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1. Description of Practice Session:

 List the date, time, coach, team and school you have selected to observe. What is your relationship

with this team or coach?

i. The practice that was observed was the University of Northern Colorado and their football

team. The Coach that was observed specifically was their head coach, Coach C. The

practice was on Tuesday March, 26th 2019 at 8 am. Coach C is someone that I have been

associated with outside of athletics.

 Did the head coach utilize a practice plan for the observed session?

i. Yes, the plan was separated by offense and defense and followed the same format for

each. I was focusing on the defensive plan as Coach C tends to help more with the DBs at

practice.

 Was it in writing?

i. Yes, it was typed out and organized very well.

 Did he/she use specific times for specific objectives?

i. There was only one real “objective” was when they ran situations. This was when they got

together as a team (offense and defense) and ran game like situations on third down. The

objective here was to be able to know what to do in a given situation during the games.

 Obtain a copy of the written practice plan and include with your paper.

2. Did your coach use or outline any practice objectives for the observed session. If yes, what were they?

And if no, what practice objectives might he/she have used?

 There was no clear objective when watching the practice and there was no real objective written in

on the practice plan. There was; however, situations that they would run and practice different game

situations. They could have made the objectives for the drills to be maintain crisp and clean drill as

they were ones that they seem to have been doing for since the start of spring ball. They could have

had the objective of being perfect and no mistakes on things they all know how to do, although that

is not a true objective, it is still something to give the athletes to work towards rather than have them

just run through the drills.

3. Description of demonstrations:

 Describe any skills that were presented or represented skill correction during the observed practice.
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i. Throughout the practice while watching Coach C, there were not to many times where he

was the one that would be the one demonstrating the skill or the drill that the players we

about to do.

 Describe the demonstration.

i. The demonstrations that took place were mostly from the position coaches and they even

did very little demonstrating to the athletes. If they did it was very brief and right to the point

about what to do.

 Was there an introduction, and what was it?

i. There did not seem to be any introduction of any of the drills that were done, all the athletes

seemed to know what they were doing. There was quick intros to some drills and activities

but those intros were more of going over what personnel they needed for that particular drill.

 Was there an explanation of the skill, and what was it?

 Did the coach relate the skill to any transfer of learning/previous learning?

i. Most of the practice seem to be this was, this was a spring ball practice and all of the

athletes were on the team last year, and all the drills they all seem comfortable with and

able to understand the concept of them. The athletes and coaches seem to all have the

understanding that everything they were doing was building off last year’s season to get

better for the upcoming year.

 Did the coach identify any relevant cues?

i. It was hard to hear specific cues that they were using during the drills but when it came to

more team activities, it was easier to hear Coach C jumped in and yelled some cues to the

DBs. There were things like “get over the top”, “use your eyes”, “Feet, Feet, Feet”, and last

one that he said the most was “Be quick”.

 Who demonstrated the skill?

i. Again watching mostly the head coach, there was not a whole lot of demonstrating out of

him, it was mostly the position coaches that were the ones to do the demonstrating. And

Coach C would sometimes step in, if there were athletes that still didn’t get it.

4. Summarize with an evaluation of the practice session.

 Was it organized?

i. Yes, the overall practice was well organized. There were student workers that were running

the clock and transitioned the players from drill to drill with a mega phone. The practice was
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set up prior to the team starting. And all the coaches knew what was going on and when

things were supposed to happen.

 Did the coach use a written plan?

i. Yes. There was a written practice plan for both offense and defense. Each was will written

out and was very easy to read. There are things on the plan that someone without prior

knowledge wouldn’t know anything about or what it says.

 Were the athletes attentive?

i. Majority of the practice all the athletes were attentive and knew what to do and what was

going on. There were times when some athletes had down time when there were doing

some drills, but even during that time they were still connected to what was going on at

practice. It was not that the players had “down time” they were just not participating in the

rotation that they had for the drills. All the athletes seem to be able to hear the coaches and

were understanding the ask of each drill.

 How much time was spent on learning new skills?

i. There did not seem to be any time learning any new specific skills during the practice, it

was more improving on previously taught skills. There was; however, a time where they

learn new tactics during certain situations.

 How much time was allotted for practice?

i. There was 2 hours and 5 minutes allotted for practice.

 Were skills practiced under conditions similar to game or competition conditions?

i. There was a point in the practice that was used to run game time situations and game like

scenarios. All the drills that each position player did seemed to know what the drill was and

they all treated the drill as a game like situation and not just a drill. They all ran a full speed

and gave complete effort in each drill and practice activity they did.

 How and what would you change to improve on this practice session?

i. Form an outside perspective, there was a whole lot that comes to mind that needs to

change, this was a smooth spring ball practice. The only thing that I would have changed,

and this is from personal opinion, is the intensity. Have the players go harder during the

allotted practice.