Though I’ve wanted to write about this subject for a while it wasn’t till I read a NY Times Sports article by Bill Pennington, titled “At the Range, Drive Less and Practice More”,http://onpar.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/04/26/at-the-range-drive-less-and-practice-more/?scp=5&sq=Bill%20Pennington&st=cse that inspired me to put my fingers to the keyboard. Mr. Pennington precisely describes in detail what a majority of us golfers experience during a unfulfilled session at the driving range. Rather than approaching these driving range experiences as a focused practice, to hone our game for the golf course, we rapidly lose ourselves in the act of pounding the ball off the tee, measuring the distance the ball travels rather than developing a feel for every club in our bag. End result, you’ve hit 100 balls and come away with your game in worse shape than when you arrived.
I relate this to a youth practice. You may or may not be prepared with a practice plan when you show up at the field or court, but regardless everything goes south when one or several distractions take place. As an example, let’s take a basketball practice where you arrive ready to work on your team’s fast break and defense. The warm-up begins with kids fooling around, talking, basketballs bouncing in every direction, errant shots flying throughout the gym. Your ready to tear what’s left of the hair on your head out, and practice has not even begun yet. After an unproductive warm-up, you immediately run a fast break drill, where kids don’t stay in position, outlet passes are sloppy and all over the court, kids are not hustling, they’re taking lay-ups off the wrong leg, etc. What often happens next is you either start yelling at the team to “get it right” then it gets worse, or you give up on the drill and move on often to a scrimmage. End result, nothing accomplished, and the opportunity to teach has slipped away.
Believe me, it’s happened to me and to most coaches, until they learn the art of “Purpose Driven Practices & Training”. Not unlike a golfer’s experience at a driving range, you may go prepared to work on your mid to short iron shots, but after you slice or hook a few, skull some others, you abandoned your plan and immediately pull out the driver and start essentially scrimmaging.
Next time you conduct a practice try this “Mindful Practice’ technique. By simply applying a theme to each practice (i.e. Tuesday football practice may become Pursuit Tuesdays) & designing all drills to be focused around that theme (getting to the football first through all individual and group drills), you have created an experience of awareness that no verbal explanation could ever match.
A simple themed or purpose based practice will keep your team focused and you prepared to teach and communicate more effectively. There’s a reason teaching golf professionals refer to driving ranges as practice ranges, it’s a reminder of why you’re there.
