Module 2 – Pre-Practice (routines and messaging)
We just talked about saving time for the important stuff. Here’s another way to save time…
It’s a bit of a sneaky hack that saves precious gym time and gets your players’ minds into basketball mode… get together five minutes before practice begins. Practice starts at 7:00, meet at 6:55 for your pre-practice routine. You can do it in the hallway or on the sidelines while you wait for the court.
Do some dynamic stretching to get their bodies ready for practice. Allow the players to lead the stretching. The act of getting together before the gym time begins is a great way to shift your players into basketball mode and it gets a little more team bonding time. Do not oversee this activity. Show some trust! Let the players lead it.
The players are done their stretching, you want to get into a pre-practice huddle. This is another time saver. What can you do during this time? It’s no different than your huddle in the change room before you come out for a game. Your job is to motivate and get the most out of your time together.
- Create an emphasis for the day. For example, today we’re focusing on communication. Everything we do must include talking to each other. Bring this up throughout practice.
- Keep the messaging positive. Don’t talk about punishment if they aren’t communicating. You don’t want to start the practice off with threats.
- Talk about the importance of communication through positive examples. “We know that when we talk to each other we play harder.”
- One consistent talking point for every practice should revolve around effort. Do everything as hard as you can. I’d rather have players cutting with maximum effort in the wrong direction then half the effort in the right direction. Nobody gets open using half effort. Nobody stops penetration using half effort.
- Talk about your team culture. Maybe you want your team to be known as a mentally tough team that won’t give up. Remind your players about that culture and give a few quick examples of the past practice or game where some of your players did a great job. Point it out to them, make them feel great before the practice even starts.
Before you break the pre-practice huddle, let the players know what drill you’re warming up to. We’re setting expectations and we’re going to meet them. “Let’s go we’re going to warm up for five minutes, five ball drill, full court layups. Hands in. Effort on three. 1… 2… 3!”
