8 Essential Tips to Maximize your Training Time as a Floorball Coach/Trainer

Listed below are eight key tips to maximize your practice time as a trainer or coach in floorball.

Whether you train a small group or are the main coach of a bigger team, you can learn from these tips so you get the maximum out of every training session.

(Article picture by Per Wiklund)

1 – Preparation is key

As with most of the things in life, preparation is key. If you want to be consistent during the training, that means you have to make the habit to prepare.

Some pointers:

Use a practice form where you explain the execution of the drill, teaching points, and length of time. Keep your practice forms in a book or file them away.
If you have assistant coaches, they should know the drill sequence and teaching points. The head coach should outline who is responsible for teaching the drill to the team and where the coaches will be positioned once the drill begins.
Come to the field with energy and energize your staff and players. Players will feed off you, and these sessions are what they look forward to all week.

2 – Challenge your players

Keep the players moving throughout practice; activity is key. This will develop endurance and ensure that they’re making the best use of practice time by always working on skills.

Some other tips:

Have a set bank of practice drills to teach your system’s plays.
Repeat drills often, but change the focus or teaching points.
Constantly push the team for better execution.

3 – Challenge yourself

You expect the best from your players, right? Then make sure they can expect the best from you. You can do this by coming prepared to the practice, as described in tip 1.

But this isn’t enough, make sure you challenge yourself as a coach to come up with drills that are fun but that also work on key skills. Why don’t you look in your network to see if you can find more insights and coaching angles?

Perhaps check sites as Complex Floorball to check for interesting new concepts you can apply to your own training.

Did you know that we have been writing a lot of content that will benefit you as a coach and/or trainer? Some articles:

With just a small monthly donation you support FloorballToday and have access to all these articles (and we have just started, so expect way much more in the future.

You expect your players to challenge themselves. Lead by example and challenge yourself too. Never be satisfied and keep moving.

4 – Have a goal and communicate it

In regular school classes, it’s common practice to go through the material in advance so pupils know what is expected from them in that hour. And why would floorball practice be treated any differently?

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That means you have to have a goal with the training (block). Not only will this help you tremendously with organizing your own training but it will also be much easier for your players to see how this particular drill fits in the grand scheme of things you’d like to accomplish.

Having a clear goal also works as motivation, something the team or the player can work towards instead of mindlessly doing the one drill after another not being aware of the reason behind it.

5 – Provide practice rules

It’s easy to fall in the trap of not providing (more or less strict) practice rules to your players. But by doing so you risk leaving it all in the middle and open for interpretation. Yes, of course, it’s normal to be on time but do you expect your players to be warmed up? And if they are late, is there some punishment (or a “reward” for being on time consistently)? If they can’t make it to the training, how should they you notify you and when?

Inform the team that for everyone to benefit, the rules need to be adhered to.

One rule that can often speed up practice is “every time the whistle blows all players come in quickly to the coach and then after the next drill is described go to your specific area and get ready to go”

One extra tip: incorporate competitive challenges. Keep score during drills.

6 – Create a positive learning environment

Use positive talk and positive gestures and make sure your training is a place where people feel safe.

Talk to every player every practice. Even if it is about the movie they saw last night, you should never leave the training without having touched base with every player.
Provide feedback throughout practice. Try to do it constructively, and do not stop the drill. Get to the players while they are waiting in line. Bring the group together only for key points or messages.

7 – Have teaching aides available

If you train in a hall with other gym material, why don’t you use them to enhance your training?

Use ropes, tires, balls, chairs, and pylons to add to the practice environment.
Make sure a rink board is also available so that players can visualize what you’re explaining. Practice drawing the drills clearly.

8 – Conduct your warm-up and endurance training off the field

How often have we seen teams doing their warm-up inside the field taking up precious training time, while they could have perfectly done the warmup outside or in another area within the hall.

Field time is valuable, so as much as possible, stretch and warm up off the field as a group.

The same goes for endurance training.

Try to get a conditioning effect through keeping the practice moving and by the demands you make on effort throughout practice rather than stopping practice and forcing the players to do an endurance run. Sometimes it’s necessary but it is much better to work on conditioning and skill at the same time.

Do you have tips you’d like to share? Did you already follow one or more tips? Let us know in the comments or via Instagram of Facebook!

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