Tag Archives: flipping the practice field

Drill, Drill, Drill

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The Internet…

You can have your own personal clinic every day.

Earlier this week an online call came from Lee Weber (CSIC and head football coach at Wamego High School, KS) asking coaches to send in their favorite drills so he can compile a “best of” Twitter #fbchat drill guide.

I have become a virtual colleague of coach Weber via Twitter and the various football coaching chats (see post #TXHSFBCHAT… the Fastest 60 Minutes on the Internet) that take place weekly online.

I immediately responded to his collaboration call, and in the process realized that, although I have written many posts regarding football drills, and detailed many of my favorites, they were spread over a time period of three years and nearly 400 posts… not the easiest navigation to find some good ball drills.

Here is a compilation of articles I have written about drills including philosophy, terminology and diagrams… hopefully a little easier for you to navigate.

step-over-dummy-0811Please consider sending one of your favorite drills to Coach Weber (gcwarrior@gmail.com) for inclusion in his drill guide. As you can see from my drills, they were all learned from colleagues in our profession that were willing to share.

The coaching profession benefits when we collaborate.

Remember – You Can Do More… your brain is lying to you…. Don’t Believe It!

Jeff Floyd – youcandomore1@yahoo.com

Tech Tips, Part 2

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I received some great comments regarding last weeks post, Tech Tips, and noticed a spike in my sites analytics for the search term “Making a Screen Recording”… so here goes with this week’s post – Tech Tips 2

I have a few “go-to” programs/ apps that I use nearly every day… especially when implementing “flipped coaching” or “flipped teaching” concepts. Included are…

Grab

Grab is a resident program on Macs that allows you to grab an image of your entire screen,

screen shot

or a portion.

screen shot2

It comes in handy when capturing telestrated images from Hudl, or individual frames from any video.  It is extremely easy to use…. very intuitive… and places the image on your clipboard where it can be quickly pasted or exported to another program.  There is an explanation of how to do this on a PC at this link:  How to take a screenshot in Microsoft Windows, but I am not sure if this is the only or easiest way to do it on a PC.

QuickTime Player

This, too, is a resident program on Macs.  It allows you to make a screen recording, also known as a screencast (see post, Making a Screen Recording), of anything that is on your computer screen.  It could be a recording of a telestrated Hudl video that you want to imbed in a PowerPoint presentation, or a recording of an animated PowerPoint presentation that you want to put on YouTube.  Whatever action takes place on your screen after beginning a Screen Recording (using QuickTime Player) will be recorded in a video that can be saved, embedded, used in other programs, or sent to the web.

As with Grab, you can record your entire screen

or a portion.

Aurasma

The app and platform Aurasma is an augmented reality program that allows users to unlock digital content from the world around them through the use of a phone or tablet. It is like QR codes, but with pictures or diagrams.

It is a little difficult to explain, but fairly easy to see in action.

Here is an example.

I have this picture of two students jumping rope… that I captured with the program, Grab!

pat-jump-rope

I have this video (.mov file) of the two students actually demonstrating the various jump rope drills.

Lets say I have a printed picture of the students jumping rope laying on my kitchen counter right now… which I actually do!

The app Aurasma can link the video file, overlaying it via phone or tablet onto the actual picture … augmenting the “real” picture sitting on my counter with the video.

Here is Aurasma doing just that:

The Aurasma  app works with a tablet or smart phone in exactly the same way.  Here is a video showing the same trigger picture and video using a phone… you will also see in this video that you can “layer” overlays so that different commands “single tap” or “double tap” will perform different functions…. In this example a double tap will take the user to my blog post about these jump rope drills.

Cool technology… but how could you use it in coaching and teaching?

Here is a simple example… I printed pictures of the 4 Core lifts we do in class.  I put the pictures on a bulletin board in the weight room.  Lets say the students had a quick question regarding technique, spotting, or what muscle groups the lift worked.  They could pop over to the board, scan the picture using the Aurasma app and get a quick tutorial on the lift.

