How long should a freshman or JV practice be? Here is how to choose between 90 minutes and 2.5 hours, and how to build a shorter practice that gets more done.
How Long Should a Freshman or JV Practice Be? Read More »
Day one of practice: install your offense, or start with culture and conditioning? Both sides of the debate and a first practice plan you can actually run.
Day One of Practice: Install Offense or Build Culture First? Read More »
Tryouts are close and the to-do list keeps growing. Here is a practical preseason checklist covering paperwork, people, practice plans and culture.
The Preseason Checklist Every Basketball Coach Needs Read More »
The first week of practice sets habits for the whole season. Here is a day-by-day approach to planning it so players learn your standards and still have fun.
How to Plan Your First Week of Practice Read More »
Tryout evaluation comes down to one debate: skill drills or live scrimmage? Here is how to use both so your roster decisions hold up all season long.
Tryout Evaluation: Skill Drills or Live Scrimmage? Read More »
December brings tournaments, back-to-backs and finals week, and practice time disappears. Here is how to prepare your team and manage games when you barely practice.
How to Manage Games With Limited Practice Time Read More »
Most coaches, at every level, want to improve their practice planning. Fewer are aware of the specific, recurring mistakes that quietly limit their team’s development — mistakes that are common enough to show up across youth leagues, high school programs, and beyond. Recognizing these patterns in your own planning is often the fastest way to
The Practice Planning Mistakes Coaches Make Most Read More »
Every practice plan looks great on paper. Then practice starts, and reality intrudes: half your roster shows up late, a drill you expected to take eight minutes takes twenty, or the concept you planned to install turns out to be far beyond where your team currently is. The coaches who run consistently productive practices aren’t
How to Adjust Practice Plans Mid Practice Read More »
Coaching youth basketball is not a smaller, simpler version of coaching older players. It’s a fundamentally different job that requires different priorities, different attention spans, and a different definition of success. Coaches who plan youth practices using the same principles that work for high school or adult teams often end up frustrated with results that
Practice Planning for Youth Basketball Coaches Read More »
Coaching a team of seven or eight players presents a completely different set of practice planning challenges than coaching a team of fourteen or fifteen. Drills built for a full roster often fall apart with a small group — 5-on-5 concepts need substitutes to simulate fouls or rotations, competitive drills lose their edge when the
Practice Planning for Small Rosters Read More »
