Practice Is Everything

The following post is taken from Pete Carroll's book, Win Forever.  Coach Carroll was asked by the NFL to critique a young program that they were conducting, and I observed two different youth football practices one afternoon.  He said that the first practice was well organized and disciplined with appropriate drills setup.  He excepted to see the same at the next practice, but got a little surprise.  The following paragraphs are what he observed at the second practice.

We parked out of view of the field where the second practice was taking place, but from the moment I got out of the car, I could hear it: whistles, kids, and coaches, all sounding somewhat unlike the practice I'd come from.  Here there was something very different - it was the energy.  As i hurried around the corner and saw the levels of activity and emotion unfolding, I was able to see the energy and enthusiasm that I live for as a coach.  Despite the fact that both teams clearly had the same gear, the same facilities, and players of comparable ability, this practice and the one i had just come from were two utterly different experiences.  From the moment I got out of the car, I sensed this was going to be a better practice.

As I got closer, I could hear coaches speaking in Spanish and English, but the language didn't matter. The players could interpret the passion, energy, and excitement.  It was so clear to me that these coaches were the source of the difference, and it was just blew me away.  You could have put any group on the field with that staff and the results would have been the same.  Obvious passion and competitive desire to play football dominated the scene.

There I was, an NFL coach with many years of experience, and it was a youth program that made me realize how crucial the energy of the coaches was to create a great practice atmosphere.  It was so obvious that coaches were the factor that dictated and controlled the energy of practice.  It was there in the Bronx that I realized that coaches are ultimately responsible for maintaining a high level intensity for every practice session.   Once I realized it was our responsibility to establish the tone and energy of practice, I had a new found vision about how important it would be to motivate my next staff on a daily basis.  I learned that if you want to have great practice sessions, you have to prepare your staff to have great days.  The passion and the excitement that coaches bring to the field will transfer directly to the players and will allow you to create competitive practice environment, not to mention a fun one.  I declared forevermore that in my coaching career, we would practice with more energy and more excitement than anyone else in football.

http://www.amazon.com/Win-Forever-Live-Work-Champion/dp/1591844169

Carroll, Pete.  (2011).  Win Forever.  New York: The Penguin Group.