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A great framework for planning your season.

The Canadian Prairies are home to some wild weather swings. Our seasons change on a dime. Last week it was summer. I was going to work in shorts. This morning it was below zero (celsius) and people were giving grim warnings about winter coming.

This man takes winter's arrival very seriously.

I will certainly miss the warm weather, and my golf course but I am pretty pumped about winters imminent arrival.

Winter means basketball season is coming and that gets me fired up.

I have a great group of kids coming back this season who I love working with. I am hoping we retained knowledge and can pick up where we left off last season. I think we are primed for a good season.

I have a little more than a month to make sure everything is planned and ready to go.

One area of planing that I have really leaned into over the last five years is my season plan

My plan is comprehenive, it includes tactical plans, skill goals, fitness, team culture, and mental performance plans. It guides all of our work from a week-to-week perspective.

It makes weekly and daily practice planning much more effective and efficient.

I have embraced Tactical Periodizaion to build my season plan.

Several years ago I read Brian McCormick’s book 21st Century Basketball Practice (which I highly recommend).

In the book, he discusses a concept of season planning called tactical periodization which has been utilized in European soccer by managers like Pep Guardiola & Jose Mourhino. Eddie Jones also brought the strategy into Rugby during his tenure with Australia & England.

It is a matter of time before it crosses over into all other invasion sports.

After reading McCormick’s book I started to explore tactical periodization and saw how perfectly it aligned with the sport of basketball.

Here is a great video that provides an excellent overview of tactical periodization.

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Tactical periodization is a comprehensive holistic plan that guides all of the work that we do as a team.

All drills from skill development to tactical training to physical preparation should directly relate to the four phases of the game. The four phases are similar in all invasion sports. Here they are more specifically for basketball:

• Defensive Transition
• Half Court Defense (half-court D in basketball)
• Offensive Transition (Fast break)
• Offense (half-court O).

All of this is outlined in a detailed game model which is the starting point of the plan.

There is also a focus on the physical build-up and practice intensity should be aligned with the competition schedule. The goal is to avoidpeaks and valleys which occur in a traditional periodization model.

I want my team playing their best in March when the games matter the most.

Creating the Game Model

The first step is to outline how I want my team to handle the four phases of the game in great detail.

For instance, in the Offensive transition section, it covers the fast break we will run.

What triggers a fast break & the desired shot, also what signals that the possession has moved into the half-court offense?

What is the desired shot I want my team to create? The game model is the most important part of the plan as everything flows from it.

Tactical plans

When preparing my season plan I take a look at our competition schedule.

It is vital we are install the systems included in the game model throughout the season. This allows for plenty of time to master their execution prior to games that really matter in March.

At the same time, I want to avoid overloading athletes and allow them to practice and understand our plays and systems.

Some years I have to alter what I hope to install over the course of the year to accommodate the pace at which we are learning.

Skill Development Schedule

I map out the progressions and targets from a skill development standpoint. All of the skill development relates to the four areas of the game model.

What skills are required for our game model to be successful?

For my team this year this will involve a lot of shooting. Mondays are an easier day from a physical and cognitive standpoint so we will shoot A LOT.

Weekly practice schedule

The weekly practice template is also based around our competition schedule.

Generally, my team plays Friday & Saturday every week. So we follow a similar structure each week in terms of the physical demands of practice.

Sundays are our off day, Mondays are an active recovery day, so we do not engage in much full court work. Tuesday and Wednesday are heavy days and Thursday is a lighter day as we prepare for competition on the weekend. The intensity level also includes paying attention to cognitive demands. On Monday athletes are going to be tired and their ability to learn may not be as high so I tend to avoid installing new things on Mondays.

Here is a sample training schedule from a pro soccer team in Europe.

We adjust this schedule on weeks when we play a game midweek.

Daily Practice

In a tactical periodization system practice should reflect games.

Practices should be similar in length to an actual game. For my team, this means that our practice including dynamic & active warmup is usually around 100 minutes. As much of the activity as possible is competitive and directly related to the game model.

We use a lot of decision-making drills and small-sided games. The philosophy of tactical periodization believes that the best way to prepare to play the game is to play the game.

We try to make our skill development as game-like as possible.

We want to ensure that we touch on the four phases of the game every day.

Team Culture & Mental Skills

Tactical Periodization is a holistic model. It focuses on the whole athlete.

A large part of that is learning skills off the court that will impact how my athletes are able to execute the four phases of the game. I spend considerable time on how to incorporate mental performance skills. We schedule two classroom sessions a week one that is focused on building team culture and one centered on mental performance skills. I also take time to explore the impact of sleep and nutrition.

I also make sure that the lessons we are learning in the classroom are connected to what we are doing on the floor.

Benefits of using Tactical Periodization

I have used tactical periodization for five seasons and I have seen similar benefits each season.

1.) Fewer injuries- fewer soft tissue injuries & fewer ankle sprains. I now have five years of data that supports this. I don't believe it is a random occurrence.

2.) Teams that play our best in March- Under my old plan we had peaks and valleys in the season. Now it feels more like a steady climb toward March.

3.)More efficient practices- We waste less time and everything is geared towards how we want to play.

4.) Clearer understanding of the why - A transition drill mirrors our transition offense & defense and is not just a random 3-on-2.I will send out the documents I use to plan our season. Use them as you see fit.

Here are a copy of the documents I use to plan my season:

​Tactical Periodization Planning Documents (2).pdf​

A great book on tactical periodization. This book is geared toward soccer but the content is transferable to any invasion sport.

Tactical Periodization- A proven successful training model. Written by Juan Luis Delgado Bordonau & Jose Alberto Mendez Villanueva

This is an excellent examination of all aspects of Tactical Periodization. It is written specifically for Soccer coaches but it contains a great deal of information that is transferable to basketball.

Can I help you on your coaching journey?

Let's work together.

I would love to help you or your team build a competitive advantage. Here are a few ways I can help:

• Consult with your team
• Teach mental skills via Zoom
• Work 1 on 1 with coaches
• Work 1 on 1 with athletes

Shoot me an email I love to talk coaching and see how I can help you. Coaching is hard, let's make it easier. Send me an email at jasonpayne@evolutionmpc.com

Thanks for reading and have a great week.