3 Reasons To Script Your Practices Now
This is the time of year when FirstDown PlayBook focuses on helping youth football coaches. As we began to look at our subject today though, we got thinking that there are probably some high school and even college coaches who could use this article. Today we want to look at why you should script your practices now instead of waiting until you report to practice.
This can be a hard thing to do. Coaches are human. They want and need a little time off too. Many high school and youth coaches have a lot of other things going on and it may seem impossible to script your practices now. We think it’s worth it. In fact, we bet that if you ever do this you will always do it for the rest of your coaching days.
3 Reasons To Script Your Practices Now
1. You Will Be More Detailed If You Script Practice Now
Once you report for practice, everything speeds up. Everything gets more intense. Time is at a premium. This is the same if you are coaching a Pop Warner team or the Pittsburgh Steelers team. Your distractions may be different but there will be peripheral things that clutter your day as a coach.
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If you take the time to script the first week or two of your practices now you will allow yourself to slow down and really plan your installations. In fact, as you are working on this you can always go back and change it up if you want. It is hard to do this if you are scripting the night before the next practice.
2. Training Camp Will Be More Enjoyable
There is peace of mind that goes along with having your practices scripted ahead of time. This allows you to focus more on your position group. It will permit you to spend time with individual players who need extra development. It may even allow you to spend some time on your first opponent.
The biggest reason though is that your job will be more enjoyable. Heck, you got into this profession because you love it. If you are a youth football coach, you are volunteering to spend time with the kids. If you spend a little time to script your practices now, you will find that you will enjoy your early practices more than ever before.
3. Everyone Will Be On The Same Page
Communication is critical for a football team and a football staff. It is hard to be sure everyone on your staff is on the same page if you finish your practice schedule and practice scripts on the way to the field. Nothing is more frustrating for an assistant coach than to be guessing what the head coach or coordinator wants.
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If you are a head coach or a coordinator, you not only reap the benefits from taking time to script your practices now. Your assistant coaches will also be better organized when you start practice. Understanding your teaching progression and schedule ahead of time empowers them to be organized too. Your practice cards will be done better because you scripted early too.
Look, we get it. You have things going on right now too. You are trying to spend time with your family before the season cranks up. Here’s our guess though. You will find some time as you are sitting on the beach, at the lake or pool thinking about football anyway. Work on a practice script or two as you begin to get the itch. You and your team will be glad you did.
