I am nervous when my athletes play too much and do not solo practice. To a certain degree of course playing helps you improve but you cannot isolate a skill in play sessions. Take back wall for instance. You will probably get 5 to 15 shots off the back wall per game in practice. That will take 20 minutes for a game to 15. In 5 minutes you can give yourself 20 shots off the back wall. Thus, you are isolating the skill and working on it.
But solo practice can only take you so far. You do need competitive play also. You need to get on the court and battle it out with someone who has a will to win.
You have to have a balance of practice and play to become good. Find the best scrimmage partners you can and go for it! Ideally you want one lefty, one speed merchant, One shot-maker, and one angry cheater-type. Yep, you heard me right. The club maniac everyone avoids is the one who simulates many of the characters you are going to meet at the tournament. Like it or not you need experience with these players. I had one such player back in the day and I never beat him in practice. I only lost to him once in 30 years of tournaments because I got my five points per game back he cheated me in practice. With a good ref he couldn’t make up those points with skill!!
How many times per week should you play? Well, I try to vary my weeks with odd weeks mostly skill and even weeks mostly practice. What is an odd week and even week? When you make your practice schedule you make it for five weeks out–1,3,5 are odd and 2,4 are the even weeks. That way you have an idea of what you are working on, and can gauge your improvement.