November 1, 2011

Diary Series: Jay Walton, Asst. Coach - Lipscomb ("We Talkin' Bout Practice")

 

“Everything is practice.” Pele

With apologies to Allen Iverson, coaches place a premium on practice time. With less than a month between the start of practice and the first game, coaches feel squeezed to get everything in. For our staff this season, that has never been more true. With seven new faces on our roster, we are definitely not a veteran team. In addition to putting in multiple offenses and defenses, we have had to teach other things as well.

Many of our new players are finding there is a big difference from the high school to the college level. There are more demands on their time, the competition is tougher and the physical demands are greater. Most of them have never worked as hard as we are asking them to work now.

Teaching practice habits has been one of the most challenging yet most important jobs our staff has had so far with this young team. The first step was making sure they understand what a good practice looks like. Here are some things that our coaching staff came up with.  

1. Be ready to go when we hit the floor.
   1. Get to training room early
   2. Stretch on my own
   3. Get some fundamental work in before horn goes off (Mikan drill progression, post moves, jump hooks, etc.)
2. Coachability
   1. Body language; give teammates energy; no hands on shorts
   2. Eye Contact
   3. Acknowledge coaching staff (head nod, yes sir, gotcha coach, etc.)
3. Mental Toughness
   1. Pushing through fatigue, play hard when tired
   2. Handling adversity (having a bad shooting day, bad calls, etc.)
   3. Play through pain
4. Communication
   1. Talk what you see
   2. Takes no talent to talk; you can do that even when everything else is not going your way
5. Consistent Energy
   1. Start strong, finish strong
   2. Don’t take plays off
6. Execution
   1. Being in right spots defensively (early defense)
   2. Right timing & spacing offensively; run the correct plays
   3. Making shots/finishing plays

Now that practice has begun, we ask each of our young players to give themselves a score after each practice (scale from 1-10). We compare their score to a score that a coach gives them. Many days those numbers differ, and we try our best to make them understand exactly what we are looking for. The most important thing for our young players to understand is that they can have a good practice without playing great. Making plays is only one of many factors that go into having a good day.

Of course winning games is important to our staff. We are as competitive as anyone. Mr. Iverson may or may not agree with our approach, but we believe that if we can teach these young guys how to practice the right way everyday, the winning will take care of itself. 

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