How to run a practice the team won’t want to end

Kids love games and they love to compete. If you keep these two things in mind as you work with your players, your practices will be filled with fun and excitement.

For instance, a good coach will teach his players baserunning by having them line up behind home plate and encouraging them one by one to sprint to first base and overrun it. A great coach will add the component of pulling out a stopwatch during the same exercise and read the times out loud to lend some competition to the drill. An even greater coach will then have the players run again and try to beat their previous time. And an expert coach will then play the Down to First Drill, from our partners at CoachDeck, (www.coachdeck.com), which combines the lesson of running hard from home to first base with a fun game that your players will beg you to play again and again.

Soccer and basketball coaches can do the same thing. Instead of simply practicing shooting or goal kicks, see who can make the most consecutive, or the most out of ten. Add in that whoever gets the rebound gets to shoot next. Anything you can do to turn a static drill into a fun game ensures that more kids are paying attention, having fun, and simulating game-type competition.