Some other possible uses – trigger image and overlay (video, image, or website) for each of these

  • One for each piece of equipment in your weight room…
  • One showing the muscle groups worked on each lift…
  • One detailing each station in a fitness circuit…
  • One showing complimentary auxiliary lifts for each core lift…
  • One showing medicine ball drills …
  • One showing resistance band drills…

Like any other use of technology, these things will not replace the teaching and coaching you do, but supplement (augment) it.

Related Posts:

You Can Do More… your brain is lying to you… Don’t Believe It!

Jeff Floyd – youcandomore1@yahoo.com

Flipped Coaching Resources and Tips

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A long post, I know… but some good information with some excellent links and sources for information.

flipped practice“Flipping” the classroom or practice field refers to the concept of using technology to flip the traditional classroom/ meeting time; using online, shared content to provide student-athletes with learning opportunities traditionally reserved for classroom presentations, freeing up that time for more in-depth, hands-on, interactive learning opportunities.

A recent article in the THE Journal (Technological Horizons in Education) provided 10 tips for a better flipped classroom.  The article dealt specifically with the classroom, but most of these tips easily translate into the arena of athletics and coaching as well.

1) Devise a flipped strategy. Will you make your own videos, curate material from other sources or do a combination? What video-creation software will you use? And what will you do with class time when you reduce or eliminate lecture time? I wrote about the nuts and bolts (including software) of making a screencast in my post, Making a Screen Recording

2) Start small. “I jumped in all at once and nearly drowned,” says Sherry Spurlock, an Illinois chemistry teacher who tried to flip all four of her classes at once. “Making the videos was a very big time commitment. I would recommend doing it in smaller chunks.” In my post, Flipping the Practice Field, I suggest each position coach start my making a teaching video of their most important drill.  Check the post to see some ideas on what that video might include.

3) Get student buy-in. Student-athletes may initially resist the idea of watching videos and doing other work outside of practice. The rationale for flipped pedagogy needs to be explained well.   I think most athletes will understand and relish in the fact that doing their “homework” will lead to more actual on the field coaching and teaching… the end result is that they will be more successful come game time.

4) Teach students how to watch videos. “You don’t watch instructional videos in the same manner as a popular film,” explains Jon Bergmann, a flipped learning innovator. Students need pointers on when to hit the pause button, when to go back and watch something again, and how to write notes and questions as they watch.  We try to educate our athletes about how studying film on Hudl is not at all like watching an NFL game on Sunday.  The same is true for your instructional videos.

5) Reach out to parents. Spurlock reports that her biggest roadblock at first was parents who didn’t understand what flipping was all about. She held parent conferences, created a short video, and sent an online newsletter to parents. Gradually parents became excited and supportive.  Many new platforms are helping with this process… with communicating safely with both students and parents and posting online content.   A relative newcomer to the field, Dewsly, has some great built in tools to help streamline this process.

6) Encourage (don’t punish) students. “If half of your students don’t watch your video content, don’t rescue them by teaching what is already in your video [in class],” says Bergmann. “All that will accomplish is to tell the students who did the work that they wasted their time.” A better solution is to have homework slackers watch the video at the back of the room while the rest of the team gets face-time with their coach going over higher-level material.  Like anything else in coaching, if you are clear with the expectation that they need to watch the “homework” video to see the field, then this should not be an issue.

7) Don’t use videos as the only engagement tool. Using the same blog format may become stale to students. Many students prefer to watch videos on their smartphones.   Some school districts have implemented a 1-to-1 philosophy, providing every student in their district a computer or tablet device.

8) Make videos short and interactive. Bergmann and his colleague Aaron Sams started with full-length lectures in their videos and quickly learned to limit each video to one discrete objective.  Videos should also be broken up into sections, have a table of contents, and if possible, have interactive features – for example, a quiz that takes students who get questions wrong back to the relevant section of the video.   There are many apps available to help with this process… several are described in Coach Grabowski article on flipped coaching, Making an Impact with Flipped Coaching.

