This is going to be a short post, but something I was thinking about the other day.
If you can, USE THE SCOREBOARD as much as possible in practice.
It’s common knowledge that using time and score in drills, scrimmages, and everything else in your practices is an intelligent thing to do:
it keeps your practices sharp, crisp, focused, and on pace
it fosters a competitive spirit
it makes things more game-like
it gives your team marks and scores to beat
it offers STRUCTURE
it offers accountability - both for coaches and players (stop spending so much time on that drill - MOVE ON)
Use a manager, train somebody’s brother, get a kid from the youth team to help, have an assistant do it, get a JV guy to run it, utilize an injured player - it doesn’t matter - but having someone to do this can be valuable for your practices.
Here are a few simple ways you can use the scoreboard:
keep score in drills - whether it’s a shooting drill, Shell Drill, or a rebounding drill, keeping score will amp up the energy and competitive fire in your practice
keep on pace with your practice plan - as mentioned above, make a plan, commit to it, and cover everything you need to cover in your practice plan. Yes, there are times for
use it to count down to practice starting - get to the gym early, set the clock to however minutes are left before practice starts, and let your kids get some extra shots up. You’ll also enjoy seeing them start to put the balls up, meet you at halfcourt for the huddle, etc. before the buzzer sounds.
keep track of something you’re emphasizing - for example, if your team has been turning the ball over…keep track of the amount of turnovers in practice as an extra layer of accountability. Maybe even throw in a few sprints as a consequence if they reach a certain number.
post the high-score/records on your drills - if you’re doing a drill your team is familiar with, post the season high or all-time program high on the scoreboard and have your team compete to beat the score. This works wonders for focus and effort in certain drills.
Again, this is a little and subtle thing, but it made my practices better.
Use the scoreboard, chart everything, post it so they can see, and watch your practices get better.
Keep the faith!
Enjoy this post? You might also like:
Hoops Companion Master Playbook/Drill Book with almost 500 pages of plays and drills
Program Audit - everything you need to do a deep dive on your team/program; the best and most practical thing Hoops Companion offers
Basketball Coaching Forms and Templates - every form/template you need to run a basketball team (stat sheets, program evaluations, weekly planners, practice plans, and more!)
Join Hoops Companion Extra - for just a dollars a month, you can get 5 links in your inbox EVERY weekend…and other perks
Subscribed