PRACTICE AND SIDELINE ORGANIZATION

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• PRACTICE AND SIDELINE ORGANIZATION
• Coaching is about Control
• Format
• Syntax of preparation -How we do things
• Organization
• Compartmentalize the game -winning battles
  one-step at a time
• Tempo
• Dictating the pace of performance -in the
  drivers seat

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PRACTICE ORGANIZATION
How do you eat an elephant? One piece at a
time.
-- African proverb
A coachs responsibility is to prepare their
players for the contest they will be facing. How
our practice sessions are formatted will largely
determine how successful delivering that
information will be. Our role as coach is to
impart information to our players that they can
use (resource) within the contest they are
presented with. What will determine the
efficiency in practice formats will be how well
we plan and how common the teaching concepts
remain. Know what needs to be taught, why it
needs to be taught, and the context it will be
used in. This approach lends itself to a modular
outlook where concepts are built upon one another
for an end-sum product of consistent performance
in game situations. Not only is this an easier
way to grasp concepts, but also affords players
an opportunity to win mini-games, rather than
being thrown to the wolves and overloaded with
multiple tasks. This step-by-step method also
elicits a greater focus from the players, since
there are only a few things to pay attention to.
In each segment, only review what is important
NOW. Erase all irrelevant or superfluous
information as this only hinders the learning
process.
Information is the reduction of uncertainty
Bill Gates, The Road Ahead
GAME SITUATIONS
TEAM DRILLS
GROUP DRILLS
INDIVIDUAL DRILLS
FUNDAMENTALS
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PRACTICE SESSIONS The most important dynamic
involved in practice is how you structure it and
how efficient your team prepares itself for
competition. Develop consistency, familiarity,
and competitiveness so your players can
progressively improve. We are to give them a
basic structure that they can be familiar with,
grasp a concept, and log a win in each session,
then move on to the next lesson.
Stage practice sessions in timed blocks, so there
is a beginning and an end of focus on a
particular area. This puts the onus on the
coaching staff to work within these parameters to
get the message across, deliver it in quick
coaching points, then rep it to a
conclusion. These practice blocks should
preferably be in 5 or 10 minute segments. Short
and quick, concise lessons for high-repetitions.
These short-bursts allow you to compartmentalize
the game into winnable challenges, making it much
easier to teach the body-of-work as you
progress.
FUN football leads to optimistic football, which
proceeds into positive football that gives birth
to winning football.
- Coach Glen Tiger Ellison
This structure creates an arena where an athlete
can showcase the improvement of his technique and
eliminates the temptation to just out-athlete
everyone on the field. These teaching blocks
are tantamount to chapters in a book, dividing up
the big picture into manageable segments. This
also helps build your practice plans, accounting
for all the time you are allotted, ensuring that
all skills that are needed to be taught are
included. You will have a clear picture of what
is being taught and you can evaluate if all
skills are given a practical allotment of
time. With this kind of routine built in, you
will spend less time explaining drills or
announcing what is expected next the kids will
know (because of repetition) what each drill is
for and when that drill will be used. Lastly, you
can shape the mentality of your team with this
efficient approach as well. You can schedule
blocks of time every practice devoted to
fundamentals. This type of emphasis drills home
the importance of blocking or tackling, that gets
players believing that they are a physical team
because we work on hitting ALL THE TIME (even if
its for only 5 minutes a practice, it is
something we never neglect).
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Examples of Practice Plans
Staging your practice blocks on a timeline, so
that everyone stays on the same page. Basic
football fundamentals / Special teams / Offensive
group / Offensive Team Defensive group /
Defensive Team / Team Competition (conclusion) /
Devotional
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PRACTICE SCRIPTING The next step in organizing
your practices is going beyond general outlines,
but actually scripting everything that needs to
be practiced and WHO needs to practice it. This
method ensures that what you plan to have
available in a game has been experienced by the
people that need to be executing it, as well as
seeing that all players get their much needed
reps.
With this attention to detail, you will eliminate
much of the insecurity and doubt players
experience on game day. Emotion and desire can
only take you so far, but confident preparation
can be a catalyst to sustaining them. More
specifically, you can use these scripts to
prepare for specific situations within a game
(red zone, 2pt conversions, 3rd and short, etc)
and set up a scout look dedicated to what your
team will face in that scenario. By scripting
the practice plays, all the assistants can be on
the same page and can prep the next scout look
you will need. Knowing the play will also help
them assist their players on what to look for.
Give an account of your management.
- Luke 162
Defensively, you can review your opponents
formations step-by-step and play-by-play and how
they will threaten the defense out of each
formation (what are the keys to stopping the base
play out of each formation). Again, the amount
of detailed preparation you put into scripting
your practices will ensure there is no wasted
reps or time by your staff, players, or the team
you may scrimmage, as well as guarantee you have
prepared the team against all possible looks
(that nothing is by-passed during the rush of
practice). The less time you spend making
decisions in practice, the faster (and smoother)
it will run. The higher the tempo of your
practice, the more stimulated your players will
be, leading to a higher participation and
(information) retention rate.
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PRACTICE DETAIL The rationale behind practice
organization is to do all that is possible to
deliver the pertinent information to your players
so they can be best prepared for competition. In
keeping with this theme, another tool a coach can
utilize is take-home handouts.
If youre lucky, you have inspired your players
(through organization) about playing football and
improving their performance for the TEAM. To not
let this momentum go to waste, while they are
away from practice you can feed that desire with
handouts or practice (information) supplements. A
one-page review or DVD cutup of the new plays
installed, or the scouting brief of your upcoming
opponent is a good start. If the players look at
it great. If not, it is no loss, but it is
another outreach for them to be able to digest
the lesson plan of practice. You could take this
as far as homework if a coach wanted to.
wisdom is found in those who take advice.
-
Proverbs 1310
The best way to deliver concepts to your players
is to eliminate the uncertainty of a situation.
Being specific with roles on the field, we can
make their assignment crystal-clear, leaving
minimal doubt / indecision. Let the players know
where EXACTLY they should line up (aiming points)
on the field in relation to the many landmarks
they will encounter. Landmarks such as the hash,
numbers, sideline, EMOL, etc are great ways to
orient a player to understand what area of the
field he should work (and what area of the
field he can effectively ignore). The goal should
be achieving consistent results both in alignment
and assignment.
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GAME DAY ORGANIZATION
Discipline is based on pride in the profession,
on meticulous attention to details, and on mutual
respect and confidence. Discipline must be a
habit so ingrained that it is stronger than the
excitement of battle.
- George S.Patton,Jr, War as I Knew
It

