Maximize Time By Using Warm-Ups To Teach


By FirstDown PlayBook on Jul 10, 2016

usa fbA great coaching staff is easily identified during warm-ups. They are engaged and interacting with their players, moving through their groups and taking advantage of their time on the field to coach. Long story short, they are using warm-ups to teach.

By contrast, coaches who do not maximize their opportunities for coaching spend this important pre-practice or pregame time chatting with other coaches, trying to get organized or throwing the ball around.

When you think about the number of opportunities during the course of a season, all those 10-minute warm-up periods equate to about 750 minutes – or 12½ – hours for a 10-week season.

Here are seven ideas to maximize that time as you use warm-ups to teach.

  • Build relationships. Rapport with players go a long way in getting them coached up and performing to their potential. Ask questions, and get to know them. Spending time with players daily – even if just a minute – let’s them know you are invested.
  • Set a focus. Start the practice by letting your position group know the objectives for practice. This helps emphasize what must be accomplished. Practice is much more than going through the motions and drills. Being focused is needed for improvement.
  • Give feedback. Reminding a player of what he did well the day before or the game before sets positive imagery upon which to build. It’s a great way to use warm-ups to teach. Pointing out specifics of where they can improve is important as well. A good rule of thumb is to sandwich a critique with a positive statement or reinforcement before and after. A player is much more open to making improvements when it is done this way.
  • Give the scouting report. Remind your players of the techniques or strategies the opponent uses and you have pointed out on film. Practice time should reinforce your own strategies used to defeat the opponent so starting with an emphasis on “here’s what they do” helps create focus as well.
  • Review the main points of the game plan as it relates to the opponent. Carry over the game plan that you shared in your meetings. Bring those points up again so they become ingrained in the players and carry over to the field.
  • Coach the warm-up. While you are doing those other things to mentally warm up your players, be sure you are coaching the warm-up. This period is critical for safety and injury prevention, so know the techniques of every stretch and exercise. Be sure to reinforce and correct.
  • Build energy. This is the time to share a motivational thought. What’s your message for the day? Have something brief and memorable and provide energy and attitude so your players will have the right mindset as well.

The cumulative effect of making the warm-up period a focus of your coaching will go a long way in improving your players. Make the most of these opportunities using warm-ups to teach.

Keith Grabowski has been a football coach for 26 years, currently serving as an offensive assistant and technology coordinator at Oberlin College in Ohio. He previously was a head coach at the high school level for eight years and the offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach at Baldwin Wallace University. Grabowski serves as an advisor for several sports technology companies. He is a columnist for American Football Monthly and writes his own blog at thecoachesedge.com/blog. He’s the author of “101+ Pro Style Pistol Offense Plays” and five other books available on thecoachesedge.com and operates Coaches Edge Technologies. Follow him on Twitter @CoachKGrabowski.