Some of the questions I've received via email became the Tips and Tricks page, however, one recurring thread of conversation demands a more detailed response than the tips page is capable of. It is the most frequently asked question, and I think it's so important because most coaches have an innate fear of feeling unprepared.

The question, couched in many a different turn of phrase, always boiled down to the following sentences:

I'm looking for a good practice format. I will be a first year head coach next year and I'm trying to gather as much advice as possible. If you can, would you break down how you would hold your practices during a two hour practice each day?

Much of this depends on the type of system you select to run. I don't want to give you specific drills or game plans for each system. What I want to do is offer you some insight into not only how I put my practices together, but also into why I run them the way I do.

What I do is divide every practice into thirds. One third is offense, which is usually the first thing practiced every day. The kids are fresh and able to concentrate on execution. Following that, we go into a defensive period, and finally a special teams period. Each of the periods is further divided into drill periods and team work, with the exception of special teams, which is all team. Because of this, we can "rob" ten minutes from the special teams period, which we'll use at the end of the practice.

I practice offense and defense every day. My reasons for this are numerous, but the most important one is that it reduces the chance that I'm going to go into a game with a key player on one side of the ball that missed that side's practice. If you practice offense on Mondays, then you are in real trouble if your starting quarterback fails to show up on Monday. Tuesday you do defense, so he doesn't get any offensive work until Wednesday. I don't like that.

I practice two special teams every day. One 'offensive' and one 'defensive'. Weekly, this gives us: Monday: Kickoff and Kickoff Return. Tuesday: Punt and Punt Return. Wednesday: PAT and PAT Block. Thursday: Everything (walk through once) Friday: Game day.

That ten minutes we robbed from special teams is used at the end of practice to work on clock management. We run a two minute offense on Monday and Wednesday, and a four minute offense on Tuesday and Thursday. Thus, my basic schedule looks like this:

Practice 6pm-8pm

5:55pm: Players on the field. Anyone here at 5:56 or later will stay late and run.

6:00-6:15: Form Tackling drills. Three minutes of slow-motion, step-by-step work, 12 minutes of tackling stations.

6:15-6:30: Offensive drill work

6:30-6:50: Offensive team work (scout defense- upcoming opponent)

6:50-7:05: Defensive drill work

7:05-7:25Defensive team work (scout offense- upcoming opponent)

7:25-7:35: Special team "A"

7:35-7:45: Special team "B"

7:45-7:55: Clock management/conditioning.

7:55-8:05: Coaches Chalk talk: Upcoming opponents, War stories, Helmet stickers, Miscellaneous

8:05-8:15: Punishment detail for tardy players.

8:15-8:30: Coaches meeting

This schedule assumes several things: first, that you have a four practice week, and second, that you can practice for two hours. If you don't have either of these, then you'll obviously have to make modifications. Note also that my practice doesn't start at 6pm. If you tell the players 6pm, they'll be there at 6:15 or even later, usually because of the parents, who don't care.

Establish a time, and nail the kids that don't obey. If parents want to rip you over that, point out that the team doesn't deserve to have players on the field that don't know their jobs because they missed important parts of practice. (By the way, I strongly suggest to everyone that they hold a preseason parent's meeting and make attendance mandatory for all parents. You need to discuss your tardy policy with the parents at the get-go, and then hold them accountable for their actions.)

Practice also does not end until 8:05pm for the same reason. I've heard horror stories of parents that showed up fifteen minutes before practice ended and started honking the horn to hurry up the coach. Same deal, nothing is more important than the team, and I'm not going to let a prima-donna parent steal my players' practice time.

You may note that I don't waste time with warm-ups or stretching. I spoke with a pediatrician and his feeling was that it was virtually unnecessary below the high school level. I'd work it in at the junior high level, but younger players are so flexible that it's not really necessary to take the time.

I strongly encourage you to speak to a medical professional on your own before you make the same judgment. I'm a coach, not a doctor, so don't take my word for it, please!

I also don't do standard sprints or gassers for my conditioning. I'd rather run a two minute offense for ten minutes and have the kids work up a sweat that way, which not only gets them in shape, but also wins us close games because we know how to handle the clock.

All of my practices follow this format. In the beginning of the season the drill to teamwork ratio is about one to three, because I believe very strongly in teaching to a team, as a team. as the players learn their individual responsibilities in the offense and defense that we run, we gradually shift our bearings more towards improving how they do it, rather than who they're doing it to.

In the preseason, especially the no-pads practices that I still can't figure out the reason for, we still practice tackling every day. We use a slow motion, step-by-step drill for five minutes, and put the other ten minutes of practice into offense or defense. Everybody tackles, every day.

Good luck.

~D.