It shouldn't be any different with judo. Anyone who has attended KL Judo's sessions will know that our practices are very structured. We train for three straight hours with very short breaks in between. Everything runs like clockwork because I know exactly what to do after each segment of the training is concluded.
Currently, we have two different sessions: Sunday and Wednesday sessions. Each has its own template which I try to follow every week. So, there is a structure in place. It's the content that changes from week to week. I'll describe the Sunday sessions to illustrate what I mean by planning and preparation. We usually do the following (in this order):
a) Warm Ups: For this we usually play some judo games.
b) Newaza: We usually start with newaza. I would demonstrate a technique and then show them some video clips of that technique as used in competition. I would then get the players to go through the motions without resistance. Once I feel most of them are familiar enough with the technique, we would do the drills with resistance.
c) Tachi-Waza: As with newaza, I would demonstrate the throw followed by some video viewing. The players would then do uchikomi followed by nagekomi (on crash pads). Sometimes I would have them do some light randori where they are allowed to use only the throw that they've been working on for that session.
d) Randori: We start with newaza randori with one player in a turtle position and the other player on top. Each randori round lasts the length of one song. When that song is over, the same partners remain but they switch position and the one on top is now in a turtle position. For tachi-waza randori, there are many ways you could approach it including the Japanese-style motodachi but I find that the best approach for our players is to have everybody on the mat (our dojo is big enough) and do randori at the same time. If it's a particularly hot day, we have water breaks in between each round of randori. If it's not so hot, we have two randoris in a row before we have our water breaks.
e) Shiai: Sometimes we end the session with shiai but not always. It depends on how much time we have. There are times when the technical portion lasts too long and we don't have enough time for shiai.
Preparation for the program above doesn't just mean deciding what techniques to demonstrate. It involves a a lot more planning than that. I start by determing who will be attending. That is why I make an attendance list days before each Sunday session and have my players inform the group whether they are attending or not. Based on that list, I assign the partners who will be working together for that day.
Why are such "match-ups" important? Because in order for the players to gain maximum benefit from the session, I need to pair each person with the right partner. Generally, the "right" partners are those who are more or less the same size and strengths. Those are the main considerations. There are other factors involved such as compatible temperaments or skill levels but those are luxuries. What's more important is that they have someone more or less their size to train with.
Doing such match-ups are not as easy as it might seem. There's not always a perfect fit. Sometimes there's an uneven number of big guys.. Then I have to decide which of the smaller guys would best be suited to train with that big guy without a partner. Usually it's someone with experience and is therefore more capable of dealing with a bigger guy.
Where possible, I try to match girls with girls but sometimes there is an uneven number of girls present. Again, I have to find a smaller-sized guy who would be suitable to train with the girl without a partner. Sometimes, there's an uneven number of kids present. And again, I have to find a suitable smaller-sized guy or girl to train with that kid without a partner. I don't leave any of this to chance because, as I said earlier, I want to make sure each player gets the most out of their Sunday training sessions.
For judo games, I do regular research to find the best games for the warm up sessions. So far we've tried out quite a few and some work better than others. We trash the unpopular ones and keep the good ones. To keep things fresh though, we do need to regularly introduce new games.
For newaza, once I've decided what to teach them, I will have to figure out if that technique can be taught in one session or has to be broken up into a few sessions spread over several Sundays. When we train, we really go in-depth and it takes up a lot of time. You can't rush these things. If the technique is somewhat complex or unique, I will show them video clips from competition. This takes quite a bit of editing because I don't want the clips to drag for too long. I show them only the relevant parts.
Unlike newaza, most tachi-waza techniques do not have to be broken up into multiple sessions. But if a particular tachi-waza has several major variations that must be covered, it could take several sessions to cover all the important versions. For example, kouchi-gari has three major variations, all of which have to be taught in order for the players to have a good grasp of that technique. I also try to show them competition video clips of the tachi-waza in question.
For randori, we don't have a free-for-all. I actually assign randori partners for each round because I want to make sure the right people spar against each other. This is very important to ensure they get quality randori. A mismatch is a waste of time (e.g. big sized guy against small girl). For shiai, I do the same thing. Like I said, these things cannot be left to chance. You need to plan and prepare if you want your sessions to be productive and enjoyable.
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