PRACTICE TIPS FROM CREIGHTON BURNS

Great artcile by Creighton Burns on Winning Hoops (a great coaching resource site) discussing how to get the most out of your practices. I'm a big believer that practice is the singularly most important thing for molding your team and your program. The way you practice develops your players on and off the court and creates the culture that you want to represent your program. In this fashion, I think practice has a direct relation to improving you ability to recruit. We love for recruits to watch us practice because we think they can see the organzation, and the individual teaching and the ways we utilize to succeed at LSU. Here are just a few of Coach Burns pointers.

• Do not give your team too much — keep it simple. (KISS Method)

• End practice on a positive note. Send them home happy.

• Vary the drills to prevent monotony. Have different drills that teach the same skills, and use drills that have several different fundamental skills within the drill.

• Make the drills competitive.

• Start and end practice on time.

• Use the clock.

• Do not run drills into the ground. Individual drills should be from 5 to 7 minutes in length and team drills should last no longer than 10 to 12 minutes.

• Teach new concepts early in the practice session when the players are fresh mentally.

• Make pass fakes and shot fakes a part of your drill situations.

• Name the drills and make sure the players know the names of the drills.

• Basketball is a game of quickly changing situations — demand that your players move quickly from drill to drill.

• If you cannot get it done in two and a half hours, you are not going to get it done.

• Shorten practice time as the season progresses.

• Utilize the whole-part-whole method of teaching.

• The gym is your classroom — make sure everyone treats it as such.

• Run your practices the same way you coach in a game.

• Stress attention to detail — strive for excellence and demand proper execution of the fundamentals.

• Teachable moments occur naturally during the practice session. Always look for the teachable moment.

• Run your drills full court. Transition is a huge part of the game.

For the entire list and article from Coach Burns, click on the link below:
http://www.lesspub.com/wh-blog/457/get-the-most-from-practices/