Are you “Practicing To The Game?”

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Are you “Practicing To The Game?”

I went to an NJB coach clinic. The host coach asked, “How many of you are going to coach basketball this year?” And 88 hands went up. The coach asked, “How many of you coached last year?” And 88 hands went up. The coach asked, “How many of you know how far the rim is from the 3-point line?” And no one raised their hand. So the coach said, “How many of you can teach the kids basketball if you can’t even tell them where to go on the court?”

So the point here is not to slam the volunteer dads who populate NJB basketball. But it is to ask the question, “Are you practicing to the game?” I’ve coached 12 years from NJB through club and high school basketball here in southern California and it never fails to mystify me how many coaches never practice to the came. How many times do you have your kids do push ups in practice? When does the ref ever blow the whistle in a game and say, “OK, drop and give me twenty-five?” It never happens. So why do it in practice? If a kid misses a shot in practice don’t have him do push ups. Practice to the game instead. If the kid turns the ball over, what happens in the game? The player has to back peddle in transition and play defense. So why not structure your practices this way. It better trains players for the game.

Every 90-minute to two hour practice should be carefully choreographed so that not a minute is spent doing anything that isn’t part of a real game. Why isn’t this done more often? The coach hasn’t taken the time to prepare.

For example, How many coaches actually get into a practice to pretend they’re one of the players? I know you do this for instructional purposes or to fill out a tenth spot when you only have nine players but when in a game does a ref ever blow a whistle and say, “OK coach! You’re in the game!” It never happens. So why do it. Instead, try playing a five man team against four and watch what happens. You’ll see that the five man squad doesn’t know how to respond to the four man squad and more often than not the four man squad will go on a nice scoring run. It also prepares a team to prepare for the rarity of having the bench and starters fouled out. It also makes the four man squad work a lot harder and a lot smarter so you might want to work your starters this way. One more: And my favorite. How many coaches spend up to 25% of a practice just yammering and explaining (talking) to kids? The ref never blows the whistle and says, “OK coach, here’s your ten minute time out. So why waste the kid’s time? Every second the kids are not handling a ball in practice as if they were really in a game is a lost moment, and more importantly a lost opportunity.

Anyway, I’ve seen thousands of practices. More often than not this is what I observe. I’m a successful coach. I visit with Kevin Kiernan at Mater Dei. He runs the same “practice to the game” philosophy. The results are highly successful teams.

Article by:

Martin Calle
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California Premier Performance Basketball Academy
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