Team Practice Overview

Breaking down practicing and how to provide opportunities for players to improve.

Updated over a week ago

Practices are the best time for your teams to improve. It gives coaches the opportunity to help students learn from failure and reflect on ways to improve. A typical practice can last 2-3 hours and includes team meetings, warm-ups, scrimmages, and cool-downs.

Team Meeting

Team meetings establish expectations and structure for your practice. This is your opportunity to address questions, establish a goal, and create a climate of trust and collaboration.

During this time:

  • Set individual and team goals.

  • Review and recap previous goals.

  • Discuss wins and learning moments from previous practices, scrimmages, or matches.

Examples of practice day goals: review previous scrimmage footage and practice a weak area, clear team communication, defending goals, aerial shots, minion wave clearing, etc.

Warm Up

Like traditional sports, warming up the body is essential for esports players to prevent injury. Warm-up muscles for gamers are wrists, elbows, fingers, shoulders, neck, and back.

Examples of a warm-up: 1HP Warm Up, GamerDoc, 1HP How to Stretch

Scrimmage

Utilize previous game-play to set an objective for your skill development in Scrimmages at PlayVS.

The Deliberate Practice theory states that to prevent plateauing, players should hone on a specific skill to increase overall playing ability. Skills can be practiced individually or as a team. Strategies can be practiced in custom matches with bots, other teams at your school, or connecting with schools via PlayVS Discord.

PlayVS Tip: To understand Deliberate Practice, watch JaKaTaKtv’s What is Sandbox? video, specifically 0:20-2:40.

Coaches can also use the PlayVS Discord server to connect with schools across the country. Scrimmaging against other schools allows teams to simulate and better prepare for match days. After a game finishes up, circle back and do a brief breakdown. Then, decide whether to continue practicing your objective or to move to a new skill or strategy.

Cool Down

As the practice winds down, provide a time for reflection. Growth Mindset encourages players to learn from mistakes rather than get stuck.

Players should complete the cool-down with stretching. Like traditional sports, this helps prevent injury and helps close out the practice.

Examples of cool-down stretches: 1HP Post Practice Stretch, GamerDoc Cool Down

Suggested Resources for Practice:

Books

YouTube

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