We all know that a team that does not practice has a very small chance of playing well in the games as well as teams that practice poorly will likely play poorly. The goal is to change the culture of practice. Your team must understand that what you are doing at practice has direct impact on the game – deliberate practice. Soccer sometimes calls practice training and I like the change in focus. You train players both individually and to work as a team. This is not just repeating the same drills over and over with no purpose but a focused attention to train for improvement.
I always had a rule that you must dress as if it was a game at practice. Meaning that if you have to wear certain equipment in the game then you have to wear it in the games – it drives me nuts when I see soccer teams practicing without shin guards because players don’t like them. You have to wear them in the game so get used to them in practice. The same goes for jewelry. When I see football players wearing necklaces and such at practice that they would not wear in a game that proves their mind is not game focused. Everything you do at practice must get you better for the games otherwise why do it?
I once heard a coach say to his team if trash talking won football games then we would practice it. I love that line. It clearly shows that the only thing the coach is focused on is game preparation – if it does not help us to win then we will not do it at practice, and it shows just how meaningless trash talking is in the game outcome. The only way trash talking can impact a game is negatively for the trash talker – the officials could penalize the player and the team. As a result, if a coach allows trash talking or negative comments at practice then there is no chance for the players to suddenly turn it off for the game – in the heat of the moment the player will say something wrong.
Train your players to do the right thing the correct way all the time and you will not have to worry about game performance. The team may not win all the time, but you are sure they will play in way that is to be respected.