How to Build a Rainy-Day Football Practice Plan

Pick The Work You Can Actually Get Done

Don't try to squeeze your entire field practice into a gym or classroom. Look at what you had planned and pull out the teaching that still makes sense indoors.

Maybe your linemen are unsure who they're working to against a different front. Maybe your receivers know the routes but keep lining up wrong. Maybe the defense needs another look at its checks against motion.

Pick a couple of those problems and build the session around them. You don't need to install three new plays just because you have a board and everybody is sitting in front of you.

Keep the field work on your list for the next practice. Talking through a block helps a player understand it, but he still needs to go execute it.

Make The Players Do Some Of The Talking

It's easy for an indoor practice to turn into a long coaches' meeting with players watching.

Draw up a play, explain every assignment, ask “Everybody got it?” and you'll probably get a room full of nods. That doesn't tell you much.

Put a formation or defensive front on the board and ask a player to work through his job:

• Where do you line up?
• What's your assignment on this call?
• What are you looking at before the snap?
• If that defender moves, does anything change for you?

Then ask somebody else. Get the backups involved too. If the same two kids answer everything, you still don't know what the rest of the group understands.

When a player gets stuck, coach him through it. Draw it again, change the look and let him try another one. The point is to find the confusion while you have time to explain it.

Use The Space You Have

If you're in a classroom, lean on diagrams, film and position meetings. You can work through a lot of assignment questions without anybody leaving a chair.

If you have room for a walk-through, use it to work on alignment, shifts, motion and communication. Call the play, get everybody lined up and have players explain where they're going. Change the defensive look and do it again.

You don't need a full team setup for every correction. An offensive line coach can draw a front and have each lineman mark his assignment. A receiver coach can call a formation and ask players to draw where they line up. A defensive coach can show a motion and ask who makes the check.

Choose the setup that helps you teach the problem. There's no reason to force a station rotation if keeping position groups together works better.

Keep Film Short And Give It A Purpose

If you're using film, pick the clips before practice. Don't spend half the session searching for the play you wanted to show.

A few clips with a clear question give you something to coach. Pause before the snap and ask what the player sees. Let him explain his assignment, then play the clip and talk through what happened.

Show a good rep too. Players need to see what you're asking for, not just hear about everything that went wrong.

I would rather spend ten minutes working through a handful of useful clips than fill the hour by watching a game nobody is really discussing.

A Simple 45-Minute Indoor Practice

Here's one way I'd lay it out with a team in a classroom or meeting space. For this example, the offense needs work on formations and blocking assignments. Change the football to fit what your team needs.

• First 5 minutes — set the focus. Tell the players exactly what you're working on: lining up correctly and knowing who they have on the core run plays. Put the calls you'll use on the board.
• Next 10 minutes — work through a few clips. Show a formation mistake, a missed assignment and a good rep. Ask players to explain what they see before you give them the answer.
• Next 15 minutes — break into position groups. The line works through blocking assignments against two fronts. Backs review their alignment, path and responsibility. Receivers review formations, splits and blocking jobs. Give each assistant the calls ahead of time so everybody is teaching the same plays.
• Next 10 minutes — put it together. Bring the team back together. Call a formation and play, then have players explain their jobs across the offense. Use the board or a walk-through, depending on the space. Include the second group.
• Last 5 minutes — check it again. Go back to the looks that caused trouble. Ask different players to answer this time. Write down what still needs work when you return to the field.

That's 45 minutes with a reason for every period. The position-group block includes the time to split up and come back together.

If you only have two coaches, combine groups where it makes sense. If one coach is handling the session, stay together and work through each group's responsibilities in turn. Use the plan as a starting point, not something you have to follow to the minute.

The football practice script template gives you a simple way to write out those periods.

Give Your Assistants Something Specific To Coach

“We'll figure something out inside” isn't much of a plan for your staff.

Send them the revised schedule and tell each coach which plays or situations to cover. Include the looks you want drawn up and the mistakes you want corrected.

That can be as simple as: “We've got 15 minutes with the line. Work inside zone against these two fronts. Have each kid identify his assignment, then change the front and check it again.”

Now that coach knows what to prepare. You also avoid having three groups spend their time on three unrelated things.

If that part of practice is already a struggle, take a look at keeping assistant coaches organized.

Don't Stretch It Out Just To Fill Time

Losing field time doesn't mean you need to replace every minute with a meeting or conditioning.

If you have 45 minutes of useful work, plan 45 minutes. Keep the explanations short, ask questions and move on when the group has it.

Before you finish, make yourself a short list:

• What did the players understand by the end?
• Which assignments still caused confusion?
• What do we need to rep first when we're back outside?

Save the indoor plan after you clean it up. The next time you lose the field, you'll have something to adjust instead of starting over.

You won't get every rep you wanted on a rainy day. But you can get players back on the field with a better understanding of what they're supposed to do.

About Coach Bill Fountain

Coach Bill has served as a youth football head coach and offensive coordinator and continues coaching strength & conditioning and speed & agility. His resources help coaches plan practices, prepare their staff and spend more time coaching.