Practice Plan Tip #2: Start with the end in mind. You must have that mental picture of what your team needs to look like next week.

Ever try to plan a trip when you don't know where you are going? You can't draw a map. And you'll never get there. You don't even know where 'there' is.

Get the vision of what your team is going to look like next week. Share that vision with the players. Try to catch them doing it right on film, and show them what it should look like every single time.

Even if you can only catch them doing it right once, you'll be able to share the vision with them. When they understand what the purpose of practice is, you get better results.

The more film you have, the better your chances of catching them, so you should...

Practice Plan Tip #3: Film your team session during practice. You can hold your phone up and click the record button at the start of each play. You won't get everything. It will not be good footage. Sometimes the camera is upside down, or it is blurry. Sometimes I leave the phone on and recording inside my pocket.

Anything is better than nothing. You want chances to catch them doing it right. You want hard evidence when they are not doing it.

You get better effort because they know every rep is on film. Especially with young kids, they do not have that physical awareness of what their body is doing. It helps to show them.

Don't spend hours studying this film. Watch it one time after practice, share a few clips with players, then move on to the next day. Every day will...

Figure out the ONE thing, use a drill that focuses on it, and the build everything else back up with progression. The most important thing is having a focus, and...

Practice Plan Tip #7: Explain the purpose of today's practice to your players. They need to know the WHY behind what you are doing in practice today.

Are you running your Every Day Drills because that's just what you always do? Or are you running specific drills and progressing practice to solve one problem?

Communicating the focus on practice lets your players know the goal. If by the end of practice today, we [insert focus here] then we know today was a success. If you walk away from practice today still not doing that thing, we need to know why.

Of course, you know one day is not enough to solve a problem. You're going to work on it all week long.

Does this seem like a lot of work? It's not, as long as you...

Practice Plan Tip #8: Use a Football Practice Plan Template. You should have a practice planning template that you use every week. You change the drills, adjust the periods, insert the focus. But the shell stays the same.

Your practice plan shell has every day's basic outline. For High School coaches, that means Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday.

​I teach the 90 Minute Practice Plan inside JDFB Premium Coaching Systems. I talk about it all the time on The Football Coaching Podcast.

Monday and Thursday are often only 60 minutes, though. That is on the field instruction time. It does not include film sessions, speed work or weight room. But the shell remains the same.

Without the shell, this would be a lot of work. You would spend all your time re-inventing the wheel. Missing out on time with your family. You can put a high value on that time when you...
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​Practice Plan Tip #9: Give everything a start time and end time. Stick to them. Be relentless about this. Your players and coaches will thank you.

Account for every minute of every practice. Warm ups, water breaks, conditioning, drills, transitions. It is all in there. No wasted movement.

Because when you get to the end, it is gone.

​About two weeks after starting the 90 Minute Practice Plan, we had a terrible practice. It was bad. Lack of effort. Whining and complaining. Needless to say, we did achieve our focus that day.

When we reached the 90 minute time limit on the schedule, I blew the whistle and called the team up. I asked our leaders how practice was today.

"Bad, coach. Bad. We'll get it right, let's start over right now and get it right!"

They thought that was the right answer. That is what every other coach did. Do it right, do it right. Do it wrong, do it long... right?

Nope.

I told them practice was over. I promised their parents to have them out of here on time. I promised my wife I'd be home on time. Today is gone. Done. Can't get it back.

Do you know what happened? We never had another bad practice again. Sure, some kids here and there had a bad day. But as a team, we had focus every time out. Anyone can pull it together for a fast paced 90 minute practice with a clear focus!