why two-a-days?

Tradition.


Anymore there is no "need" for 2-a-days.
We condition year-round, we install parts of the offense/defense in the summer....

And what you do in 2 practices can be done in 1 (slightly longer than normal) practice

Since we can't install anything until the first day of practice, nor can we force players to condition year-round (rules), we have double sessions.

Also, we need to record 5 practices before we can "hit," so it gets us to that point quicker relative to our fist game.

But, ultimately, it's about conditioning and the fact that there is a LOT of stuff to teach in football to get ready for that first game.

I also think it's an "everybody else dose it" kind of thing. If all of the other teams in the league are running double sessions, and we're not...where does that leave us?

Coaches

Lochness hit the nail on the head. When I coached in NYC it was all about the rules. In order to get things on schedule you had to practice 2 adays. The schedule for us usually was 3-5-3, this meant 3 practices in helmets only for conditioning( It also was no hitting even bags) Then 5 practices full equipment(not full contact), this was usually where we did our 2 a days. Then 3 practices full contact before you could scrimage. Typically after 2 adays we went to football camp for 7 days & had our first scrimage after camp. Depending on how the calander went we needed to go 2 adays in order to meet the schedule.

In Florida, we didn't need 2 adays because of year round conditioning & spring practice. So really it depends on what State you are in & what the rules are.

Joe

I've never been a part of "one long practice" as a player or coach where I felt like we got s^#! out of the second practice. Sure, you can get them out there. They can go through the motions. Hell, you might even have a period or two that is decent. Generally though, I don't believe you get much out of the kids. Just my opinion though, I'm sure others have had more success.

Back when I got in, football practice started here in our county a week before school started. Most of us had feeble conditioning programs in the summer then also.
Then our Jamboree (classics didn't exist either) was at the end of the 1st week of school followed by games.
You had to be ready to play in 2 weeks.

So, if you didn't have 2-a-days, we had one year of 3-a-days, then you couldn't possibly be ready.

However, now, we start practice a month before the "classic" and what Brophy said.
There is no need for 2-a-days anymore here, but guys do it anyway just for tradition and to prove how tough they are.

It's just not needed anymore since we have a month of practice.

If you platoon maybe there's not as much of a reason for 2-a-days. We have guys going both ways, can't practice until August, and don't have spring ball.

Why would baseball and basketball need 2-a-days? There's only so much that you need to learn in baseball and basketball practices every day anyway (sometimes there's no "Open Gym" on Memorial Day but that's about it).

Of course the simple answer as to why we have 2-a-days in football is because we can. It's summer. There's no school.

I really don't think Two-A-Days are necessarily in the collegiate setting, especially if you have spring ball and kids stay on campus during the summer (like 95% of DI schools do now a days). You can probably use that time to meet and study film and keep your S&C levels up to par.

For HS kids I think you might be able to get away without having them if two platooned your team and made good use of your 10 contact days (thats what we get in Ohio). Now, if you don't have the luxury of two platooning kids (for example we have 30ish 9-12) then you almost have to do get in your offense and defense because kids have to learn double.

I do think it would be feasible for HS to use a 2-1-2 setup that the NCAA mandated a few years ago.

To the original question. As other have said it is an age old tradition, so I am sure that is where alot of it comes from. But also, football may have as many unique skills to it that must be trained that you can't just do in an open gym, which takes alot of time. Sure, kids go out and play touch football but I really doubt my lineman are getting their buddies together to work reach blocks. So I have to spend alot of time on the skill and really teach it. A basketball team gets the advantage of having a full team session at any open gym they go to.

Disagree completely. One, college schemes tend to be more complicated, thus the need for more practice time. Two, the freshmen can't learn a thing until they are on campus. Coaches can't coach the guys coming in until camp starts (some do, but that's another story altogether). And we use the other time during the day to meet and study film.

I actually do 3 a days but I was told by my high school coach the primary reasons coaches had two a days is a morning practice and evening practice was heat and to keep them from running around at night. hard to party when you have practice from 6 pm to 9 pm and 7 am to 10 am.

I do 3 a days because we have 3 phases of the game of football. offense, defense and special team. it also tell parents the focus on special teams allows more backups to play special teams. we make special teams special. no starter plays both ways and very few play on special teams. we make special teams so special that during presason each teams gets 30 to 60 minutes practice. for example most years we have 10 guys who just are on ko team, 11 on kor, we even have a punt block team made up to special players this is where starter come into play.

At our school it is impossible to condition and install all year round (too small). We want our athletes to participate in sports in the winter and spring; we have to share our athletes or some programs would cease to exist. Summer conditioning and scheme install is difficult as we cant require kids to be at any practice/conditioning session (per state rules). Also, It takes about 4 weeks to get your kids ready(conditioning wise) for a game.

The longest session our state will allow is 3 hours. I also think that just the coordination of the special teams' rosters and plays requires several hours of extra practice time.

I`mjust wondering, where does the money come from for you guys to take kids off to camps, build outrageous stadia, have fieldhouses, practice fields, pay your assistants, never compete for the field with another sport, run a varsity, JV, freshman, have 7-on-7 stuff, etc. I know some of the coaches here don`t do some or any of this, but some places, in the south mostly, seem to have bottomless resources, and I was wondering where it came from.

My response to the parent would be that time is necessary because there are more positions to be filled on a football team than any other sport. More individualized placement means more evaluation and teaching must take place. In addition to conditioning, scheme...safety of how to contact correctly must also be taken into account. 2-a-days allow for more efficient teaching.

And to follow up an earlier comment about other sports not doing doubles...although we start a week or so earlier than all other fall sports, soccer (B & G), field hockey, volleyball and cross country all meet 2x a day before school starts.

I have worked hard at creating "three sides of the ball" and have had the community, players, admin, and coaches against this! What is the matter with these people? In a system such as this there are around "40 starters!" Eleven on offense, eleven on defense and 15 - 18 on special teams. I guess people are just fine if you have 50 kids with 14 - 18 starters in the whole program!?

As for the multi-practice days, we do two-a-days for five days to get the mandatory conditioning time taken care of, we are required to have five practices before we can put on pads.