Practice Schedule

I feel the best time to practice is right after school. I begin our practice at 3:20 and continue until 5:15 or 5:30, depending on the work planned for the day. I feel it is desirable to have several practice sessions at night before we begin the regular season's schedule so that we might accustom the players to game conditions. I conduct several game type scrimmages at night before the opening game.

Practice Equipment

It is my sincere belief that proper practice equipment is one of the most important elements in a successful basketball program. I have uniform practice equipment which is not expensive but very adequate. The squad is issued white practice pants and reversible T-Shirts, so they can merely turn their shirts inside out if they change teams during practice. Our school provides sweat socks, athletic supporter, and white shoes. I feel the boys are much better disciplined if they are all outfitted in the same practice equipment. From the standpoint of the player, this gives him a feeling that he is part of a team and not a member of a disorganized group.

I feel it is equally important for the coach to have some type of uniform that he wears to practice. It is my belief that the coach must set the example if he is to insist upon uniform practice equipment for the team.

Injuries

If you are fortunate as we are, and have a trainer, take advantage of the situation and make the best use of him. It will give the boy more confidence to be told by the trainer that he is all right than to just have the coach do it. I let our trainer make the decisions on all of our minor injury problems. If he says the boy needs to be taped, that's it. If he says the boy should miss practice for any reason, I respect his judgement. He also recommends boys to the doctor when he feels it is necessary. On the nights of a game, I make out the lineup, but the trainer advises me on the physical condition of each player. If he decides the boy is not fit, he doesn't play.

If you do not have a trainer, it would be avisable for you to attend a clinic and work carefully with the trainer there. I am sure the help that you receive from the trainers will provide you with great assistance in getting your boys ready to play.

If you are ever in doubt about an injury suffered by a player, you should consult a doctor immediately. Never take a chance on jeopardizing the health of one of your players by minimizing what appears to be a slight injury. A doctor can erase all doubt about a boy's physical condition very quickly with an examination.

Discipline

It is imperative that the coach be in complete control of the team at all times. You should attempt to treat all of  the players alike. Give no special favors to the "star," but rather tell him, he is expected to conduct himself as a "star" off the court as well as on the court. He should set the perfect example for the younger boys. I have found it to be true more often than not, that such was the natural case. The "star" was the "star" both in the classroom, on the street, and on the basketball court.

Training Rules

I have definite training rules that I expect the boys to follow. There was once a time that I felt like many other coaches feel today; to set up training rules for the boys to follow was too dictatorial. I wanted to follow the modern theme of education and let the boys set up their own rules to follow. I found, after a time, that although this is commendable, many of the boys did not actually know what was best for them and thus used poor training techniques. I found examples of boys who stayed up until 11:00 or 11:30 every night and got up at 6:30 the next morning. This was not enough sleep for the boys, and it showed in the vital spot to all basketball players—their legs. After a few minutes of rapid play, their legs got tired, and they started making mistakes. I set up a definite time for the boys to be in bed, and in a couple of weeks they felt stronger and could run with the best of them. These boys didn't actually believe that sleep was that important until they were forced to try my methods.

Proper diet, and the proper clothing to wear during the cold damp months is also stressed. I realize that I cannot dictate to the mothers what is best for their sons to eat, but you would be surprised how some mothers gratefully accept suggestions. A warm cap to wear home in the snow will sometimes keep the boy with the "damp" hair from catching a bad cold or the flu.

I do not condone smoking or drinking in any instance. I continually counsel the boys and feel that I can show them concrete evidence why they should not partake of these two useless products.

Dating, I leave up to the discretion of the boy, as long as it does not interfere with the curfew that I have set up for him.

Many times a good captain can do a fine job for you by counseling the team regarding their training habits. Quite often a strong captain can make the boys follow good training techniques through his own leadership.

Managers

The student manager can be very good for the team if he is trained properly. He can relieve the coach of many responsibilities on game nights by performing such duties as taking care of the visiting teams needs, providing towels for the home team, keeping statistic charts, and performing other duties. I like to keep two managers, one an upper classman and the other an underclassman. This way I always have an experienced manager coming up every year. My managers keep our statistic charts during practice sessions as well as during the games. During the games they tabulate the results of the shot charts and give the information to me in the dressing room before I ever begin talking to the boys. A very fine book has recently been published for student managers.

