In December, I wrote about how Deliberate Practice can enhance the drill structure of youth sport practices. In the midst of the article I conceded that practices that appear solely focused on skill acquisition can seem a lot less fun to both player and coach. I went on to promise to detail ideas aimed at enhancing the fun of Deliberate Practice drills. This month I plan to deliver on that promise and look at ways to make well thought-out drills which follow Deliberate Practice principles remain effective while also adding some fun.

Several years ago, Lockwood and Pearlman (2008) wrote a fantastic article suggesting how to enhance youth sport practices. They included the top four reasons kids play sports in the first place: (1) to have fun, (2) to be with friends, (3) to learn new skills, and (4) to be active (Coakley 2007; Ewing & Seefeldt 1996; Gould, Feltz, Horn, & Weiss 1982). Since we got drill efficacy out of the way in my last article, let’s take a look at what can make Deliberate Practice drills fun in your practices.

Breakthrough Basketball sells an ebook with 60 fun drills in it (60 Fun Basketball Drills and Games for Youth Coaches). I believe there are commonalities to the games that are featured in such books (you can find more than one if you look online) that you can apply to your drills and liven up your own practices. With a little thought and application of the principles I’ll lay out in this article you can come up with many of your own “fun drills”. In order to facilitate a “fun practice” filled with “fun drills” consider (1) challenging your athletes, (2) making drills similar to games situations, and (3) varying the “have to” – “want to” ratio.

This November I was asked to present at the New York State AHPERD conference in Verona, NY about Plyometrics and Agility Drills.  I provided a similar presentation last March for the Western Zone conference held at Canisius College and the dozen or so participants seemed to really enjoy hearing the information and participating in the activities.  This month, I decided that sharing the principles and practice from this presentation might also interest PHE America readers.

More than two decades ago Anders Ericsson wrote in an article titled The Role of Deliberate Practice in the Acquisition of Expert Performance that, “The view that merely engaging in a sufficient amount of practice, regardless of the structure of that practice, leads to maximal performance has a long and contested history.” It is my view that many coaches allow this concept to dominate their practices and diminish their most earnest attempts at improving the skill set of their players. The idea that players should get better simply by “putting in the reps” has driven one hard whistling coach after another to force unrelated and disconnected drills on players since before I started playing. The purpose of my presentation, and Ericson’s article, is to enlighten coaches about what drills to consider keeping and dropping in the face of Deliberate Practice principles. Ericsson persisted further in his article:

In contrast to play, deliberate practice is a highly structured activity, the explicit goal of which is to improve performance. Specific tasks are invented to overcome weaknesses, and performance is carefully monitored to provide cues for ways to improve it further. We claim that deliberate practice requires effort and is not inherently enjoyable. Individuals are motivated to practice because practice improves performance. In addition, engaging in deliberate practice generates no immediate monetary rewards and generates costs associated with access to teachers and training environments. Thus, an understanding of the long-term consequences of deliberate practice is important.¹

Imagery is a psychological performance enhancement technique that allows you to use your senses to “recreate previous positive experiences or picture new events to prepare yourself mentally for performance” (Weinberg & Gould, 2011, p. 294). This technique can help athletes learn new physical and/or mental skills and strategies or improve upon previously attained ones. In addition, it can help an athlete improve self-confidence levels. Research indicates that imagery is a commonly used performance enhancement strategy by successful athletes (Vealey & Greenleaf, 2010). For example, golfer Jack Nicklaus discussed the use and impact of imagery on his preparation for success when he shared:

Before every shot I go to the movies inside my head. Here is what I see. First, I see the ball where I want it to finish, nice and white and sitting up high on the bright green grass. Then, I see the ball going there; its path and trajectory and even its behavior on landing. The next scene shows me making the kind of swing that will turn the previous image into reality. These home movies are a key to my concentration and to my positive approach to every shot (Weinberg & Gould, 2011, p. 293).

Creating effective imagery takes time and effort. Below is a list of five recommended strategies to consider: