2-a-day practice times

We will go from 3-8 each day for two-a-days. 2:15 for each practice with a 30 minute break in between. Although with the heat we've had in Michigan lately, we may have to start an hour later if it keeps up. We're not proving anything to anybody keeping our kids out in over 100 degree heat especially when our games kickoff at 7:00 during the season.

I don't see the point of separating your practices by 30 minutes. At that point you might as well go continuously and leave a half hour earlier. Any two a days I've ever had there was a couple hours between.

We have the worst system on Suffolk County of Long Island. We have a 10 - 5 rule. No practice after 10am and no practice before 5 pm. Makes thing tough to say the least.

I know some teams would start at 6am or 6;30am and go straight to 10am.

I scheduled in a short install period at 7:30-7:45 and on the field at 7:50 - 10:05 practice. We will have a 35 minute break in between and then on the field at 10:45 - 1:00. We will break half the team up to lift during the first break and half the team after the second practice twice a week. We can't fit all the kids in the weightroom at the same time. I will also use the half hour after practice to walk through things on the board with the QB's.

I have read two different studies couple decades apart in professional journals that said the longest one session should be is 2:30.

And you should have minimum three hours' rest-recovery time in between if you practice that long.

We practice from 9-11 am and 1-3 pm. From experience, any less than two hours in between would not be enough.

We don't start until 9 am because I can't stand getting Swamp Foot and having footballs wet rest of day from dew on grass.

Getting done by 3 pm allows players and coaches to still have big part of the day to themselves and more recovery time, unlike when we did traditional Two-a-days. Has done a lot for morale of both groups.

Some kids are even able to keep Summer Jobs for the month until school starts.

A highly-successful coach in our state who was in "Corn Country" (kids worked on farms and in detasseling) would practice from 8 am-Noon, 50 minutes on the field, ten minutes off at a time.

Worked very well for them, but it would seem too much like a four-hour practice to me.

We go 5pm-9pm. We run an hour and a half session then go inside for a 30 min break and come out for another 2 hour session. We are out in the desert and temps are up around 115 everyday so we have to go real early or later in the day when it's nice (nice = 95 to 100). Everyone like 5pm a lot more than 5 am so that's what we went with.

6:30-11 am.

6:30-8:30- this is our toughest of the two practices. Bulk of conditioning, agility stations, hitting, etc goes on in this practice. This is the tough one for the day.

8:30-9- Break- kids go across the street to get a Gatorade, talk, get off their feet.

9-9:30- Chalk talk/watch film, etc.

9:30-11- This is more team time stuff, special teams install. Slower paced. More mental/learning time.

Kids LOVE this schedule. Had one of my captains tell me that if we changed back he would punch me in the face. They love the fact that they're out before lunchtime. I always found that in a traditional 8-10am- 5-7pm schedule we didn't get crap out of the kids because they were sore, tired and didn't want to be there in the evening. With this schedule we get a TON more out of them in the second practice. Why? I don't really know but I'm not going to mess with it if it works.

Also, with our new coop we're going to be pulling kids from three different communities. For a traditional two a days set up transportation would be a nightmare.

Yes there is. The last part of practice when the sun goes down is always nice. Even during the season we practice from 5-7. Partly because it stays hot till October and primarily because many players have tutoring when school starts that does not end till 4:15.

To add on to what larrymoe said: Our kids love the one long practice with a break format too. One of the main things I hated as a player was finishing an evening practice then going right to bed and having to wake up early for another practice, it was like you had no time off. Then having to come back again the next evening you were shot. Doing one long practice gives the kids a little more time to recover in between sessions without sacrificing the amount of practice time

wow!

from NATA ---

1.During the first five days of the heat-acclimatization process, no more than one practice per day.
2.If a practice is interrupted by inclement weather or heat restrictions, the practice should recommence once conditions are deemed safe, but total practice time should not exceed three hours per day.
3.A one-hour maximum walk-through is permitted during the first five days of the heat-acclimatization period, with a three-hour recovery period between the practice and walk-through (or vice versa).
4.Helmets only during the first two days (no shoulder pads). Goalies, as in the case of field hockey and related sports, should not wear full protective gear or perform activities that would require protective equipment. During days three through five, only helmets and shoulder pads should be worn. Beginning on day six, all protective equipment may be worn and full contact drills may begin.
5.Beginning no earlier than the sixth day and continuing through the 14th day, double-practice days must be followed by a single-practice day. On single-practice days, one walk-through is permitted, but it must be separated from the practice by at least three hours of continuous rest. When a double-practice day is followed by a rest day, another double-practice day is permitted after the rest day.
6.On a double-practice day, neither practice's duration should exceed three hours total, and total practice time should be limited to a maximum of five total hours. Warm-up, stretching, cool-down, walkthrough, conditioning and weight-room activities are included as part of the practice time. The two practices should be separated by a break of at least three continuous hours in a cool environment.
7.Because the risk of exertional heat illnesses during the pre-season heat-acclimatization period is high, the consensus statement strongly recommends that an athletic trainer be on site before, during, and after all practices.

Heat stroke deaths on rise


Deaths of high school athletes from exertional heat stroke have been on the rise in recent years (at least five during the summer of 2011). The NATA's guidelines provide critical education for student athletes, parents, coaches, athletic trainers, medical professionals and school staff on ways to reduce the risk of heat illness.

We are almost exactly like the format that larrymoe described. We start a little later but we go the first two hours hard. get off the feet for an hour, and go for 75-90 minutes to finish.

We make the first session just like our hard in-season practices so that makes an easy transition to single practices.

We have done this for about seven years. Lot less toll on the body than the old double days.

I blame it on Air Conditioning and Video Games. Kids sit inside the house which is Air Conditioned and Play video games. Then they try to go outside and compete in the heat. I worked on farms during the summer. We baled hay in 90+ heat with 60 degree dew points. we drank plenty of water (and some beer on days end) and did not have problems.

With all the new rules on "heat acclimation" we cannot have 2 practices without having a 4 hour break inbetween. We are also not allowed to have 2 practices on consecutive days.

Makes things very difficult... We go 6-7 AM weights, 7-8 AM conditioning, meetings all day with 2 hour break, then practice at the normal afternoon time (4:00-6:30 PM). Playing 2 games before school starts always is tough for the 3rd game unless you get them in the habit of that all-day schedule.