Trips

The managers also go on all the trips with the team. They take care of the equipment, keep statistics, and attend to any item I might designate. When we go on trips involving staying at a hotel or motel for a number of days, they are responsible for making certain the boys meet the schedule that is set up for them.

I require that all of our boys making a trip either wear sport clothes, including a sports jacket, or wear a suit and tie. I expect our team to conduct themselves as gentlemen at all times and have found that this is much easier accomplished when they are dressed as gentlemen.

PRACTICE SCHEDULE

The practice schedule presents definite, and different problems each week, so it is almost impossible to set up one practice schedule and adhere to it during the entire season.

I am of the opinion that it is best to play games on Friday and Saturday nights, so we have our schedule, with one or two exceptions, arranged in this manner. I believe that you can play on Friday, and Saturday nights, and the boys can rest on Sunday and come out Monday night and work on the mistakes made during the weekend. Spend Tuesday and Wednesday preparing for your opponents the following weekend. Taper off with a light workout on Thursday, and then play hard Friday and Saturday. I found that by playing a Tuesday-Friday schedule, we didn't have any practice time. We had to take it easy on Monday because we played on Tuesday. We were tired on Wednesday and had a sluggish practice. Thursday, we had to take it easy preparing for the game Friday. I have had much more success with our Friday-Saturday game arrangement. It has helped us to condition ourselves physically for the difficult task of playing two nights in a row. This of course, is what you run up against when the "March Madness" takes over, and you play night after night, in the tournaments.

Sometimes, if the team has had an exceptionally good weekend, and has looked sharp, we won't practice at all on Monday. We will look over the game films of the preceding weekend or view the films of our next weekend opponents. I believe that you should never give the boys a complete night off during the season. Instead, devote a night, if you wish to give them a rest, to the classroom. Talk over basketball strategy, and discuss your general philosophy as it pertains to the team. I have always found that the boys enjoy expressing their ideas about certain teams, and individuals. On occasion the team has profited richly from the keen observation of one of the players regarding his analysis of an opponent.

If you wish you may observe a weekly practice schedule similar to ours.

Monday

3:20 to 3:45 Practice "spot" shooting. We give them 25 minutes every night to practice shooting from their favorite "spots" on the floor. Regardless of what else they do well, they must hit, or we won't win.

3:45 to 3:55    Work on mistakes from previous game.

3:55 to 4:05 Dummy offensive drills—Teams run through their offensive patterns without a defense.

4:05 to 4:30 Defensive work—Early in the season, we explain, and demonstrate the individual defensive maneuvers we expect the boys to master.

4:30 to 4:45    Full Court Running Drills

4:45 to 5:00 Free Throw shooting. We always shoot our free throws after a running drill, as this is similar to actual game conditions because of the fatigue element. We also always shoot our free throw using the 1 and 1 bonus rule. They must make the first before attempting the second.

5:00 to 5:30 Scrimmage—Early in the season, we may have the scrimmage last for only 15 or 20 minutes. As we progress into the season, we will hold a full 30 minute scrimmage session. As the season nears the end, we revert back to the shorter scrimmage.

Tuesday

3:20 to 3:45    "Spot" shooting

3:45 to 4:00 Scouting report on Friday's opponent. Individual moves of each opponent, both offensively and defensively, are stressed.

4:00 to 4:20 Basic Offense. (Plays we will use on Friday night are stressed, and walked through in slow motion, so everyone is certain of what we will attempt to do.)

4:20 to 4:35 Full Court Running Drills (Stress all options on the fast break, as they pertain to your opponent) .

4:35 to 4:45    Free throw shooting

4:45 to 5:00   Team Defense

5:00 to 5:15    Out of bounds plays and special situations

5:15 to 5:30 Scrimmage (Work your first eight men against the defense your Friday night opponent will use).

Wednesday

3:20 to 3:45    "Spot" shooting

3:45 to 3:55    Game type warm up drill
 
3:55 to 4:10      Passing and cutting drills

4:10 to 4:25      Review   offense   and   defense   for   Friday game.

4:25 to 4:35      Run through dummy offense for timing.

4:35 to 4:45      Team Defense

4:45 to 4:55      Full Court running drills

4:55 to 5:05      Free throw shooting

5:05 to 5:30      Scrimmage

Thursday

3:20 to 3:45    "Spot" shooting

3:45 to 3:55    Game type warm-up drill

3:55 to 4:10 Discuss scouting report for Saturday night opponent.

