill work necessary to achieve them. Although it may not always be possible on the high school or junior high school level, it is extremely beneficial for the staff to get together before practice to go over the order of events. An unorganized practice could last three hours; organize and prepare and you can get in the same amount of work in two hours.
TEACHING STRUCTURE
We believe that no matter what a team does offensively or defensively, it’s very important to break down its system of play to teach it properly. We break our system down into drills (part-method) that simulate parts of our game, then build it to a five-on-five (whole-method) situation. Players will better understand what it is you want them to accomplish, and you can key in on particular teaching points that are necessary for team success. The best way to develop good habits is with part-method teaching. In fact, this is so important to us that we continue to break down the different aspects of our game even after the season is well underway.
You should never underestimate the importance of full-court work. Whole-method work is critical for the development of timing and spacing and should be a daily part of your practice as well.
REPETITION
We feel that repetition is the backbone of a good practice structure. The constant drilling of fundamentals and the correct approach to offensive and defensive skills are necessary for developing proper habits. We believe in repetition with variety. For example, we want to work on defensive rebounding and the fundamentals of blocking out each day in practice. We will have a better chance of improvement if we use different drills to drive the point home. If we come out everyday and do 2/2 blockout, the players would eventually become bored and wouldn’t be receptive to our teaching. Sometimes we want to make the drills fun and competitive by keeping score — but still being repetitive in the concept of blocking out.
TEACHING EMPHASIS
We have a certain methodology and we don’t ever want to stray from our philosophy. For instance, we might be doing our Shell Defensive Series (designed to work on our man-to-man defense), but we still expect our offense to execute. If we are working on offense, we expect our defense to play as instructed and to blockout on every shot. If you teach your players to low ball transfer in one drill you must expect them to low ball transfer in all areas of play even if you are primarily working on defense. This is a key to doing things right consistently and goes back to the importance of repetition. It also allows you to get more out of your practice. You might have a 10 minute session on offense but you can also get 10 good minutes out of defense at the same time.
OVERLOAD DRILLS
This signifies drills in which we place a larger burden on our players in a drill than they would face in game situations. We might add an additional ball to a drill to make it more difficult for the defensive team. We even add an additional offensive player to make it more difficult for the defensive team. One of our favorite drills is 5/4 in which we have four defensive players that have to defend five offensive players.
Offensively, we might add a restriction to make it more difficult for the offensive team to perform. Almost daily, we take the dribble away from the offensive team to place a premium on our ability to be strong with the ball, make good passes and execute our cuts against pressure defense.
EMPHASIS OF THE DAY
Each practice, we choose an “Emphasis of the Day.” When the players come to practice, they will find a sheet of paper with the emphasis of the day in their locker. When they walk on to the practice floor, they will see it taped up at each basket and at the water cooler. We will start practice by huddling up at which time Coach Chancellor will mention the emphasis of the day and why it is important. We generally will start practice with a drill that is specific to the emphasis of the day. Throughout practice, the coaching staff will constantly mention the emphasis in all drill work. The majority of the time, the emphasis with be related to a basketball fundamental: Blockout, Low Post Feeds, Shot Fake, Contest the Shot, etc. On occasion, it will be a mental emphasis: Concentration, Communicate, Listen, Intensity, etc. (There is a detailed report on the Emphasis of the Day earlier on this blog).
PRACTICE OUTLINE
Another important part of practice for us is the use of a practice outline. We write down the drill work and scrimmage situations in the order in which we want them performed. This allows us to stay on time and not forget something we need to go over. Upon saying this, you should also not be controlled by your practice outline. There will be times when we want to go a little longer or shorter in a certain segment. We have also on a rare occasion, completely went away from the practice outline for various reasons. We keep all practice plans and file them in our office for future reference. We have added some practice plans to this passout to give you an idea of how we develop ours at LSU.
PRACTICE STATISTICS
We believe statistics provide a great source of motivation for players in practice settings. This is where imagination comes in handy. We obviously keep normal stats such as shooting, rebounding, assists and turnovers. But we will occasionally keep a stat based on an area we want to improve upon. For a week we might keep track of “screens set” to encourage screening. We always keep track of turnovers individually and what kind of turnover was committed. Anything of importance can be turned into a stat sheet. We post the previous day’s stats on the bulletin board in our locker room and you can rest assured that they look at the stats before coming out to practice.
PRACTICE VIDEO
Video is a huge teaching tool and one that we try to maximize in our program. We are big believers in taping all of our practice sessions and then we have a coach watch and take stats after practice. We bring players in individually to watch practice clips as well as showing it to our team. We may watch video before practice or after practice (sometimes both). We have even taken a short break in the middle of practice to watch video. Clips can be put together in a variety of ways. They can be positive clips, negative clips, and even motivational clips. While we always want to show clips that show mistakes in order for us to improve, never doubt the power of showing positive clips for reinforcement. Video is a great teaching tool — utilize it as much as possible.
PRACTICE OUTLINE
Another important part of practice for us is the use of a practice outline. We write down the drill work and scrimmage situations in the order in which we want them performed. This allows us to stay on time and not forget something we need to go over. Upon saying this, you should also not be controlled by your practice outline. There will be times when we want to go a little longer or shorter in a certain segment. We have also on a rare occasion, completely went away from the practice outline for various reasons. We keep all practice plans and file them in our office for future reference. We have added some practice plans to this passout to give you an idea of how we develop ours at LSU.
PRACTICE STATISTICS
We believe statistics provide a great source of motivation for players in practice settings. This is where imagination comes in handy. We obviously keep normal stats such as shooting, rebounding, assists and turnovers. But we will occasionally keep a stat based on an area we want to improve upon. For a week we might keep track of “screens set” to encourage screening. We always keep track of turnovers individually and what kind of turnover was committed. Anything of importance can be turned into a stat sheet. We post the previous day’s stats on the bulletin board in our locker room and you can rest assured that they look at the stats before coming out to practice.
PRACTICE VIDEO
Video is a huge teaching tool and one that we try to maximize in our program. We are big believers in taping all of our practice sessions and then we have a coach watch and take stats after practice. We bring players in individually to watch practice clips as well as showing it to our team. We may watch video before practice or after practice (sometimes both). We have even taken a short break in the middle of practice to watch video. Clips can be put together in a variety of ways. They can be positive clips, negative clips, and even motivational clips. While we always want to show clips that show mistakes in order for us to improve, never doubt the power of showing positive clips for reinforcement. Video is a great teaching tool — utilize it as much as possible.
