Characteristics of a Good Drill

Tournament time! Now that it is tournament time high schools are looking to practice on college courts. As I sit here and watch one of the local high school teams practice on our court before their regional semifinal game, they have some really good practice drills. Each drill is ran effectively. They have all the making of a good drill. Practice drills can sometimes be overlooked. A drill is of no value in practice if it is not ran effectively. Here are my characteristics of a 'good drill.' 

1. Score - winner and loser in every drill. "Losing is not acceptable"
2. Time - not too much time for players to get bored but enough time to get good reps
3. Rotation - guys know where and when to go
4. Whistle - indicates tempo and "your out"
5. Emphasis - the more emphasize the less you get 
6. Teaching - correcting guys mistakes, do not allow guys to get away with bad habits
7. Communication - Everyone on the court is talking
8. Involvement - the guys not in the drill are still involved in the drill on the sideline, being another coach
9. Purpose - every drill has a purpose to your team success (don't practice trapping if your not a trapping team, unless it's in the scouting report)

Whether it is a team drill or an individual player development drill, these are important aspects of a good drill. Good luck to all the teams playing in the post season!


"In the end, it's about the teaching, and what I always loved about coaching was the practices. Not the games, not the tournaments, not the alumni stuff. But teaching the players during practice was what coaching was all about to me."
-John Wooden