We are very excited to announce the launch of our latest feature: Practice Planning. This capability is immediately available to all of our Complete and Collegiate subscribers. This feature will help to simplify your practice planning!
“A goal without a plan is just a wish.”
The coach’s time is limited. This concept has been foundational to everything that we’ve built – allowing basketball and lacrosse coaches to maximize their time. Practice planning is the latest feature that emphasizes and simplifies how coaches use their time.
Our practice planning feature allows coaches to set time blocked schedules, reusing the play diagraming concepts core to Hoops Lab and Lacrosse Lab. This will help assistant coaches, players, and parents have a clear understanding of the expectations of that day’s practice. In addition, the functionality will help coaches stay on track while practice is in session by sending regular notifications through our Hoops Lab (iOS | Android) and Lacrosse Lab (iOS | Android) apps.
Here’s how it works:
Setting up your practice plan.
1. First, navigate to a practice event in your team schedule. In the practice event detail, navigate to PRACTICE PLAN and select the blue button ADD PRACTICE PLAN.
2. This is your primary practice plan building screen. Building out a practice plan uses “Time Blocks.” Each block requires a Name, Duration, and Detail. Within the details, you can reference your team playbook diagrams by selecting ADD DRILL OR PLAY and choosing a play from the list.
Select ADD TIME BLOCK to add more blocks to your practice. The total duration of the practice will be displayed in the top-right corner.
Finally, practice plans are always available to your coaches. To share this information with your players and their parents, there are two checkboxes at the top of the screen. The first makes the plan visible within the application. The second option includes the practice plan in the event reminder email scheduled for the day before the practice event.
Practice in-session.
Our favorite component of the Practice Plan feature is a live practice event. We hope to ensure that your practice stays on schedule. Using the time blocks of the practice plan, the app will send notifications to your coaches when a time block is coming to an end. Practice notifications are even delivered to your smartwatch – no need to look at your phone!
The app will automatically open the practice plan when a coach clicks the notification. This will show the progress in practice, descriptions of each practice event, and quick access to any drill or play diagrams highlighted in the plan.
Saving Practice Templates
Managing practice plans throughout the season can be tedious. With every practice plan created, you have the option to create Practice Templates. Templates are available for use throughout your season to easily apply a plan to an event.
To create a template, navigate to PRACTICE TEMPLATES. Next, select CREATE TEMPLATE. The template creation screen is very similar to the event-based practice plan screen. Finally, save your changes to complete your template.
Alternatively, you can create a template from a practice event that already has an existing practice plan. Just save the practice plan, and select SAVE AS TEMPLATE.
You can always reference an existing template from the Create Practice Plan screen by selecting, USE TEMPLATE. From there, make any minor adjustments required for a successful practice and click SAVE.
Practice planning made easy.
We will continue to bring you features that save time and make you a more productive coach. We are excited about how this will simplify your practice planning, keep you on schedule and show your organization to players and their parents.