PRACTICING AT NIGHT

[lovetocoach]

Read a study about how your body gets conditioned to perform at it's maximum potential at the same time that you work it out every day. It could be weight training, or it could be just mental activities. For example, in this study, the Group A subjects played basketball at the same time every day, (3:00 p.m.). The Group B subjects did the same thing, but at 7:00 p.m. After six weeks of this, the two groups played each other at 7:00 p.m. Group A was much more lethargic than the Group B team. Now, certain variables were considered...the overall condition of the people in the groups before the study could have been different, etc. But it poses a question. If we play our games at 7:30 every week, and we want our players at their maximum potential during the games, why are we practicing at 3:30? So, I guess that leads to my next question. If you were a head coach, and had permission to do so...would you practice at 7:00 p.m. instead of 3:30, or whenever you do now? Use the athletics period as a "skull session"...watch film, chalk talk, etc. Let the kids go home after school, do their homework, eat dinner, take a nap...whatever. Come back at 7:00-7:30 and practice until 9:00 or 9:30. I would like some serious, mature opinions on this topic, please. Thank you in advance.

[brophy]

theoretically, it makes sense - but the convenience factor plays a huge role in this.
Getting them right out of school, before they can get into trouble or find an excuse not to come to practice would be a serious challenge for a coach, also the logistics of a night practice with lighting and 'homework' and being so late.

The argument will always come back to: why not play the GAMES earlier or on Saturday?

Then you now are working the logistics of college games and/or 'spectators' work schedule.

[lovetocoach]

I kind of like the idea myself. Then your kids can make tutorials, and actually do their homework before practice. I was always dead tired after practice and just wanted to go to bed. This way...they can. Lighting might be a problem, but I have a way that could save the district thousands of dollars to pay for that. IF they don't come back to practice...they don't play.

[bigdaddyd]

lovetocoach said:

Read a study about how your body gets conditioned to perform at it's maximum potential at the same time that you work it out every day. It could be weight training, or it could be just mental activities. For example, in this study, the Group A subjects played basketball at the same time every day, (3:00 p.m.). The Group B subjects did the same thing, but at 7:00 p.m. After six weeks of this, the two groups played each other at 7:00 p.m. Group A was much more lethargic than the Group B team. Now, certain variables were considered...the overall condition of the people in the groups before the study could have been different, etc. But it poses a question. If we play our games at 7:30 every week, and we want our players at their maximum potential during the games, why are we practicing at 3:30? So, I guess that leads to my next question. If you were a head coach, and had permission to do so...would you practice at 7:00 p.m. instead of 3:30, or whenever you do now? Use the athletics period as a "skull session"...watch film, chalk talk, etc. Let the kids go home after school, do their homework, eat dinner, take a nap...whatever. Come back at 7:00-7:30 and practice until 9:00 or 9:30. I would like some serious, mature opinions on this topic, please. Thank you in advance.

Coach, you hit it on a nail... It makes perfect sense. In 2004 we had 5 night practices and it was the best five practices we had all year.
Unfortunately, the District and Principle put an end to it b/c the cost of electricity to run the lights. So, we stop doing it.
Funny thing is, the band was out there practicing at night as soon as we stopped?

[lovetocoach]

I believe that I have a good plan on how to save enough money to pay for the lights...they can just put that in my budget...I'll pay for it with the money saved by the district.

[Mav]

Do you have access to that study? I'd be interested in reading it.

[coachjd]

The first 3 weeks of the season we practice one night each week under the lights, so the kids can get aquainted with catching the ball etc.. under the lights. They are always 3 of our better practices of the pre-season.

[coachpeterson]

I think that practicing at night once a week during the season is a great idea. I think Tuesday is a good night to do it. There's several reasons I think it makes sense.

1. It breaks up the monotony of the week. It gives the players a break from practice every day after school so they can hang out with friends or whatever they want to do. It also gives the practice a different feel than practicing in the afternoon.

2. It gives the coaches a chance to meet before practice and put any neccessary touches on the game plan.

3. It gives the players an opportunity to get used to catching passes/punts/kickoffs under the lights.

4. It allows the players to get used to dealing with the damper conditions that happen at night later in the season. We had considerably more fumbles and players slipping in our games during the latter part of last season and I think not being used to the grass being a bit wet contributed to this.

