Practice days

Coach I,
We are a fairly small, private school (300 9-12). We started the program 3 years ago and follow the Monday-Friday schedule you mentioned. We meet as coaches over the weekend but we do not see our kids until Monday morning. Our varsity is grades 10-12 with about 40 players and our 9th graders are on our JV. I would love to bring them in on Sat. and review the film from Friday night. I honestly would hate to see how many I would actually have show up on Sat. and how I would have to punish those that did not come. Parents would present a problem with this also.

We go in full pads on Mondays, but it is really a conditioning and teaching day. We will form tackle and purse, a bunch. Our players lift during their free time during the day. We review the things we have to improve on from the previous game and look ahead to our next game. We introduce the thing that we feel can be successful against our next opponent. We also do a good bit of fundamental work with a lot of 7 on 7 for our offense. We use our kick off and punt coverages as a portion of our conditioning.

Tuesday/Wed. These are our heavy practice days. One day will be offensive emphasis the other will be defensive emphasis. The emhasis of the day get 90 minutes of practice time with the other getting 30 minutes. Throw in 20 minutes of special teams and these are pretty full days.

Thursday is a review day. Generally we will be in shorts and helmets. We will review all special teams. Review all defensive adjustments and go through our offensive situations from various field positions. This generally last about 90 minutes. We also play our middle school and JV games on Thursday.

Friday is typically game day. Occationally we will have to play on Sat.

This seems to have worked for us. This is definitely not how it was done when I played but I feel it works for our situation. Our players, and team as a whole, have improved greatly using this plan. We finished 8-2 in our third year of varsity play.

Hope this helps! I would love to hear other ideas on this subject.

Coach I
We practice very similar to what you talk about except that we go Helmets and shorts on Monday and Full gear on Tuesday and Wednesday. For years we practiced one side of the ball on Monday and the other side on Tuesday with the appropriate kicking game on each day. In the past few years we have practiced both Offense and Defense every day. Since you stated that you have done both, which have you preferred and why?
My observations of doing both as opposed to one side only on Monday and Tuesday:
Plus Side--There are things especially for option teams that need to be practiced every day such as reads, perimeter coordination etc. Defensively, I have always felt that we can't see the opponents plays, blocking schemes too many times so by seeing it daily it sticks. Short periods for kids with short attention spans can be helpful.
Negative side--Many times I feel that practice is rushed and we can't devote quite as much time to something as we may like--we can pick it up the next day but sometimes its different.
Any opinions anyone may have on this would be appreciated.

Coach, this is our weekly plan for a Friday game.

Monday- Shorts and shoulder pads. Weightlifting- Day 1 (BFS).
Special teams, offensive and defensive walkthrough.

Tuesday- Full pads. Offensive practice. 70 min. individual/70 min. team.

Wednesday- Full pads. Defensive practice. 70 min. individual/70 min. team.

Thursday- Shorts and shoulder pads. Weightlifting- Day 2 (BFS). Pre-game "Play the Script" (We follow Coach Campbell's play the script).

Friday- GAMEDAY

Saturday- Gym clothes. Weightlifting- Day 3 (BFS). Lift and go home.

We do not believe in watching films with the kids. Now, I will start a thread asking how coaches watch films with the kids. Thanks Coach and I hope this helps.

Lou Cella