4:10 to 4:25    Individual defense

4:25 to 4:40 Team defense (Explain any changes you will need to make for the Saturday game).

4:40 to 5:00 Offensive situation techniques (out-of-bounds, jump balls, free throws).

5:00 to 5:10    Free throws.

Friday

8:00 Game (After the game, our manager gives every boy a copy of the scouting report on our Saturday night opponent. If we deem it necessary we sometimes meet in the Varsity room at the school after lunch on Saturday for a "chalk talk" regarding our opponents that night).

As I mentioned before, practice sessions will certainly vary. The practices I hold in November, December, and January, are quite different from those I have in February, and March. The early sessions are spent on individual fundamentals and the building of an offense and defense. The sessions later on have less of the basic fundamentals.

PRACTICE—SPECIAL STRATEGY PRACTICE

You may attempt to set up your scrimmage sessions, so they resemble, as nearly as possible, actual game conditions. You want to condition the team to late game conditions and strategy. In all of your scrimmage sessions, have the clock running, and have your managers keep the statistics of the scrimmage. Adjust the time left on the clock and adjust the score, so you can set up any game situation that you choose. I have found that this type of scrimmage stimulates the players to greater action and teaches them the proper thing to do when certain situations present themselves. Here is an example of what you can do in scrimmage.

The first seven or eight players will make up the first unit, and the remaining players will play with the reserve team.

1. Clock set with 4 minutes to play: first unit ahead by 3 points, man-to-man defense, possession first unit, first unit running the delay offense.
2. Clock set with 2 minutes to play: first unit ahead by 1 point, man-to-man pressing defense by reserves, possession first unit.
3. Clock set with 2 minutes to play: first unit behind by 3 points, 2-2-1 zone press defense by first unit, possession reserves.
4. Clock set with 4 minutes to play: first unit behind by 6 points, man-to-man defense, possession reserves, reserves running the delay offense.
5. Clock set with 2 minutes to play: score tied, 2-3 zone defense by reserves, possession first unit, first unit running our 2-1-2 offense.
6. Clock set with 2 minutes to play: score tied, 2-1-2 zone defense by first unit, reserves running the 1-3-1 zone offense.
7. Clock set with 30 seconds to play: score tied, first unit has ball out of bounds under their own goal, reserves defending against the out-of-bounds play with a 2-3 zone defense.
8. Clock set with 30 seconds to play: score tied, jump ball at center court, both teams playing a man-to-man defense.

You may add any number of situations to your scrimmage. I have put in only a few of the things that we do. The amount of time spent on each situation may also be adjusted to fit the needs that you have. If you practice diligently in this manner, your team should react in a pleasing manner when these situations arise in the actual game.

It is very important to have some plays ready for the fleeting seconds of the ball game. I like to run some sort of a play that involves screening for our best shooters and have them shooting their favorite shots.

SPECIAL SITUATIONS

In the fleeting seconds of a tight ball game it is very important to have the players know exactly what they are going to do in order to score. You may run one of the following plays, when you need that tieing or winning basket.

 
This is a good play if you have a boy who is a good jump shooter as well as an excellent driver. He has the option of doing either. The play begins with #4 passing to #5 at the side of the floor. As soon as he releases the ball, #4 and #3 set a double screen on #2's man. He breaks over the screen for a pass from #5, and a jump shot or drive-in. #6 clears to the baseline. #4 rolls to the inside after the screen as a rebounder along with #6. #3 buttonhooks back as the safety valve. #5 moves to the middle of the floor for the long rebound.
SPECIAL SITUATIONS

In this option #2 passes to the pivot man who is breaking up high to receive the pass. #3 breaks across to screen for #4. #2 times his cut so that he brushes his man off on #3 cutting by. If #6 cannot feed #2, #2 flares out to the sideline, and #4 comes off the screen by #3 and receives ball for possible lay-in. #5 comes out for safety valve.

SPECIAL SITUATIONS

This option begins just like the regular weakside play. #2 passes to #5 and goes through looking for the bounce pass. If he doesn't get the ball, he clears on out. #6, instead of coming up high to receive the ball, flares to the baseline. #3 has set a screen' for #4, and #4 receives ball at the free throw line for a soft jump shot. This diagram would work very well for a left-handed wing man. Work it from the other side for a right-handed wing.

Are You Ready To Move Onto The Next Lesson? Click Here….