Two A Days Questions

Submitted by Jill on

I would like to hear your thoughts on how Two-A-Days should run. OUr school schedules one long practice from 3pm - 9pm. They take a 1 hour break in the middle to eat dinner and watch game tapes. Essentially, they only get 5 hours a day instead of 6.

My thoughts: A morning and evening practice make sense to me. The player has a better chance to recover muscle fatique and they get more practice time because they don't stop for a dinner break. 3 hours in the morning, rest, 3 hours in the evening, I've read that players are more susceptible to injury with one long practice, but I'm having trouble finding info on the net to support my views. Any input would be greatly appreciated! Thanks!

SFBayAreaBlue

July 28th, 2008 at 8:36 AM ^

when I was in HS we had a morning practice, lunch break, then team meetings and chalk talk before the afternoon practice. i think it was 9-12, then meetings at 1pm and back on the field 2-5. But that was nearly 20 years ago.

ts

July 28th, 2008 at 8:45 AM ^

Allowing them to rest during the hottest part of the day is a terrible idea. That is precisely the time that they should be puking in their helmets. Also letting them drink water will make them weak so get a hose and poke little nail holes in it but never let them actually drink the water. Remember, heat stroke builds character. Hope this helps.

MaizeAndBlueWahoo

July 28th, 2008 at 10:01 AM ^

When I was a HS swimmer our coach put us through two-a-days over Xmas break. We had between four and five hours total - each practice approached two and a half hours. Swim practices are almost pure conditioning. We had, I think, three hours in between and we'd come into the second practice just dragging ass. There was just enough rest in between to let us swim well for about 30-45 minutes and then bam, we hit the wall. (Figuratively.) I think we might have done better with one longer practice and I think our coach felt that way too because we only did that one year. Point being I think it might be better mentally and physically to have one long period of focusing on football, rather than just settling into relax mode before having to extract yourself from the couch and do it again.

dex

July 28th, 2008 at 10:51 AM ^

We did both variations during HS, and I preferred one long session - we went from like 7 AM to 1 PM or something and then done. That was better for my concentration and morale than getting up for practice at 8AM, staying till 12, leaving, and coming back for 4-8. Football practice inevitably runs longer than coaches intend, so I'd rather have it all in one swoop and maybe not leave until 2, instead of the morning session dragging till 1 and the evening session dragging till 9.