Catie Ratkowski, Head Coach at Divine Savior Holy Angels High School, talks about creating purpose with each practice.
Ratkowski says everything done in practice must have a purpose behind it. This might be a long term goal, a short term goal, a strategy for an upcoming opponent or a certain skill that the team struggles with.
Another critical aspect of creating a purpose is making your team acutely aware of those goals: either write them on a whiteboard, send them in a group text, or have them posted in the locker room. The coach and the team should be on the same page about both long and short term goals.
Lastly, Ratkowski says that her practices always tackle individual skills first, and then apply those skills to game-like situations like scrimmaging.