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| Columns & Departments:
Coaching |
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"Okay, two more circuits
of this painful training exercise and then
you get to scrimmage for a few minutes as a reward."
Have you heard that
at practice? Or perhaps:
"Anyone know what else we can
do to practice? No?
Oh well, let's just scrimmage again."
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| Most often scrimmages are used as a reward, or a fall-back
plan when no one has any other drill ideas. Scrimmages should
be as valuable a training tool as any other part of practice.
The most important thing in any scrimmage is to have a focus
or theme. Everyone must know that there are one or two things
that they're trying to work on. It may be trying to defend
against break mark throws, or it may be working on slowing
down on transition to establish an offensive set. The skill
being worked on is up to the coach or team, but everyone needs
to know about it and be consciously working on that area.
Alternating between drilling and focused scrimmaging every
20 minutes in the middle of a practice after working on a
new skill will help enforce the development. Even if there
is no new skill being developed, it is necessary to pick at
least one thing for everyone to pay attention to during a
scrimmage.
Monotony is a curse of scrimmages; players become lazy playing
the same squad continually. Variations are a great way to
keep the interest and intensity up. Here are a few variations
you can try to enliven practice.
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This scrimmage works great for small practices with
few players. Three players per team, at least three
teams. It's meant to teach about throwing to open space,
or green space. Play full field, but limit the throws
to only 25 yards.
Variations
-No stoppage of play after a score. The team that scored
keeps possession and heads the other direction up field,
while the defenders sub out on the fly. The focus of
the defenders coming on is to slow down the fast break
offense by working as a group to cut off the most dangerous
passes first. This keeps the sidelines involved too,
as they have to run up and down the sidelines and run
on when a point is scored (much like a reverse SubZero
score…).
-Defensive substitutions on every turn over.
-Kings Court: Regular stoppage and pull after a score,
but the team that scores remains on the field while
the team on defense subs off. [Kings Court Scoring:
A point is awarded for every consecutive score by a
team. They have to get on the field and score, and then
score the next goal before a point is awarded. Points
are awarded for every goal until they are knocked off
the field again. Games to three.]
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The focus of this scrimmage is to get people to throw
100% throws, and pay attention to the catches. It also
improves players' abilities to react to and take advantage
of fast break situations. It can be run in any player
permutations. If you turn the disc over, you have to
immediately drop and do 10 sit-ups or push-ups, or whatever
'punishment' your team deems appropriate. The team taking
over on offense has a chance to take advantage of a
fast break while the player is serving their sentence.
(Note: Assigning an observer to make the quick decision
as to who caused the turn over (throw away or drop)
is a good idea for some teams.)
Variations
Substitution on the fly for the player who turned the
disc over. Add the push-ups or sit-ups on the sideline
to really rub in the error.
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Take extra time on the line between points to discuss
what worked and what didn't in the previous play.
Have unlimited 'freeze' time-outs for the person with
the disc or the mark so that the on field players can
look at positioning and discuss the merits/faults of
what's developing.
Have a coach or player on the sidelines 'freeze' play
when they see a good or bad example of your focus play
developing so it can be discussed. Use a whistle if
necessary.
– Ed.
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