Coaching 101- Organized Pre-Practice

I always asked our players to do an organized “Prepractice” at the beginning of practice. Doing this served several purposes:

1- It concentrated on three basic skills- weak hand dribbling, finishing with weak and strong hand, and form shooting. My belief was that if our players did this before each practice it would have a cumulative impact of making them better with their weak hand, better finishing around the basket, and improve their shooting form.

2- It was intended to send them a message that when the practice time arrived, we were going. It was hoped to set tone that we don’t waste time.

3- We would assign partners, who might be rotated daily or weekly. The idea was to avoid social groups, and to eventually have each player working with all of their teammates.

4- It was a great opportunity for us as coaches to interact with players by walking around and talking to each pair. 

5- Based on what the demands of the practice day, as head coach I would some days start the first actual drill when players were still doing Mikan Layups, and other days, they might make 30 shots in Circle Shooting.