We Training or Nah?

Practice A:

The coach sees the low energy and snaps - "Everyone on the line!"

The team runs up-and-backs for six minutes.

Players are bent over, hands on knees, gasping for air.

Then the coach restarts the drill - "That showed 'em. Now they'll try harder."

It looks a bit sharper for a few minutes because no one wants to run again...

But by the end of practice, energy is flat again...

And everyone walks out of the gym dreading the next practice.

Practice B:

The coach sees the same low energy and makes a different call.

They pull out one of the team's favorite fast-paced games.

And within 90 seconds, the gym is loud.

Players are sprinting the floor, celebrating stops, hyping each other up...

All the energy that was missing 5 minutes ago is suddenly everywhere.

After two quick games, the coach flows straight back into the practice plan, and the intensity carries over into the next drill.

The lesson?

Both coaches responded to the same problem... low energy.

Both coaches wanted the same thing... intensity back in the gym.

Coach A treated it as a discipline issue and reached for a punishment.

While Coach B understood that energy dips happen to every team over a long season... so instead of fighting it with pointless running, they reached for a spark that brought the effort back within minutes.

Here's the thing...

Nowadays, *most* coaches walk into the gym with a practice plan.

But very few coaches have a plan for when practice doesn't go to plan.