You’ve got your team…you’ve got your schedule…now it’s time to plan your practice. Where do you start? There are so many things to think about and so many drills to choose from – how does a coach know what to do? Practice planning can be one of the single biggest factors in having a successful season. The way a team practices, and the preparation put into each session go a long way to developing the team – good or bad! The age-old saying of “you play like you practice” is (most times) spot-on.
I believe one of the most important things a coach can do is properly plan each practice prior to the session and share the plan with the other coaches/helpers on the ice with him/her. Think of a practice plan as a one-night goal setting map. If you don’t know what you’re trying to accomplish, how will you ever know if you are successful? A good tempo doesn’t necessarily indicate a “good” practice. A good practice is only achieved when players make progress on whatever skills or systems the coach deems it necessary to work on that evening. Think of it this way – when players start a game, they all know what the goal is! Everyone understands they want to put the puck into the opposing team’s net, and whichever team does it the most will be declared the winner. Scoring the goal is the goal. It’s easy to tell at the end of a game whether or not you were successful – we keep track of these goals on the scoreboard! When you run a practice, the target becomes much more subjective, but without a target, you’ll never know if you’re on track.
So how should you approach planning your practices? I believe there are some core concepts one must take into account each time in order to effectively plan practice.
1) Know your practice & game schedule: Before you can plan your practice, you’ve got to know some basic things about your schedule. Did you just get off a 5-game tournament weekend? Do you have a game tomorrow? Is this your first practice of the week after a day off? These are a few of the questions you need to ask yourself before you even think about planning your practice. As coaches, we’ve got to realize what our players are capable of and what their overall energy level should be entering the session. If you just played 5 games over the weekend and you’re practicing on a Monday, you should probably expect your players to be a bit more tired than if they were coming off an off-day.
When my players are tired/banged up, I look to spend more time on full-ice flow and system-related concepts rather than short intense “burst” drills. I also try to keep the drills pretty simple – if you try to get overly complicated with a tired team, their chances of messing the drill up become greater…which can lead to frustration from players and coaches alike. The full-ice flow drills let them make some passes and get the legs moving without being over-exerting.
2) Know what your team needs to improve: Now that you know your schedule and the types of drills you want to run, it’s time to analyze what things need to be corrected. Did your team really struggle on their defensive zone coverage? Was the power play not clicking? Were the breakout passes not tape-to-tape? Take time to think about the areas you need improvement on, and analyze WHY the team struggled with them.
3) Recognize the skills involved (helping find the “WHY”): If you’ve decided your team needs work on a particular systematic scenario, you’ll need to break down the system and figure out what skills are necessary in order to properly execute. For example, if a team is struggling with breaking out, a coach would need to recognize the number of skills involved with this seemingly simple scenario. In order to successfully break out, players need to be proficient at the following: stopping, pivoting, passing (both giving & receiving), accelerating (quick starts), handling the puck, communicating, and reading the ice.
Spend time on developing the necessary skills. Don Lucia, head coach of the Minnesota Golden Gophers D1 Men’s Team, had a great quote in one of the videos I posted earlier: “If you can’t do it technically, you can’t do it tactically.” He’s absolutely correct. If a right wing can’t stop with his left foot, he is going to have a hard time being in proper position to catch a breakout pass at the hash marks!
4) Pick the right drills: Figuring out which drills to use can be one of the most challenging portions of planning practices. If you know what you’re trying to focus on, this process is greatly simplified, but will still require some serious thought. Before you can pick any drills (warmups included), a coach needs to be aware of the age & talent level they are working with. Coaches need to have a realistic grasp of what their players are capable of – without it, there will be frustration. While it’s good to use new drills, there is much benefit in running drills your players are familiar with. Repetition is the mother of success – if the players don’t have to think about the pattern of the drill (ie – they’re familiar with it already), they can better focus on the skill at hand.
5) Use high-tempo warmup drills: The first two or three drills you run set the tempo for the entire practice. These should be simple drills your players are familiar with – little to know setup time is ideal. Get their heads into it right away. Last week I wrote a whole topic on the subject: How to approach warmups
6) Communicate the plan with your coaching staff: I can’t stress this one enough. Having the entire coaching staff on the ice knowing the plan will go a long way to ensure everyone is focusing on the same key points. Without this, players may inadvertently receive mixed messages from different coaches. If you can’t get the rest of the coaches an entire practice plan in advance, at least clue them in on the overall concept and key points for the session.
7) Evaluate the practice: What worked? What didn’t? How can you improve? Practice evaluation is arguably the single most important part of a coach’s practice plan. This portion will also help you plan your next practice by knowing whether or not the team successfully accomplished the goals.
5 Small Areas of Focus to Improve Practice
Tags: hockey coaching, hockey practice, youth hockey coaching
1) Drill Start – If the drill starts on the goal line, make sure your players feet are completely behind the goal line. Don’t allow cheating in any of your drills. If a player cheats 5 feet on every drill repetition 20 times during practice, for 50 practices a season, that’s almost a mile of skating the player has cheated his/her way out of! Little stuff adds up.
2) Drill End – Just as starting is important, finishing is just as important (if not more). If the drill finishes at the blue line, make sure your players don’t stop skating until after they have crossed the blue line. This habit reenforces not letting up. Letting up early can lead to sloppy play or even injury. If you’re running a more advanced drill that finishes with a rush to one end, have the players hustle back to the red line on the whistle ending the drill. This will help players naturally get in the habit of hustling back – hopefully for a backcheck during the game.
3) Quick Starts – When beginning a drill, force your players to execute a proper quick start. The degree to which they are able to execute the quick start depends on their age, but it should still be reenforced at all age levels. Making this a habit in practice will help your players transition this into the game.
4) Stop in Front of the Net – Too often, drills are run at a tempo that forces players to “get out of the way” quickly to try and keep as many players moving as possible. While it’s good to have players moving, don’t force your players to abandon a rebound in front of the net. Give them time to stop in front and play their rebounds. As the goaltenders get better, more and more shots need to be scored on rebounds – give your players time to work on this during practice. Try making a simple rule for all your drills – after you shoot, you must stop in front of the net and look for a rebound.
5) Carrying the Puck – If a drill begins with a player carrying the puck, make sure they start with it on their stick instead of pushing it 10 feet in front of them. If you force them to practice their quick starts at the beginning of the drill, and also carry the puck, you’re forcing the player to improve his/her explosive abilities with the puck. Also, if the drill involves a tight-turn around a cone, don’t allow your players to chip the puck to the side of the cone they’re turning and pick it up – force them to carry the puck all the way around the cone.