Thread by @BBAPerformance, As football nears, going to share some thoughts on all things player [...]

As football nears, going to share some thoughts on all things player development & performance.
First, what is the goal of practice, do your practice environment & drills check the box, and critically think about what your practice is preparing the athletes for.
@emergentmvmt

Adding elements of random practice instead of repeating the same exact practice template can aid in learning by reducing monotony, increasing engagement, making practice messy (

learning opportunities),

meaningful repetitions; after all the game is random

Adding elements of random practice instead of repeating the same exact practice template can aid in learning by reducing monotony, increasing engagement, making practice messy ( learning opportunities), meaningful repetitions; after all the game is random

What might a more effective practice look like?
Start w/ a position specific warm-up. Instead of a half-assed, general W.U., how about each position has its own W.U. where athletes are presented w/ the perceptual information & movement problems they’ll see in sport?

Practice periods dedicated to speed!
Football players are notorious for poor mechanics, so even slight improvements could have monumental benefits.
Plus practice is not a conducive environment to reach max speeds.
And of course, work to contextual the speed work in this period.

Another wasted time w/ coaches using a library of drills rather than creating an environment for skill.
Get off YouTube & watch the game; work backwards from there.
Technique is linked to the information source, so what information is present during this period?

Team Periods:
As much for coaches as players
Do you script every play call of a game? Then why do it during practice?
Make it more like the game: move the ball, involve special teams, call from sidelines/booth, use the scoreboard/play clock, don’t kill plays, don’t repeat plays

Group Periods:
Again involve information!
You have lots of bodies, use them!
Possible time to manipulate various constraints: size of space, # of opponents, time allotted, speed of play, etc.

Yes, I’d have a period of rest...kinda like halftime
Give players & coaches a chance to communicate like they would during a game.
Try out nutritional interventions.
Chance for medical staff to deal & update injuries.
Give players experience to responding to this break

Skelly/Inside Period:
Are they beneficial for your team?
With so many teams living w/ RPO, PAP...is this period even useful?
Possible time to manipulate constraints: add/subtract players, shorten play clock, make it a advantaged or disadvantaged period for the O or D, etc

Scout Team:
Often a wasted year for these players.
Let them play their defense (as close as possible). These kids go almost the whole season w/o playing their own system, verbiage, calls, signs, etc
Encourage them to play fast & free; not robotically & scared to mess up

How do you design your practice week?
What are the goals of your practice week?
Are your players fast, healthy & energized on game day?
Something often not appreciated...what you do early in the week, effects performance on game day.

The traditional practice week:
Does this allow for players to recover from previous game? Or recover from the hard practices on Tuesday & Wednesday?
Also look at the jump and HUGE change from Friday to Saturday...this isn’t ideal for performance.

A better option might give the players an off-day mid-week. Coaches always under estimate how quickly players recover.
This also gives a smoother transition from Friday to Saturday by using a “Fast Friday” approach with a potentiation lift instead of a walk-thru (next tweet)

The goal of the day before a game should be to actually be fast and intense, but keep the duration short. Prime the system to be fast and fresh for game day.

Here we can place the off-day on Thursday, still allowing two harder practices on Tues & Wed and a nice up-ramp to game day.

Did the previous weeks game have some special conditions (late night game, very hot/cold conditions, far travel, overtime’s, very physical), if so the players may need an additional day to recover. Here Tuesday is a walk-thru with only 1 big practice on Wednesday.

In the previous slides, you could see blue & red dotted lines around practice days. Blue’s emphasis was Practice for Learning; Red’s emphasis was for Performance.
There should be different themes & goals to each practice
Early in the week = learning
Late in the week = Confidence

Ever consider different templates for Starters/Travel Players vs Non-Travel players?
Players down on the depth chart are likely under stressed via practice & skill development. They could definitely stand to have additional practices or time in the weight room

Finally, most college kids schedules (especially in-season) are more demanding than adults. We preach sleep, nutrition, recovery, etc but our actions don’t match our words.

How long does it take to recover?
Again, many subjective & objective measures take much longer than many coaches would like to believe.
This data is from both FB & soccer games, but likely to see similar results from hard practices...hence re-thinking weekly practice layout

Consider different recovery tracks for different positions.
Each position experience different external loads & stresses that may elicit different physiological responses.
Skills =

Accel, Decel, Max V
Bigs =

Impacts
Power = Combination,

Very Intense Impacts

Consider different recovery tracks for different positions.Each position experience different external loads & stresses that may elicit different physiological responses.Skills = Accel, Decel, Max VBigs = ImpactsPower = Combination, Very Intense Impacts

For everyone that thinks FB players need endless running & conditioning...here’s the story, players spend more than 90% of their time standing & walking.
In every sport, the best players tend to cover less distance & sprint less but when they do sprint, they have a bigger impact

After a game, can we expedite recovery?
Can you provide post-game nutrition? Some modalities that show potential: water immersion, compression garments, light massage, sauna.
Most important modality: SLEEP!
So give a long window before players have a team function (12+ hrs)

Finally, recovery is not just physical.
Players (and coaches) need mental, emotional & social recovery from their sport.
They need time away from the facility, meetings or any sport related activity.
Especially at higher levels, the mental & emotional stress from media is nuts

Fall Camp is here & soon to follow will be the practice theme of too much, too soon, too often w/ athletes being over-used & under recovered fighting for roster spots.
No acclimation, just straight into intense practice. Any wonder why injuries during this time are so high?

Players required to be at team activities from early morning until late at night.
During camp, athletes should actually sleep more to accompany this period of high stress, instead all the daily BS means less sleep.
Would a day off during camp hurt?

Gradually build into more intense, high player load (PL) practices. At the minimum, the first “high” practice (PL, intensity, duration) should be day 4.
Off days or even walk-thru’s might help more than hurt during camp.
The best ability a player can possess is availability

Half-Time strategies are a key area teams can make big improvements. Post half-time is notorious for poor performance & increased rates of injuries mostly due to half-time being completely passive rather than an active part of a game plan.

Half-Time should revolve around an active plan to mentally & physically get ready for the 2nd half.
A good half-time should include much of the following & a potential timeline is provided.

In-season, reduce the number of activities we require players to attend. I never liked having to lift in the morning & come back to practice ~6hrs later.
Suggest trying pre or post practice lifts; keeping it very brief & high quality.
Include ECCs & ISOs early in the week.

Sad truth about college FB players, they may add some mass & strength but do not improve speed or agility. Typically over stressed via weight room & conditioning but under stressed via movement skills. Understand that every problem or weakness a players possesses is NOT physical!

Lastly, can you better flag or alert the whole coaching staff of injuries or medical injuries so we don’t have to hear about tragedies occurring during training.
Again, stop doing pointless conditioning for the sake of mental toughness

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