Pre-practice stretching as a team or by position

[Rebel Yell]

Coaches - at a recent clinic I attend I listened to a speaker talk about their pre-practice stretching routine. They do not stretch as a team at the beginning of practice. instead it is incorporated as part of each position groups individual time. What they do is not actually stretching. They use a lot of what they call warm-up drills with in each position group. the period goes about 10 minutes and it is "controlled" so that full speed is not used until the next period.

He said they went to it for a couple of reasons. 1. took less time. 2. more effective in that as a team there were always slackers during stretch, in this method the position coach can see each of his players and ensure proper performance. 3. that research has shown that static stretching does not help reduce muscle injuries.

OK now i can see the first two being good ideas. However, even though I have heard of #3 before I am not sure I am sold on that. I have not researched it on my own enough to see what is out there on the subject.

currently we start off with a two lap warm up jog. then a full form run routine followed by a full partner stretch routine. It is time consuming to say the least. But is there a better way to accomplish this...what do you guys think?

[tribepride]

We only have 30 kids 9-12 so we don't stretch in groups. We do about 10 minutes static stretching followed by 10 minutes of dynamic warm-ups.

[bkoption]

For probably the last two seasons we have not stretched as a team before any practice except pre-game and on game night. (we do this just out of habit and routine)

We use a pre-practice, which is either a 10 or 15 minute period before "official practice begins. Often times we even put it on our segment timer as segment 1,2 and 3 just to stay on time. The period begins at about half speed, I coach the Offensive lineman so this is where we bear crawl, duck walk and work on basic footwork and steps as well as try and begin to warm up. I usually move into "get offs" under the shoot and then to our drive block progression. By the end of the pre-practice period we are at full speed this is when we might push the sled a little etc. We havn't had ant problems with injuries. I wouldn't go so far as to say they are down but they most deffinetly have not increased. The warm up is much more important than the stretch. The stretch become more effective after your muscles are warm than if it comes first. From time to time we will use a form run to warm up the entire team instead of pre-practice.