9) Find fellow flippers. “I jumped on Twitter and blogs and ran things by people so I didn’t feel like I was stuck in my own little world,” says math teacher Chrystal Kirch. “You can feel like you are alone, but there are people out there that are willing to share.”  Here are several coaches that you can follow so that you will not feel alone:

  • Jason Hanstadt – Assistant Coach- New Trier High School in Winnetka, IL.
  • Blog – The Flipped Coach

10) Focus on what happens during classroom time. “A big misconception is focusing too much on the video,” says Kirch. “Video is valuable, but it is just one tool. Flipping is defined by what you do in class and student-centered learning.”   It’s not all about the videos… it’s about the extra in-depth classroom time, or on the field learning time you get by using this method.

More posts about Flipped Coaching:

Remember – You Can Do More… your brain is lying to you…. Don’t Believe It!

Jeff Floyd – youcandomore1@yahoo.com

Film Grading

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film roomIt is that time of the year, and that time of each week during the season… game film evaluation.  I have always believed in the value of grading game film.  As a coach, it gives you a tangible, quantifiable idea of what your players (and you) did well, as well as what they (and you) need to work on.  I have written about the film grade template we have used in our programs… grading each athlete on every play.

  • You can read the post at this link – Film Grading Tool
  • Download the Excel Template at this link – Film Grade Template
  • Or watch the video below to see how to use the Template.

It is easy to then use the data on this spreadsheet to determine what your coaching emphasis needs to be for the upcoming week.  It is a great tool to give the athletes, which helps regarding accountability… both yours as a coach, and theirs as a player in your program.

I have also had serious internal dialogues with myself about the value of watching the entire game, either as a team, offense or defense, or as a position group.  Is it really the best use of 60-90 minutes having your entire position group, starters, subs, role players, and non-players, watch the entire film?

Here is another method that we have used in the past, and which I believe has merit.  Every position coach, after grading the film, determines what their players did well, and what they need to work on to improve as a position group.  By using the film grading template, or something similar, this process is relatively easy.  Once the area(s) of emphasis has been decided, the coach then makes a 20 play (or so) cutup, showing 10 plays that his position group played well, using correct technique, great effort, angle, pad level, etc.  He discusses how these factors led to a positive outcome on the play.  He also includes 10 plays that highlight mistakes (ideally the most common mistakes of the game, and what they will be emphasizing during the next week) and explains how these missteps led to problems on those plays.

The position coach can easily focus, teach, and explain to his position group the main emphasis for the upcoming week by showing these clips… and can do so in a time efficient manner.   It becomes easy for the coach to say, and show, “When we do things right, here is the outcome, when we make mistake _______ , here is the result.”

The players will still have the film grade sheets, and can watch the video on their own to see how they played individually.  It is another example of “flipping” the traditional classroom.  For other posts about this concept see:

Have a good Labor Day … don’t work too hard…. ironic, isn’t it?

Jeff Floyd – youcandomore1@yahoo.com

Must Read – Must “See”

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Coach Keith Grabowski of Baldwin Wallace University, hit it out of the park with his article, Making an Impact with Flipped Coaching, for this month’s American Football Monthly online supplemental edition.

13julcoverIn this article Coach Grabowski pulls together resources from Urban Myer, (Urban Meyer – On Edge Coaching ), Coach Jason Hahnstadt, (The Flipped Coach – John Hahnstadt), some of my examples (Making a Screen Recording and Defensive Game Planning – Flipped Coaching) as well as many of his own ideas and implementations.  Additionally, Coach Grabowski includes examples of using technology for review and assessment with your players.

The article also has information and links to a great “flipped learning” resource from John Bergman – Turning Learning on its Head.

Coach Grabowski’s  article is the single best piece I have seen written on this topic.  It has video, practical examples, links to resources, and a narrative that excited me as to the possible uses for integrating this into my (and my colleagues) coaching bag of tricks.

The article itself is an excellent example of integrating technology into teaching and coaching. It is a must read…. really must SEE because of the many video examples and hyperlinks in the piece… article for 21st century teachers and coaches.

Again, the article for the American Football Monthly online supplemental– Making an Impact With Flipped Coaching.

