Practice is Everything

For today’s post, I have 3 quotes to share about practice. Obviously you know practice is important, but it’s easy to stop appreciating it’s value during the offseason slog. That’s why I’m sharing these 3 quotes today. Hopefully you'll find some inspiration in them.

"If I had to sum up the difference between people in the talent hotbeds and people everywhere else in one sentence, it would be this: People in the hotbeds have a different relationship with practicing...in the talent hotbeds I visited, practice was the big game, the center of their world, the main focus of their daily lives.” - Daniel Coyle, The Little Book of Talent

"I was usually early to arrive to practice and workouts, and I think I was a hard worker as a player. I was always physically prepared for practice, but I was not as mentally prepared as I could’ve been, or should have been. Looking back, even though I was there early, I spent too much time “waiting” for practice, rather than “preparing” for practice…Each game is different and singularly important; so is each practice. I needed to acknowledge that I might be a different player each day as I went to practice. Perhaps I was tired or ill one day, or coming off a poor effort in a game. I needed to prepare thoughtfully for that difference. Or perhaps I was coming off a great game, and just thought that my confidence and good feeling would carry me through practice, when I really need to concentrate on competing that day at the highest level…It is easier, and more common, to go to practice and simply try to get through it, or survive it, and to let your coaches set the agenda and the tone. But I did not want to be common; I wanted to be uncommon. I did not want to do what was easy; I wanted to do what was hard, and do it consistently. To get the most from myself and to get the most out of practice, and to give the most to my team, I should have put more effort, energy and thought into preparing myself for each practice. Each practice is an opportunity. It is an opportunity to get better, and an opportunity to make a breakthrough and reach a new level. I should have done a better job of preparing myself for that opportunity, instead of treating some practices as ‘just another day.’ I seems like such a small thing, but it is a big thing. It is a mental thing. It is a toughness thing.” - Jay Bilas, Toughness

“To me, practice is not just something that is necessary for a team to prepare itself for game day. Rather, practice is one of the many places where we compete to be the best. It is my belief that how we practice makes just as important a statement about who we are as how we play the games. How we practice defines who we are. It is not only something we have to do in order to compete, but our practice is a competitive activity in and of itself. Practice is something we want to be the best at for its own sake.” -Pete Caroll, Win Forever