Add Fun Contests to Your Practices

If your practices only consist of drills, structured walkthroughs of your team’s plays, and instructional lectures, you will quickly lose your young players’ attention and enthusiasm. An effective practice that fully engages your players must also include competitive activities.

Your players’ favorite competitive activity is scrimmaging—playing the game and competing against other players. Pick two teams, throw a ball out, and your players would have fun playing each other for the entire practice. Of course, we want more from our season and scrimmaging is only one component of a well planned practice. But it’s an important one. Scrimmages afford your kids an opportunity not only to have fun, but also put to the test newly learned individual and team skills. Always include scrimmage time in each practice.

You also need to identify other competitive activities and drills that your players enjoy. If you are new to coaching, most coaching books include help in this area. Also, watch your kids before and after your practice and note any games they are playing as a group. You may want to add this game to the end of your practice.

In my basketball practices, the free-throw shooting game “Knockout” is popular at all age levels. In this game, players line up behind each other and one-by-one shoot a free throw, rebound any misses, and then convert a layup. If the player behind them makes their shot before they do, they are “knocked out” of the game. This fun game emphasizes shooting both free throws and layups under pressure. As an alternative, I occasionally select two teams and have them shoot free throws at different baskets. First one to ten wins. In a close contest, the excitement always builds toward the end of the game. Even conditioning exercises such as sprints are more fun when you add a competitive element.

Look for similar games and fun contests in your sport. For example, in baseball, kids enjoy base running drills that involve racing. You can finish your practices with a relay race between two groups of players, each starting at opposite bases (e.g., home and second). Give the first player in each group a ball and have them pass it to the next player in line after they have completed a lap around the bases. Similar to the free throw contest in basketball, your kids will get excited as the race nears the finish line.

Add some spice to your practices to keep your players interested and the energy level high.

Copyright 2009-2012 Jeffrey S. Rhoads; All Rights Reserved