I cannot emphasize this enough…. if you are a coach wanting to learn cutting edge teaching and coaching methods, read Coach Grabowski’s blog – Coach and Coordinator, and follow him on Twitter @CoachKGrabowski.

Jeff Floyd – youcandomore1@yahoo.com

Adaptation

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I never wanted to be one of those “old” coaches that was always saying…

“Well, back in my day we…..  “ ,  fill in the blank.

But, the game HAS changed.  Recent rule changes, and discussions at all levels from Pop Warner to the NFL regarding contact, concussions, and practice restrictions have made it necessary for coaches to adapt.  Outcomes of pending lawsuits in the NFL regarding concussions and head injuries will trickle down to all levels of play.  I am not saying these discussions and rule changes are bad, but as coaches we may need to change some of our “time worn” ways of doing things.

To all of us, the safety of our players is paramount.  Most of us took the “head” out of our tackling vernacular years ago.  We must continue to teach safe tackling.  But, here is the rub… the conflict… the thin line we have to walk.  We ALL want to teach safe tackling, but we also ALL want to teach effective tackling.  There is a physical nature to the game that we have to prepare for.  We have the responsibility to prepare our athletes, mentally and physically, for the games they will be playing in on Friday nights.  If we have no contact (or the 5 minutes a day the players in the NFL will be getting) will our players be ready for the full speed, physical action on Fridays.

It will be up to us to become even better teachers, and even more efficient with our practice time (see a previous post, Practice, Not a Minute to Spare).  It will be up to us as coaches to come up with new ways to practice and prepare our athletes physically and mentally.  I will share one idea that we have used for years to help our athletes get quality “mental reps” during the week.

This works best in a large area with an overhead projector.  Often on a Thursday, if we wanted to limit the physical part of practice (during a collegiate work week) we would assemble our defense in a meeting room or on the auditorium stage.  We would arrange 11 desks (or chairs) facing the screen, roughly in our defensive alignment… 4 desks up front for the DL, 3 behind those for the LB’s, and 2 desks outside for the corners, and 2 behind for the safeties.

endzone

Our defensive starters would take their place in their respective desks, and we would roll video off a script of our opponent’s offense.  We would signal in the front/ stunt/ coverage call we wanted to run, the LB’s would make the call, and everyone would communicate just as they would during an actual play… “Tight” (run strength) call, Down and Distance tendencies, formation checks, etc.  As the play on the screen developed, they would mentally play the play, defeating the block, reading their key, mentally pursuing to the ball carrier, and talking through routes.  We would “play” a series or two, and then sub players into the chairs.  Everyone not in the 11 desks would be in the back getting a mental rep.

We would try to make this as “lifelike” as possible…  similar to the concepts of mental visualization (refer to post, Mental Visualization). We use calls that will be on the call sheet for that week, and communicate down and distance every play.  A large screen with an endzone shot is ideal.  It almost becomes like your players are in a video game, or one of those golf simulators.  We have even done this same thing with no desks or chairs with the athletes standing in their respective positions.  I really believe this type of interactive teaching could be used daily with your scout script to prepare you athletes for practice.  I discussed this, and the concept of “flipped coaching” in a previous post on my blog, Defensive Game Planning – Flipped Coaching.

There is an excellent article on CoachBook detailing Coach John Gagliardi’s approach at St. John’s University, at this link:  Winning With Limited Contact in Practice.  

This will be an ongoing situation we will need to deal with in our changing sport… adequately preparing our athletes, physically and mentally for our weekly contests.  The coaches that are good at adapting and creative in their teaching and coaching methods will have an advantage.

Thanks again to PrepsKC, for featuring this post on their site today!

Good luck to you all as head into this exciting time of the year!

Jeff Floyd – youcandomore1@yahoo.com

Defensive Game Planning – Film Breakdown and the Formation Analysis

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I had a question after yesterdays post (Defensive Game Planning – Weekly Workflow) about the timeline we used to disseminate the scouting report information to our players.  Let me take a moment to discuss this.

