Practice Pre-season plan depends on 1000 things. That’s what coaching is about. You take those 1000 things into account and decide what to work on for your team.
Every situation is different. However, everyone should have a practice plan and take time to devise a good one for your particular situation.
A pre-season workout basketball program should have :
Improvement
Improvement comes from working on technique and mental aspects with knowledge and high repetitions. The objective of this period should be to do whatever you can to get your players better. Due to the amount of time you have to spend on game preparation and team issues during the season, there is little time to work on improvement during the season. There is old coaching saying that says, “teams are made from November to March, players are made from April to November.” On the whole, this is true. Players will improve during the season, but that improvement is usually based on experience. Most players cannot improve their skills in season. That has to be work done outside of the season. If you are in the preseason, you can’t worry about what your players have or haven’t done during the off-season. You have them now; just concern yourself with this period. Get them high repetitions, now.
Conditioning
Conditioning should come through your improvement program. I used to be a coach who sent players out to run a mile (or 5). Over time I came to realize that that time was being countered productive. You can only work with them for a certain period of time. To spend any of that time on non-basketball issues is not wise. If you can, construct your workouts so that they condition as well as improve. Your team will be headed for a great season.
Relevance
The more relevance your pre-season program has to your season the more effective it will be. Even if you can’t use a ball due to association rules, the program you put your team through in the pre-season can mimic what you will do during the playing season. Take the opportunity to teach your drills, philosophy, offense, defense, etc. One of the keys to coaching is consistency. If you can be consistent from pre-season to practice season to game season your team will respond positively.
For maximum efficiency, work on multiple things at the same time.
Using multi-purpose drills will help with finding the time. Takes pieces of your offense and turn them into shooting drills. Each time you practice your shooting you are also practicing your offense. Use fast break drills for conditioning instead of running sprints. Do live, game-like drills where you can emphasize both the offensive and defensive aspects of the drill. This will save you time.
You can only be good at 2 or 3 things.
Simplicity is the most important aspect of everything you do. You must realize that, as a coach, you cannot control everything. Make decisions as to what you feel is really important and spend your time on those things. If you don’t have enough time to coach those areas, you have too many areas and are too complex. Coaching is not a test or an exhibition of what you know. It is a position that gives guidance. One of the biggest challenges is taking all the things you know and paring them down to small nuggets of knowledge that you can impart to your team. We all must resist the urge to show everyone everything we know. I know that I have a problem with that. If left to my own devices, I would have 300 plays and practices would be 17 hours long.
Over time, I have done a better job of determining what is important and effective and what isn’t. I learned I would rather be really good at 2 or 3 things than try to prove how smart I am and be average to poor at 20 things.
Getting Your Players Off To A Good Start and Excited For The New Season
Getting your players off to a good start and excited for the season starts with your attitude as a coach. Players are like lie detectors, they can tell when you are not telling the truth. If you are not excited, if you are not looking forward to the season, they will know. You must prepare yourself first and then prepare your team.
Communicate with your players. Don’t keep secrets from them. Get them the game schedule early; let them see what they are working for. By the way, I have always been a believer in sharing the daily practice plan with my team. I have found that knowledge is empowering. If you empower your team, they will follow you everywhere.
Be sure that they know the purpose for each drill and how it will help them be better players. If players think you are just in the gym beating them up they will not respond. Try to define their roles early and let them grow into them. Be inclusionary, spend time with your lesser players. That will motivate them to be better players and they will help you during the tough days of the season.
Research and use team-building activities. This will be different with each team because it will be specific to the personality of each team. Spend time with your players off the court and that will open the door to them spending time with each other.
Find out from your players what their expectations are. Keep in mind that once the season starts, they have to meet your expectations. This will help guide you during the season.
You may own the team during the season. Give players ownership of their team in the preseason. Let them run workouts; see what type of leadership comes out of it. Let them problem solve and watch how high they set the bar. You can always adjust it.
Most importantly, the preseason is the time you set the tone for your year. It might be the only time players feel comfortable approaching you. They are under no pressure, their self-esteem does not rise and fall with wins and losses. Use the time wisely.
From: https://www.breakthroughbasketball.com/coaching/pre-season-tips.html
