PRACTICING AT NIGHT

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.

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?

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

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.

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.

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

If so what did you think of 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.

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.

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..

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

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.