When we first began this process of defensive game planning, we had ALL of the scouting report information ready to be handed out on our initial meeting on Monday afternoon.  We eventually changed our thinking on this, and began only distributing the printed information for the situations that we were focusing on for that day.  We provided players with a “Game Plan Folder” and gave them the following printed information at morning meetings each of these days.

Monday

  • Goals
  • Outlook
  • Player Profile
  • Analysis

Tuesday

  • 1st Down
  • 2nd Down
  • 3rd and Short
  • Coverage
  • Pass Routes

Wednesday

  • 3rd Medium
  • 3rd Long
  • XL
  • Goal Line

Thursday

  • Front/ Stunt
  • Wrist Band
  • Gadget

Friday

  • Position Group Reminders
  • Position Group Test

We found this to be more effective for several reasons:

  • They received information daily, in smaller bites, which made it easier to digest.
  • It focused the meeting attention and discussion on the emphasis for that day.
  • It allowed us as coaches to get a better handle on the information before delivering it to the players.  We also found we had less changes than when we tried to have everything ready at our Monday meeting.
  • I will have a post at the end of this series with ideas on how to “flip” ( see post Flipping the Practice Field) the meeting time with your athletes.  I think distributing in small chunks lends itself to “flipping” your meeting time.

The film breakdown process we used was not revolutionary and is probably the same procedures you all use in your program.  We had, as most coaches do today, access to all the game film on our upcoming opponent that we wanted to use.  We used the following criteria to determine what games to break down and enter in our computer analysis.

  • We always wanted a minimum of 4 games, which normally was enough plays to get a good sampling in all down and distance situations and field zone areas.
  • We looked for games that they were playing against teams that ran a similar defensive scheme in order to get a better idea how what blocking schemes and pass routes they would employ.
  • We looked for their most recent games.  Often offenses evolve during the course of a season as players improve and injuries occur.
  • We looked for their closest contests.  We always felt the plays they ran in situations in those games gave a better indication as to what their tendencies would be in the heat of the battle.  If they got too far ahead or behind, that would have a tendency to skew the data.  At times, we only put in partial games if this (lopsided score) came into play.

The better data on your opponent that you put in, the more accurate picture of what their actual tendencies are will emerge.

We tried to have all of the opponent film broken down by Thursday or Friday of the week preceding the game.  The whole staff worked on this, with the exception of me as defensive coordinator.  Thursday was my day (see Defensive Game Planning – Weekly Workflow) to finish the actual Call Sheet for our upcoming game, and I did not want to muddle up my thinking by watching a different opponent.  I wanted to make sure my focus was completely on our upcoming game.   On Sunday, we exchanged Saturday’s game (that we just completed) with our upcoming opponent.  If it met the criteria I outlined above, we broke it down and entered the information into the computer.

After all the information was entered into the computer, we began assembling the Formation Analysis, which details our opponents top run and pass plays, their formations, and any tendencies they have for each.  It provides a quick snapshot to our players and coaches as to their overall tendencies.

Hudl makes it easy to get this information.  We always tried to synthesize it down to a single sheet to give our players.  You can download a sample of what we distributed by clicking on this link:  Formation Analysis, or just clicking on the picture below.

formation analysis

You will need to decide if it is worth your time compiling all the information on a sheet like this.  It is very easy to just copy and print the reports that you can generate via Hudl, and may actually be just as good and a more efficient use of time to do that.

The Formation Analysis will list their Top 5 Run plays based on frequency, and any tendencies we have (Strong/ Weak, Wide/Short, Left/Right) for those plays.  It also shows their top Pass Types (Drop, Quick, Roll, Action, etc) and tendencies we have determined for those.  We list and diagram their top formations, the plays they run out of those formations, and any formation tendencies (Strong/ Weak, Run/Pass) that we have determined.

The Formation Analysis forms the basis of our game plan strategy.  We will game plan, both in scheme and dedicating practice time, to stopping what our opponent has shown they want to do; the plays they want to run, out of the formations they want to run them out of, in the direction they want to run them to.

Tomorrow – The Ready List.

