Gym time is an expensive and precious commodity. It must be used wisely. Coaches must be punctual in starting practice and the activities within the practice must be planned and executed precisely to optimize the number of meaningful touches for their players.
Consider the example of a coach who spends an average of 20% of the practice time in activities where balls are not being touched (court setup, warm-ups, discussions, lectures, water breaks, dealing with injured players, and cool-downs.) That would mean that 24 minutes of each practice were allocated to those activities and 96 minutes were spent in activities that might directly improve a player’s skills (drills and playing).
If a player had 2.5 touches per minute of touch time that would mean she would get 240 touches during a single practice. That would be 17,280 touches during a season (17,280= 240 times 72 practices; 72 practices = 3 times per week for 24 weeks). This is highlighted in the table on the right.
If, on average, 30% of the practice time was spent in non-volleyball related activities then the player would get 210 touches per practice or 15,120 touches for the season. This is also highlighted in the table on the right.
The difference between these two scenarios is 2,160 touches over the course of the season.
17,280 touches minus 15,120 touches = 2,160 touches.
At a rate of 240 player touches per practice, that number of touches is equivalent to 9 practice sessions.
As can be seen, an extra 5 to 10 minutes adds up over the course of a season.
|
Percent of Time in Discussions |
Practice Minutes |
Drill Time Less Discussions |
Player Touches Per Minute Touch Time |
Player Touches Per Practice Touch Time |
Player Touches per Season 72 Practices |
|
|
10% |
120 |
108 |
2.5 |
270 |
19,440 |
|
|
15% |
120 |
102 |
2.5 |
255 |
18,360 |
|
|
20% |
120 |
96 |
2.5 |
240 |
17,280 |
|
|
25% |
120 |
90 |
2.5 |
225 |
16,200 |
|
|
30% |
120 |
84 |
2.5 |
210 |
15,120 |
|
|
35% |
120 |
78 |
2.5 |
195 |
14,040 |
|
|
40% |
120 |
72 |
2.5 |
180 |
12,960 |
|