This is a follow up to my previous post: how to increase productivity at practice.

The first step towards making practices run by quickly and effectively is to eliminate all wasted time. Try these things:
1. Start early. Get practice over with. No one wants to practice on a Saturday afternoon! People generally prefer getting practice over on a Saturday morning so that they have time to do other things. If you practice after school, get straight to practice. Allow 15 minutes for everyone to change and get ready. Once fifteen minutes is up, start warming up immediately.

2. When you start practice, start for real! Don’t say that practice is starting at 2:00 when you don’t actually do anything until 2:30. When you say that it is time to practice, start moving and get going.

3. Plan practice. Have an agenda ready. Know exactly what needs to be worked on. You know how teachers sometimes have “lazy days” where they have no plan for their students so they show a video? Don’t be one of them. Be prepared with an agenda, and once practice starts, work on that agenda immediately.

4. No down time. I emphasized this in my previous post. Team members do get close and talkative, but that can happen outside of practice. Do not tolerate chatter, and make it stop before it gets too loud.

5. When you need to talk, everyone needs to listen. So, the team just finished doing the routine and you just saw some mistakes that need to be worked on. Immediately tell everyone what you saw, and how they can improve. Make sure that everyone is listening and not talking to each other. If you allow people to get up and get water and talk to one another, they stop listening and you lose the team’s focus. Tell them about their mistakes and get straight to fixing it.

6. Make a team decision on breaks. It is your choice whether or not you will permit breaks (usually these are about 5 minutes). For some teams, it seems to restore focus and after the break, people are ready to work again. For other teams, it just puts everyone in a talkative move and takes away the focus. Experiment with this, and see how it works out. Ask the team for a vote. Remember, though, that adding in a break is basically adding in a few extra minutes into practice. Naturally, with a break, you will leave practice a few minutes later than without one.

7. Do not tolerate tardiness. If everyone knows what time practice starts, then everyone should be there at that time and ready to warm up. Of course, every once in awhile, we forget or wake up late or other circumstances come up. If a team member is constantly showing up late to practice, have a talk with her. If the behavior continues, then she is not committed enough to be a part of the team.

8. Take notes on performances. Rather than having the team perform and stopping them whenever you see a mistake, just take notes on the things you see. If a certain angle needs work, jot it down and discuss it later. It is usually a better idea to take several notes and tell everyone about their mistakes when the time permits. When members keep stopping in the middle of the routine to listen to your comments, they don’t build endurance.
9. Find a way to get to formations quickly. If you don’t have a planned way to get into formation, it can take a long time. Getting into formation usually takes a few minutes when you are unsure about what to do. If possible, place tape on the floor so you know exactly where to go and don’t have to space yourselves out manually each time. Make sure everyone knows exactly where to go when you say get into “so and so” formation. If someone is confused or doesn’t know where to go, she is wasting precious time. By getting to formations quickly, you can save plenty of time each practice.

Implement these and see how much time you can save!

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