The previous posts in this series:

A special Shout Out and Thanks to Tim McGonagle at Kansasprepfootball.com for linking to this blog.  There are MANY great links and a wealth of quality information about football on the Kansas side of the state line on his site… Just click on the link above (or the image below) to visit his site!

ksprepfb Small Web view

Jeff Floyd – youcandomore1@yahoo.com

Is Your Job Going Away?

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If you are a teacher and coach, it (your job) probably isn’t going away, but it is changing much in the same way that these jobs have:

  • Travel Agent
  • Real Estate Agent
  • Car Dealership

info_symbolThe reason these jobs have undergone drastic changes in the last few years is because of easy access to information.  Any individual can easily get online and book their own airline ticket, search the MLS for comps in their area, or find out the exact dealer cost of a new car and every option available.

Three different pieces came across my feed this week… all referencing this same thing…. information access, and its effect on our jobs as teachers and coaches.

Chad Frigon, head football coach at Liberty High School sent me an excellent article from the sportscoachingbrain that offered this insight:

“In the old days, coaches were the custodians of the knowledge…. training, planning, preparation, competition, what to eat, when to stretch, what to do at the gym… everything.  Now, anyone can access anything, anytime, from anywhere, and for free.  Kids (and their parents) can now access the same information that coaches can.  The traditional coach-driven, coach-centered learning method, i.e. coach tells- athletes do, is doomed to failure.

Successful coaches must create learning environments where athletes learn through problem solving, decision making, being engaged and excited by learning experiences and by collaborating with coaches and their teammates on making training stimulating, effective and efficient.”

Author Seth Godin discussed information access in his recent post, “Freedom of Information Act”:

“Traditionally, many car dealerships are based on a simple idea: they know more about cars and pricing and profit than the customer does.  By leveraging the information advantage, they can sell cars at a higher markup, upsell add ons, etc.

But what happens when the customers know more than they do, when potential customers know about every option, the inventory at every dealer, etc?

This is going to happen to every business, every sector, every level. When information is set free, does it help you or hurt you?

If it’s not helping you, this is a good time to change your model.”

And Coach James Vint talked about the importance of “why” with today’s athlete’s in his excellent post, “Building a Championship Culture”:

“The first thing we did was talk to them about the why. This is why we are going to coach you on this. This is why we have to do it this way. Kids today need to know “why” something is done a certain way. Once they understand the why, they will buy into the “what” and the “how”….when you are teaching a 10 yard stop route, do you accept an eight yard route? Or, do you correct and reteach? Do your players know why you have to get to 10 yards on that route? Do they know “why” they have to perform the skill?”

Our job, or at least certain aspects of it, has changed and will continue to do so.  We can either embrace technology, or fight it.

If you want to embrace technology, here are some resources to help get you thinking:

If you want to fight technology, I am afraid it is a losing proposition.

Thanks to PrepsKC (the information source of Kansas City High School football) for running todays post as part of their Coach’s Corner.  If you get a chance, please visit and “Like” the post!

Jeff Floyd – youcandomore1@yahoo.com

Practice – Not a Minute to Spare

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One of the few constants in coaching is the time available for use… there are only so many hours in a day… and we have a given amount of practice time.  It is extremely important that we are efficient and organized when we take the field to practice.  A few suggestions today regarding scheduling practice.

I have already shared some ideas and resources regarding practice in recent posts.  I wrote about effective drill work in the post – Running an Effective Drill discussed the idea of the flipped classroom and “homework” in Flipping the Practice Field, and the importance of fundamental work in the post EDD’s – Every Day Drills. Baldwin Wallace offensive coordinator Keith Grabowski also discussed effective practice time in his post, Maximizing Practice Time – Receivers/ QB’s.

The first step in organizing an efficient practice is setting the practice schedule.  I know for the most part, I am preaching to the choir with this post, but I have actually heard coordinators say,

“We don’t spend a lot of time discussing practice schedule.  I work with good coaches – they are professionals.. I trust what they are teaching their position group… I don’t need to micromanage them”

I have been fortunate to work with some VERY good coaches… both as a coordinator under a head coach, and as a position coach under a coordinator.  We always took time to discuss practice to make sure that when we took the field, we were organized, efficient with our time, and coordinated in our actions.

