I have been asked by coaches to show a sample practice plan, so I have included three below... (1) first practice of the season, (2) a mid-season practice, and (3) a tournament-time practice.

Now these are just examples. We will vary the drills and skills, and the team skills from practice to practice. Certain skills should be practiced every practice, such as the ball-handling and dribbling drills, and shooting drills. Depending on your schedule, the amount of practice time you have and what your specific team needs are, you vary your drills.

A rough rule of thumb for high school teams is to spend about half the time on individual fundamentals and half the time on team skills. If you are working with younger kids, you would slant this more toward fundamental skills.

When teaching a new offense, defense, plays, press offense, press defense, and other team skills, select your drills and teach by progression. See "Teaching Basketball by Progression".

You must plan each practice. John Wooden has said he and his assistants often would spend more time planning a practice than the actual practice itself lasted. Keep a loose-leaf notebook of each of your practices that you can refer back to. After each drill or after practice, you can scribble additional notes on your practice plan from that day.. things that you have learned, or things that you feel need special emphasis.

Don't just come to the gym each day without a plan and think you can just "wing it". You have to plan for success and plan your practices just like a teacher creates a lesson plan for his/her English or math class. Your practice should be like a classroom and you are the teacher.