How to Conduct Basketball Practice

Know your coaching style. If your coaching style resembles a drill sergeant, you will not be able to conduct a relaxed practice. If your coaching style is more laid back you will have a difficult time conducting a basketball practice like boot camp. Once you understand your teaching style you will be better suited to conduct a basketball practice in a way that allows you to focus on teaching.

Be organized. If you know the feeling of having every set of eyes on you while you struggle to decide what to do next as your credibility slowly disappears you know how important it is to have a plan on how to conduct a basketball practice. You should have a rough outline before the season starts for what you want to accomplish. Have a schedule laid out well before practice starts that outlines what will be done and for how long. As the season progresses you will notice what needs to be worked on and can incorporate that into your practices. This will keep you from standing there surrounded by your players as you try to figure out what to do next.

Move on to the next drill only when you are satisfied with your team's progress. Even though you have a schedule laid out, you need to be prepared to spend extra time on something that your team is struggling to pick up. The flip side of that coin is if your team does a great job of picking up a skill you can move on early. If there is a time set aside for scrimmaging at the end of practice you can add or subtract to that time based on how your team acclimates themselves to what you are teaching.

Make time for the little things. It is easy to get caught up in running the offense over and over and over or learning a full court press. Do not forget to work on the little things such as free throw shooting, dribbling and passing. If your team cannot execute these basic fundamentals it does not matter how well they run the offense.

Get their attention. From time to time every team struggles through a sluggish practice where they seem disinterested or unfocused. In order to conduct a basketball practice you will need to recognize this, call the team out and get the team to concentrate on fighting through the malaise. How you do that depends on your coaching style.

Analyze what you can do better. After every practice sit down and go over what drills worked and which ones did not. Decide what you did well and what you could improve on. Keep notes and work to improve every practice.