I was never a "drill" person

I had a phone call with a former player this past week. She was wondering about some of the drills we used to do during practice and she was a little frustrated that she could only remember two. I laughed and said, "That's cause we usually didn't do drills. We just worked on whatever we needed to work on." Sometimes that might be a drill. Our serve and pass prior to matches and on game day were always the same. If I tried to do anything different, it either turned out awful or they just got mad at me.

I never went to the convention to "find drills" as I would hear plenty of coaches say. I always went to learn how to be a better coach. Would I find ways to teach, train, coach that were different then what I was doing before? Sure. Did some of those things involve some new drills or games? Of course! But I never thought that just plugging and chugging a certain drill here or there would make us better.

I follow several coaching groups on FB and the last week or so it's been filled with "what are your best drills for..." or "I need a drill to help my athletes to "this" better..." My philosophy on this, I thought was rather simple:

1) Do what you need to do in order to get better

2) Do those things consistently

What your team needs to do in order to get better is almost always going to look differently than what my team needs to do in order to get better. Coaching is not a copy/paste system. Each team is different so be careful NOT to treat them all the same.

But what do you know Jason? You aren't coaching anymore.

Fair point. My teams notoriously did bad in the preseason. My AD always told me that was because I was a terrible coach. But then again I thought the point was to peak at the end of the season...during the playoffs. The rewards you get for playing well in the preseason are about as real as the rewards you get for playing games on your phone. I mean, what's the point of going undefeated all season and then losing in the championship game? (Right, Patriots fans?) Getting better is the point. If you aren't doing things that are going to help you improve over time or in those moments where winning ACTUALLY matters, then what's the point of doing them? We all, as coaches, have to figure out what works best for our athletes, where we are trying to go (goals) and focus on getting there. Drills don't get you there. Doing the things necessary to meet the goals and expectations that you and your players have get you there.

Going from 12th to 3rd is the point. Training your athletes to be better is the point.

You have the tools to be a great coach. You don't need another drill, you just need to trust yourself, try...fail, then be there the next day to support your athletes and try to make them better. No "drill" is going to do that for you.