5. Lastly, the study mentioned here. The old saying is "you practice how you play" so why not apply it to practice time?

In high school, we did Tuesday night practices and I think it worked well. We had a meeting at 5, on the practice field at 6 for warmups and fundys, then over to the game field for skelly and team under the lights. I think we varied it a bit from the beginning of the season to the end, since the time it got dark varied so much from August to October.

[phantom]

If only the game field is lit where will you do your fundamentals? If you have Field Turf night practices are fine but drilling will tear up a grass field.

[outlawzheadcoach]

I think that it is a great idea and makes sense. Hey lovetocoach, what would you do to save the district money for the extra electricity? Our bodies get used to our daily routines and perform at the same level of functioning until we change things.

[airman]

i know a guy who practices thursday, at night. they go through the who game.

this same guy has preseason practices at night as well.

gets them used to catching the ball in the evening.

[cc]

Has anyone tried the glow in the dark football???

If so what did you think of it?

[lovetocoach]

outlawzheadcoach said:

I think that it is a great idea and makes sense. Hey lovetocoach, what would you do to save the district money for the extra electricity? Our bodies get used to our daily routines and perform at the same level of functioning until we change things.

To save enough money to pay for all that electricity, I would stop the use of paper on the high school campus. In our district, it would save millions of dollars. You could issue laptop computers to every student in high school and it would be thousands of dollars cheaper than paper. Simply make all of your homework assignments web-based. They have to save their assignments on a drive in which you can reach them. No turning in papers. All tests are done on the computer...etc. It's already being done in a school in Arizona. I coached/taught classes at a college that was totally wireless and every kid had laptops. It was incredible how nice it was not having to mess with all that paper. If you absolutely had to have the paper, they could always print it out at their own house, or you could have print stations. I don't know about yall, but I spend at least 10 hours a week at the copy machine. I guarantee you, a wireless campus would save millions in the long run. Dell works great deals with schools. Heck, you could probably get a grant for it and get it free since it's cutting edge.

[lovetocoach]

mav said:

Do you have access to that study? I'd be interested in reading it.

Several studies prove this to be true...here are two that I found:

STUDY #1

www.hawaii.edu/hivandaids/Time%20of%20Day%20Effect%20on%20Athletic%20Performance.pdf#search='physical%20performance%20%20time%20of%20day'




STUDY #2

www.abcbodybuilding.com/magazine04/diurnal.htm

A particularly interesting study (33) came out of Stanford University's Sleep Disorders Clinic. They looked at 25 years worth of results from the National Football League for potential advantages of West Coast versus East Coast teams with the circadian rhythm being the chief control factor.

The scientists reviewed “Monday Nite” Football games, which have always begun at 9:00 p.m. Eastern Standard Time.

What they found was extremely remarkable. Smith noted that West Coast teams win considerably more often and by radically more points per game than East Coast teams.

· West Coast teams won 63.5% of games, while East Coast teams won only 36.5% of games.

· West Coast teams won by an average of 14.7 points per game, whereas East Coast teams won by an average of 9.0 points per game.

· West Coast teams won 59.3% of the home games through the years, while winning 71.0% of Monday Nite Football games.

· East Coast teams won 56.5% of their home games, but only 43.8% of Monday Nite Football home games.

Overall, West Coast team records are 4.4 percentage points better than East Coast team records since 1970. However, when West Coast teams play East Coast teams for Monday Nite Football, West Coast team records are 27.0 percentage points better than East Coast team records.

Jet lag was disregarded as a potential interfering control, as this effect should be virtually equal or to the advantage of an East Coast team traveling westward.

The study concluded this advantage probably relates to the fact that West Coast teams are competing closer to the time that they typically train each day.

This, among other research, exhibits that training at the same time daily, while perhaps impractical, is likely the most favorable.

It also demonstrates that when preparing for a contest, training times should be scheduled at approximately the same time as stage time is expected to occur.

[airman]

lovetocoach said:

outlawzheadcoach said:

I think that it is a great idea and makes sense. Hey lovetocoach, what would you do to save the district money for the extra electricity? Our bodies get used to our daily routines and perform at the same level of functioning until we change things.

