I’m continuing my series looking at lessons we can learn from other sports and games. Today I’m looking at basketball and in particular, the scrimmage.
I have to admit I’d never heard of a scrimmage until a few months ago when the school basketball coach told me his plans for the evening involved “a scrimmage”. The word intrigued me so I asked him what he meant and then did a bit of searching at home to find out more.
After some research I’ve decided that the scrimmage isn’t only fun to say but it’s also a pretty good idea and in my mind something that we could use more of in table tennis.
But what is a scrimmage? Here’s a definition…
“A practice session or informal game, as between two units of the same team.”
That’s not bad for a sentence but it turns out there is much more to a scrimmage and many different ways to use them. This post will look at the various types of scrimmage used in basketball and how we could transfer these ideas to table tennis.
1. A practice game
I guess all scrimmages are practice games as the score doesn’t really matter but in this sense I’m talking about just a group of friends or a team coming together, making teams, and playing a game.
The game should be played with the same intensity as you would play a competitive match but you probably don’t have a referee and just keep the score yourselves. This could take place at the end of a practice session or it could be the whole practice session. Practice, and particularly deliberate practice, is important but you also need to actually play the whole game from time to time. The practice game scrimmage is a great way to do this.
I think in table tennis we do this quite well. Many clubs have club nights where players turn up and play matches against each other for a couple of hours. Or perhaps at the end of a practice session a group of players will play a couple of matches against each other. In my mind most table tennis players do plenty of this already.
2. A friendly match against another team/club
Sometimes scrimmages are used in the off-season as friendly matches. A team will play another local team (either behind closed doors or with spectators) to keep fit, try-out new players and see how well they are playing.
Playing another club or team adds a little extra pressure to the match and can give players the motivation to focus and play their best. It can sometimes be difficult to play seriously when you are facing your team mates in practice.
I think this is quite under utilized in table tennis, at least in the UK. School teams could probably try and arrange a few more friendly matches against other schools once the league season has finished and the same for clubs too! The Senior British League only runs from September to February and the Junior British League only takes place on two weekends during the season so there is plenty of time for clubs to arrange friendly matches against other clubs in the off-season.
There is a big difference between playing an individual tournament and playing a team event. Players, particularly young players, should get as much experience as possible supporting and coaching their team mates and playing in that team environment where sometimes the pressure is all on you to win your match in order to secure a draw or a win.
3. An exhibition game
Especially in high-level basketball it seems that scrimmages are often used as a sort of exhibition game, often within a squad of players. The players are split into two teams and play each other in front of a crowd as they would in a real match. Tickets are often free or reduced in price to ensure a good turnout.
From what I can tell this happens quite a lot during the pre-season in the US. Basketball squads from high-schools, colleges, professional teams and even the US team will hold these exhibition scrimmages. They work to build interest within the community for the upcoming season and also to put the squad players head to head, giving younger/newer players a chance to shine and prove their worth.
I’d love to see this happen at a national-level in England at the start of a new season. It would be great to see the top 10 or so players play against each other in some format, in a competition like environment with spectators. I think doing something like this each year would make it easier to see which players were playing the best and also give some of the fringe national-team players a chance to shine.
4. A controlled scrimmage
The final way to run a scrimmage is a controlled scrimmage. A controlled scrimmage can be within a team or against another team. The emphasis is on coaching and observation with the matches being filmed and analysed heavily.
Instead of just playing a full game the teams and coaching staff will come up with certain rules and patterns that must be followed during the particular quarters of the game. For example, in the first quarter you can only use a certain type of offense or defense, or you must have players in specific positions.
This type of controlled game allows coaches to test out certain players and plays and take note of the results. It also gives players a chance to improve their own skills in certain situations that will occur more frequently than usual.
Each period of the game can have different rules and players can come on and off the bench freely to allow for maximum experimentation.
In table tennis I think this kind of controlled scrimmage is something that could be used to bridge the gap between practice and match-play. Often as a coach we get to stage where it seems a player has learnt something perfectly in practice but then once they go into a competitive match it seems to all go out the window. With a controlled scrimmage you could set up rules to allow a player to practice certain areas of their game, in a match like situation, over and over.
For example, a competitive match played between two local clubs during the off-season. Players play each other in a best of five game, playing all five set regardless of the score, with certain rules for each set.
Game 1 = All serves must be short
Game 2 = All serves must be long
Game 3 = Only play on half of the table
Game 4 = Only forehand shots allowed
Game 5 = Normal game
The matches are filmed and then analysed and watched back later to provide feedback to the players and show where they were stronger or weaker.
Conclusion
The scrimmage seems to me to be a great way to give a bit of variety to practice and it can be used in so many different ways! I think we can learn a lot from basketball in this respect and look for more opportunities to bridge the gap between competition and practice.
- Practice games can be used by players of all abilities to test out their skills but we shouldn’t rely too heavily on them, skill practice is important too. We do a lot of practice games as it is.
- Friendly games against other clubs are a great way to exposure players to the unique stresses and environments of competitive table tennis. They are also to build unity within a team. We could do more of this.
- Exhibition games would work great at a high-level. We could certain do something like this with our top national players and get an audience. It would give fringe players a chance to face the current best.
- Controlled games with certain rules are great way to transfer skills from practice to matches in an environment that allows coaches to intervene, observe, analyse and give feedback.
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