• As a coach, your job is challenging enough
  without adding more variables unto your game day
  plate. Watching the clock, ensuring all the kids
  are playing, that you have 11 on the field,
  keeping tabs on what is working (and what is
  not), and managing all the players on the
  field.you have your hands full.
• With the same amount of detail and circumspect
  attitude weve taken to practice, we want to
  apply it to game day. The easiest way to do this
  is to ensure you have all the resources you need,
  so not to miss anything. Those resources largely
  involve the information you will need to make
  your decisions throughout the game. With this
  need, we want to be able access snap shots of
  information needed developing a game day call
  sheet. Useful information you can use during the
  game includes
• Depth chart
• Plays to call
• Play script
• Down distance scenarios
• Position / player plays

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With all your information at your finger tips,
the game will slow down (less wasted time with
decisions) and you will have more time to
effectively lead your team. Also, with all the
information consolidated to a page, you can print
multiple copies to fellow coaches (equipping
everyone with the same information to make
decisions from). Now, everyone knows the play
being called (and can effectively supervise their
game day responsibility) as well as being able to
track substitutions.
You can further maximize your efficiency with
your game calls by categorizing your plays by
field position and situations. Not only does this
allow you a clearer play selection (matching
scenarios with the highest percentage play), but
it also allows you to focus your practice
sessions accordingly (its 3rd and 7 inside the
15, we are going to run 47 C, and run these
situations in practice so the players will have a
clear definition of their role in this
scenario). For instance, you may have a signature
2-point play or a money 3rd and 8 play. Rather
than pulling these blindly out of the air under
the pressure of game day, you have a well-thought
out plan of attack that you can refer (and your
assistants) in the course of a game. Taking this
a step further, you can categorize plays by
positions in the event that you, just need to
find a way to get Johnny the ball or if you need
to give the 2nd string B back some candy, you
have an easy reference for what plays suit those
needs.
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USING WRIST BANDS
QB wrist coaches are an excellent way to
bullet-proof your play-calling system. You can
store as many or as little information on these
sleeves with their main function to work as a
tool-box for your players. With easily accessibly
legible plays ready to be called, you eliminate
the variable of miscommunication of players
running plays into the huddle.
The amount of plays are you house on a play card
is limitless. You can hold as little as 5 and as
many as 50. You can include as much information
as you feel is necessary. Formation, play,
cadence, and read.or simply just the play, the
main thing is to provide a way to get the right
play in in a timely fashion. A great way to
utilize this tool to its potential is to break up
the play card into three or four, 10 play lists.
Each list can be identified by how you call the
play in digits called in above the head (HAT)
1-10 (I.e. HAT 5 play 5 in the HAT list).
You can repeat this logic for the WAIST list
(all digits called below the waist, are found on
the WAIST list). You can expand the lists to
include CHEST, RIGHT, or LEFT giving you a
total of 50 play call options. This method helps
your quarterback feel enabled to call plays, and
empowers the coaching staff to call plays quickly
without being pressured to repeat the exact play
they want, they just have to select from the
menu and send it to the huddle via hand
signals. For those that commit to the wrist
coaches, an even more involved method can be
utilized and is best utilized with the NASCAR
tempo (in the tempo offense section). You can
create individual wrist coaches for each position.
Each sheet would list the play call (just like
the QB wrist coach is set up) but list the
assignment associated with the play for that
position. In the example shown, the L (X)
position wrist coach would list the NASCAR plays
so the player can quickly glance at the play call
and his assignment to ensure there is no
miscommunication or missed assignments. This
approach requires the coaching staff build a
master table filled with all the plays they
intend to run in a spreadsheet that links to each
printable wrist coach, so that all wrist coaches
match (from week to week) and guarantee that all
the assignments are correct. This involves a
little more work, but also affords the coaches to
use an aggressive implementation calendar, as
there are not many assignments that NEED to be
memorized (the wrist coach aides the player
In remembering his responsibility.
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TEMPO OFFENSE
Rapidity is the essence of war take advantage
of the enemys uneasiness, make your way by
unexpected routes, and attack unguarded
spots. Sun-Tzu, The Art of War

