The Only Basketball Practice Plan You’ll Ever Need

You may be the type of coach that can wing a practice on the spot. You may be the type of coach that plans everything from the 5 minute water breaks during sessions to the 2 minutes slotted to team chats. Or you may be the type of coach that wants a plan, but have no idea where to start. Wherever you fit in, TeamSnap has put together a practice plan to help you run a session at any level or age group.

There’s a quote that coaches are supposed to be the winners of practice and players the winners of games. That quote comes from the idea that if a coach is able to teach effectively during practices, the game should be up to the players. With that quote in mind, let’s dive into the rundown of a practice from start to finish.

Check out these basketball skills and drills.

1. A dynamic warm-up. There are always going to be mixed feelings around a “warm-up” especially amongst youth athletes. Some coaches may believe at a young age kids are already warmed up in mobile, while others want to spend a good 30 minutes going over every movement imaginable. The purpose of a dynamic warm-up for young athletes is to start integrating game-like movements that they will see on the basketball court; from jumping, sliding, shuffling, and sprinting. Establishing an athletic foundation is key.
2. Isolated skill-work. Basketball, just like most sports, have very specific skills that make it up. Most youth coaches will include a skill section of practice to go over technique and make sure all the bases are covered. For basketball, the skill section of practice could be shooting, dribbling, defensive sliding/back pedaling, rebounding, and many more.
3. Applied skill-work. This is when you can open up the session and make it more game-like. This could be small sided games, like 3-on-3, or give a certain number of passes required before going to the basket. This section of practice will allow the players some freedom to take the skills they have learned from before into a game scenerio.
4. Play on. Scrimmage time! This part of practice is really what most young athletes look forward to. This is the time when they get to just play. As a coach, feel free to stop the free-play at moments when you feel like there is a teachable moment. This should be a constructive scrimmage with stop-and-starts every now and again.
5. Cool down and debrief. After the scrimmage is over it’s important to spend about 5 minutes showing the players how to cool down. This is important so if they are in the car for an extended period of time on the way home they don’t cramp up! Cooling down is also a good time to talk to the players about the session and what’s coming up next.

Learn more about why TeamSnap is the best app to manage your basketball team. We have slam dunk features to save time and reduce stress. Basketball coaches and parents love TeamSnap because we simplify team coordination and communication with free access to these fan-favorite features.