I really think the thing that most young coaches take the longest to figure out is how to stage their practices by the time of year so as to peak before the state tournament. I know I didn't really have a handle on that until late in my career. I really believe that anyone who has to go longer than an hour and a few minutes in the last three weeks of the season is chasing it a bit and not catching up. I think the length of your practice schedule is very much dependent on the time of the year and if you have done your conditioning early in the year and have it on maintance at the end of the year. If you have done that then you can have short intense and really fun practices right before the big tourney's. Kids will have their weight where it should be, they'll be confident and they won't be washed out at the biggest meets, the ones that really matter.