• In addition to controlling your players with
  techniques and fundamentals, we want to influence
  as much control during the course of a contest to
  give our players a favorable advantage on each
  play. A fairly easy way to accomplish this is to
  keep the pressure on your opponent to correctly
  perform. Making a decision within 30 seconds is
  considerably easier than making that same
  decision within 3 seconds. With tempo control, we
  are looking to speed up, slow-down, always
  altering how the defense is going to be attacked,
  as well as dictate how many opportunities we will
  have during the course of a game.
• This approach discourages our opponents coaches
  from making simple adjustments, forces their
  players to perform under (manufactured) stress,
  and promotes miscommunication with their
  defensive assignments.
• Our players can gain a psychological edge
  knowing they have an advantage (even when they
  can see they might be out-matched physically)
  they can use at any time during the game to put
  the defense on their heels. This also promotes a
  greater focus during practice (high-tempo) as
  well as paying attention in the huddle or set in
  the formation.
• We use varying game speeds to gain this
  competitive advantage. Among the few speeds we
  utilize
• Standard (huddle up) where we huddle up after a
  play and the coach signals in the play to run
• NASCAR (no-huddle) where players line up in base
  formation then listen to the audible from QB
• INDY (no-huddle/no-check) players line up and
  execute a series of prepackaged plays

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• Advantages of using a Tempo Offense
• Control tempo of the game (fast,slow, normal)
• Create artificial momentum (offsetting opponent
  advantages)
• Magnify the offensive advantage (cadence, play,
  formation)
• Appearance of something different (looming
  effect)
• Control substitution
• Limit fronts coverages
• Freezing allows you to see exactly what the
  defense is doing
• No guessing with play-calling
• Magnify conditioning / weaker opponents
• Eliminate inefficient lull before and after
  plays
• Establish a reputation (prepare for anything)
• Packaging plays allows you to set up counters
  (defending the entire field minimizing
  concentrated attacks)
• The forced attack requires more effort from
  secondary players to be accountable for run
  support