To save enough money to pay for all that electricity, I would stop the use of paper on the high school campus. In our district, it would save millions of dollars. You could issue laptop computers to every student in high school and it would be thousands of dollars cheaper than paper. Simply make all of your homework assignments web-based. They have to save their assignments on a drive in which you can reach them. No turning in papers. All tests are done on the computer...etc. It's already being done in a school in Arizona. I coached/taught classes at a college that was totally wireless and every kid had laptops. It was incredible how nice it was not having to mess with all that paper. If you absolutely had to have the paper, they could always print it out at their own house, or you could have print stations. I don't know about yall, but I spend at least 10 hours a week at the copy machine. I guarantee you, a wireless campus would save millions in the long run. Dell works great deals with schools. Heck, you could probably get a grant for it and get it free since it's cutting edge.

it is done at the uw of wisconsin stout. cheating is also at a all time high. you can email the answers to your friends when you take tests.
same with cell phones and students text messaging the answers to their friends.

heck this makes the guys at army in 1951 look well, ahead of their time.


do you not have a district offset person? I just send it right on down to offset and they take care of me.

[lovetocoach]

We have people that are supposed to do that for you, but you're not guaranteed to get it back when you need it.

There are ways to prevent the cheating.

[Mav]

lovetocoach said:

outlawzheadcoach said:

I think that it is a great idea and makes sense. Hey lovetocoach, what would you do to save the district money for the extra electricity? Our bodies get used to our daily routines and perform at the same level of functioning until we change things.

To save enough money to pay for all that electricity, I would stop the use of paper on the high school campus. In our district, it would save millions of dollars. You could issue laptop computers to every student in high school and it would be thousands of dollars cheaper than paper. Simply make all of your homework assignments web-based. They have to save their assignments on a drive in which you can reach them. No turning in papers. All tests are done on the computer...etc. It's already being done in a school in Arizona. I coached/taught classes at a college that was totally wireless and every kid had laptops. It was incredible how nice it was not having to mess with all that paper. If you absolutely had to have the paper, they could always print it out at their own house, or you could have print stations. I don't know about yall, but I spend at least 10 hours a week at the copy machine. I guarantee you, a wireless campus would save millions in the long run. Dell works great deals with schools. Heck, you could probably get a grant for it and get it free since it's cutting edge.

It's a great idea. Honestly, the key statement is 'in the long run'. I've worked on software projects similar to this -- paperless office stuff. It takes years to roll out a project like this. You probably wouldn't get a 'return on investment' for several more years.

The toughest group to get to agree to this will probably be the teachers Hope no one takes offense, but as a group, I've been blown away by how many teachers are afraid of computers (in my area anyway). Seems in the business world everyone's was forced to use computers many years ago. Good luck with it.

[thurman]

A buddy of mine teaches at a school where you have to pay for all the paper you use.. Tests, handouts, anything!!.. I am not sure the exact price per sheet.. but it has caused him to do a whole lot of writing on the board and them copying it..

[Coach Huey]

i like having them write it down anyway. "see it, hear it, write it" principle of teaching.

i have several power points i put up on the big screen & they copy down the stuff. also, just draw it on the board. then follow up with video. then, of course, it's to the field for drill work on it

[aznando]

We practiced every wednesday night under the lights. It helped the recievers get accustomed to the balls flight with the glare of the lights, and the tempo of practice was just higher because it felt more game like. At the begining of the season we even used our PortoPhones to make calls during the team period. Practiced our substituion procedures ect. Also Special Teams practice was much better on the stadium field.

Aznando

[thurman]

Im talking about his classes though Huey.. Could you imagine having to pay 3-5 centers per page for 5 classes?

[coachpeterson]

phantom said:

If only the game field is lit where will you do your fundamentals? If you have Field Turf night practices are fine but drilling will tear up a grass field.

That's why we started practice early enough that it was still light out during the first half of practice so that we could do fundamentals on the practice field. I agree completely, with a grass field you don't want to be doing an excessive amount of things on it. But if the field is properly taken care of during the spring/summer it should be able to handle an extra hour or so a week on it.

[lovetocoach]

I like the idea a lot and I will begin to work on the wireless idea. I have a real good friend that works for Dell and graduated from the school in which I coach now...maybe he can hook me up.