I've known Sam Nichols for around 20 years now -- whether he was working our basketball camps at LSU or running into him at Don Meyer's Coaching Academy. And while he was an outstanding coach, he's saved his best act for post retirement where is Founder and President of Basketball Smiles, a program of free basketball camps in the inner city playgrounds of the Bahamas. Below is a post by Sam with a great list on how to have successful practices:
Recently I had a young coach ask me for some suggestions
on how to plan more efficient and productive practices. Here's a few ideas for
I came up with for coaches to consider to help you plan your practices. Believe
me, during my 33 years of coaching I learned there is an art to designing and
executing your daily practices to where they contribute successful team
development.
Hopefully, these thoughts will be helpful - here they
are, in no particular order:
1. You can't be good at everything.
I heard Jim Calhoun say this at a clinic years ago. He
said, "As a coach, pick out three things that you want to excel in, and
focus on them. And your practices should reflect these three priorities.
Another coach should be able to walk into your practices and be able to pick
out those three things based upon what you're doing in practice." Set priorities for your program and organize
your practices to reflect your priorities. One of my favorite quotes: "We
always find time for the things we put first." Decide what's important to
and frame your practices around those priorities.
2. Coach both the "What" and the
"Why"
Don't just tell your players "What" to do, tell
them the "Why." Fundamentally, people "buy in" to the
"Why" of anything, and if you take time to explain to your players
the logic and reasoning behind your press or offensive philosophy, I believe
your practices will be more fruitful.
3. Remember the 90-10 Rule
This comes from one of my mentors - Coach Dale Brown who
always told me, "Be careful and not talk too much in practice - let them
practice their skills 90% of the time and you talk only 10% of the
time." There's a difference between
teaching and overcoaching.
4. Have some part
of practices stressful with consequences
Frankly, basketball is a game of performing under
pressure and some segments of practice must be framed with pressure with
resulting rewards for performing at a high level and consequences for poor
performance.
5. Situational Segments
I learned the value of this from my Dad who, as a
baseball coach, had us practice "situations" every day. Coaches
cannot do all of the thinking for their players, nor make all of the
pressure-packed decisions for their players - players have to think for
themselves, and situational segments develop the confidence in players to where
they believe they can make good decisions in games, because they have practiced
similar situations in practice. Set up game-like situations on a regular basis
and make them a routine - it will pay off!
6. Don't just work your starters together during
situations
Shuffle your lineup during situations - late in the game,
chances are, not all five of your starters will be in the game for one reason
or another, so work situations with different lineups.
7. Make your players think for themselves and get
themselves out of trouble
In a loud gym in a meaningful game, your players won't be
able to hear you "coach every dribble," so, especially in situational
drills, keep your mouth shut and don't blow your whistle to correct every
mistake. Instead, be quiet, and make your players work together to come up with
a solution. Pat Riley says, "You must be a participant in your own
rescue." Make them think - get themselves out of trouble - it will build
their self-confidence and sense of teamwork.
8. Praise Extra Effort
If you want your players to play hard in games and give
extra effort, you must praise and reward it on a daily basis in practice. As
Don Meyer was fond of saying, "Your players will reproduce what you emphasize." I encourage coaches, "Catch your players
being good!" Unfortunately, we all
do a much better job catching them making mistakes. Let's balance that by intentionally
praising extra effort. As you do this, that extra effort will be contagious.
9. Focus on You and Your Stuff
During the season, especially during Conference play,
it's a great temptation to spend a disproportional amount of time on your
opponent's offense and defense, out-of-bounds plays, etc. The result - you neglect your stuff - your press
break, your offensive sets, your defensive, then of course, on game day your
execution suffers.
10. Drills should
relate to your offense and defense, and not just be "trendy" drills
As my Dad was fond of saying, "Know why you're
doing, what you're doing." Practice time is too precious to waste, so
don't just run drills that you saw at a clinic - run drills with a purpose.
Utilize drills that have a direct correlation to your offensive and defensive
schemes.
11. Understand there will be good practices and bad
practices
Don't get overconfident and complacent when you have a
good practice and everything clicks, and don't overreact and burn the gym down
when you have a bad practice. The season is a grind and there is an ebb and
flow to practices - you'll have some great ones, and from time to time your
practices will, frankly, stink. A great coach knows that every day is a new day
- build on the great practices, and flush the bad ones.
12. Practice doesn't happen in a vacuum
As much as we would like to have our players total focus
and attention, we have to remember that they (and you) bring the sum of their
entire day with them to practice. Develop relationships with your players so,
hopefully, you can identify when one of them is having a bad day with issues
maybe unrelated to basketball, but is affecting their performance. It's also important to know yourself - if
you're tired, on edge, etc., it can make you a miserable coach during practice. I heard Coach K say one time, "When you
are tired as a coach, you fall back into bad coaching habits." So true!
13. Know When to Quit
Some days, your practices get bogged down and it's better
to just shut down and call it a day! It's not your fault, it's not your players
fault - as I said, the season is a grind, and there are times it's not going to
be a productive day, so shut it down and re-group the next day. For sure, some
days, when it gets bogged down, you have to push through and keep going, but
that's where you must know your players and use good judgement. But, don't be
afraid to know its time to send them home for today!
14. The Three Laws of Learning - Repetition, Repetition,
Repetition
Not every player “gets it” the first time or the tenth time, and if
something is important, you must organize your practices where repetition of
that skill ii systematic. You can’t teach skill development on a “every now and
then” basis – if you want your players to learn something, you have to teach it
over and over and over again! Repetition is the key to knowledge.
14. "See everything - overlook a great deal -
correct a little" - Pope John XXIII
This is one of my favorite quotes of
all time and I had it written on every daily practice plan because I tended to
"See everything - overlook nothing - correct everything." I finally discovered that seeing every
mistake and correcting it was counterproductive to what I was really wanting to
develop in my players - individually and as a team. When I learned to relax and
show some mercy, patience, and understanding, the entire atmosphere in practice
improved and so much more was accomplished. I found a balance - I could still
hold my players to a high standard of accountability, but I could do that with
a lot less pressure on me and them! We
all enjoyed that so much more!