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Using Freeze The first tempo that you can
utilize is freeze. This is nothing more than
utilizing a hard count to draw the opponent off
sides. With the freeze play in your arsenal,
the defense conscientiously has to slow down and
play hesitant and circumspect. This is the first
stage of limiting the aggressiveness of a defense
on the field. We are disrupting their rhythm
changing their starts and get-offs. What they
have been conditioned to react to (cadence) is no
longer valid now what do they do? Freeze can
be called from any tempo you use. Whether you are
in no-huddle (INDY), hurry-up (NASCAR), or your
standard tempo, hard cadence can be used to
attack a defense to slow down their aggressive
style and/or gain a cheap 5 yards. What is
involved with Freeze is lining up in a
formation, then have the quarterback call the
cadence with hard inflection. The players have
nothing to learn, just that when a Freeze play
is called, to just sit in their stance. The
quarterback will go through the cadence through
three huts, and if no response is drawn from
the defense, the quarterback is free to call a
time-out (to avoid a 5 yard penalty for delay of
game). You can use all your standard presnap
motions with Freeze. This is a low-rent
approach to controlling game tempo, but is a good
start to dictate the game at YOUR speed and force
your opponent to play with less
aggression. Calling freeze in the course of a
game can be done through your standard, huddle-up
tempo or by including it as a regular play on the
QB play card / play sheet. The quarterback would
just call Tight (formation) Freeze (play) then
break the huddle and run the play. In hurry-up
(NASCAR), you can make this call with any F
word (Florida, Franklin, faith, etc). While
the team Is setting on the ball, the coach can
just yell out frisco (any f word), the
quarterback repeats it four times to the players
set in formation, then initiates the hard
cadence. In no-huddle (INDY), you can insert
Freeze in the sequence of plays you have
packaged. This works especially well if the team
you are facing knows you are capable of
performing no-huddle and prepares their defense
to react on cadence.
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Example of FREEZE
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Using Indy The next tempo you can utilize with
minimal practice time is INDY (think of INDY
500 race cars). This is a no-huddle speed where
we are trying to run plays as fast as possible.
We are looking to get 5 plays off in under a
minute. These are high-percentage plays we
practice everyday that we have packaged in a
series. This package will never change. Once the
INDY package is defined we do not alter it (it
has to be something the players can remember
without fail). Packaging the plays is completely
up to the coaches, but it is best if you can
group plays that compliment one another and can
stress the entire length and width of the field,
so that your attack isnt one-dimensional. An
example is INSIDE (2 Wedge) RIGHT (88
Power) LEFT (99 Power) LEFT (99 Power
Pass) INSIDE (2 Wedge) Rather than trying to
memorize a handful of plays, we simply teach it
as middle,right,left,etc. That is all they
really have to remember, because it becomes a
natural progression of thought(We are running to
the right, what play that we use runs to the
right? 88 Power). To limit the amount of things
that could go awry, all plays are on first sound
(GO) once the ball is set. Once INDY is
called, it is no-huddle urgency until the play
series is exhausted or the coach calls a
time-out. At the end of each play, the players
are admonished to quickly get the ball to the
official (this aides our tempo) quickly so we can
get set for the next play. After the last play in
the series is ran, the offense resumes the
standard (huddle up) tempo, unless the coach
signals otherwise from the sideline. You will
find that many times when confronted with a
hurry-up offense, many defensive coordinators
will use a time-out to attempt to regain control
of the game speed and try to coach up their
players to what you are doing on offense. This
also increases the tempo in practice and gets
kids fired up to move so quickly (serves as
conditioning as well).
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Example of INDY
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Using NASCAR NASCAR is a hurry-up speed, slower
than INDY, but faster than our standard tempo. We
are striving for snapping the ball 14-16 seconds
after it is put in play. NASCAR is used to vary
the tempo that we operated at and allow us to
open the entire playbook in a simplistic
check-with-me approach. This is best used when
you have a few formations installed, that you can
get in and out of. The main thrust of NASCAR is
to threaten a defense with quick count, freeze,
and formation adjustments. The tempo of NASCAR
promotes the tool of audibiling into better plays
than the one originally called. Because we can
effectively change the play at any time, the
linemen always remain in a 2-pt stance to remain
comfortable and be able to adjust to a
long-cadence. The cadence of NASCAR involves a
FORMATION, GROUPING, DIGIT PLAY and is repeated
twice to ensure all players received the call.
This allows us to communicate in our own language
and further confuse an opponent. The play calling
is driven solely from wrist coaches worn by all
players (even linemen) by position. FORMATION
- call the formation to be run out of (TIGHT,
SPREAD, SLOT, etc) GROUPING - F word
Freeze / D word Dummy call / City pass /
State run DIGIT SIDE - even is to the
right / odd is to the left DIGIT PLAY - 1 9
series on the NASCAR call sheet
SPREAD A RIP! TEXAS 66 22! TEXAS 66-22!
SPREAD A RIP! formation with A motion
TEXAS run play list 66
first two digits are dummy numbers
22 first 2 (even number means play to
the right) 22 second 2 (2nd play
from Texas column)
You can turn this into a check-with-me system by
using the dummy calls (Dallas 66-70, D word
is no play) to run through a cadence, then look
to the coach to see if they want to go ahead with
the play or check into a different play.
Remember, this approach allows us to use ALL of
the presnap time to find the play we want to run,
as well as keeping our players focused on the
game. To signal in the play, the coaching staff
will need to utilize a grease board or number
chart to flash at the QB so he knows what play
series to call from. All formations and motions
will be shouted from the sidelines prior to
giving the number play call.