Some things that need finalizing during the scheduling process:

  • Group work – when position groups are combined (for example WR’s vs DB’s) where will segment take place?
  • What is the emphasis for the day?
  • What is the insertion for the day?  What are the key teaching points for each position?
  • What drills will you be using to teach these concepts?
  • Film schedule – what drill/ groups will be filmed?
  • Scripts for any scrimmage, inside, or pass skelly.
  • Scout Cards accurately and correctly drawn corresponding to the practice scripts. We started using Hudl this past season not only to set our script for the day, but also to print scout team play cards.
  • Special teams and assignments for the day
  • Conditioning – what is everyone’s role?

We type copies of the schedule and script for every coach.  It is important that everyone is on the same page.  There is nothing more frustrating as a coach than waiting on another coach that you are supposed to combine groups with during a practice period.  It is frustrating for the coach and a waste of time for the players in his position group. You can download the Excel template by either clicking on the image below, or this link : Excel Practice Template.

Practice 1

We post the schedule prior to practice for the athletes to see.  We do not try to hide anything… drills, insertion, or conditioning… from our players.   The more informed they are, the quicker and more efficiently they can move through practice.

Improving in just ONE area of practice organization can reap big dividends.  For instance, if you could run every scripted inside, skelly or scrimmage play in a practice 10 seconds quicker because of increased efficiency, planning and communication, you would save minutes during the course of practice.  50 scripted plays would translate into nearly 10 minutes extra practice time for a single practice.  Multiply that times the number of practices in a season and you are adding practice DAYS!

I know time during the season is at a premium, and that getting all your staff together, particularly at the high school level is difficult to do at times.  But, I would much rather spend 30 minutes meeting with staff (even if it is after practice, setting the schedule for the next day) than waste even 5 minutes time with our players.

Jeff Floyd – youcandomore1@yahoo.com

Flipping the Practice Field

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flipped practiceThe flipped classroom inverts traditional teaching methods, delivering instruction online outside of class and moving “homework” into the classroom.  5 Years ago, “flipping the classroom” would have been an impossible undertaking. Improvements in technology, and the advancements in proliferation and access have made “flipping the classroom” not only feasible, but easier than it has ever been for teachers and coaches.  My question and challenge is, “Could “flipping the practice field” make you a more effective coach?’”

I want to refer back to several recent posts regarding using technology in coaching.

“… I wanted them to move towards using dynamic content whether that was Power Point diagrams with animations, still shot step-by-step illustrations with coaching points, film or preferably a combination of those things. I also encouraged them to use our editing system to prepare video walk thru – essentially a screencast of them talking through a play and giving coaching points. I like this method for an install because your comments as a coach are saved and accessible for player review later, whereas if you just talk through video in a meeting, once the meeting is over, there is nothing for the player to refer back to.”

What I am suggesting now is that you can expand this concept to “flip your practice field”.  Here are a couple of ideas.

Consider your install days during your pre-season or spring practice sessions.  How much more production could you get out of your meeting and practice time if you had your install lectures already recorded on a screencast.  Prior to your installation of a particular front/ stunt/ or coverage (or of an offensive play) you require as “homework” viewing the screencast of your install lecture of that piece.  How much more efficient could you be in your meeting time (answering specific questions about the install) or how much quicker would you move to actually practicing the piece instead of spending time installing on the field.

What if you had the most important (or better yet, all!) of your drills for each position group online, described with text, diagramed in an automated PowerPoint presentation, with a telestrated video of YOU explaining the key organizational and coaching points of the drill, and your players demonstrating.  Before you use a drill in a practice, you gave as “homework” to your position group the task of studying this online content for the drill.  How many more reps would you get in that drill during practice, and how much better understanding of the drill would your players have during the course of the year?

This online content embraces many different learning styles.  It can be viewed on their own device, at their own pace.  The content can be played, rewound, played again… over and over and over… on their own time.

Let me know if you have any questions, or if I could help you in any way.

You Can Do More!

Jeff Floyd – youcandomore1@yahoo.com