Practice Like You Play

When young athletes watch their favorite players on TV, they don’t see the years of hard work that went into creating this kind of top-notch performance. They only see the final product. This can make it easy for young players to coast in practice.

Sometimes these youngsters, no matter the sport, get the idea that their pure talent can get them by. For some of the best natural athletes, premier skills can be just enough. However, against elite competition, only those with the best work ethic will rise to the top.

The top college and professional athletes understand what it takes to excel at their respective sports. Years of practice, repetition, sweat and determination go into the process of reaching true potential. All of the days when you wake up early, want to go back to bed and then decide to push yourself anyway are always worth it. It can take a while for a young athlete to appreciate this lifestyle.

Coaches should use sports team websites to deliver the importance of practice and a strong work ethic. The site can be a tool to outline useful drills and strategies to help a young athlete push themselves day in and day out, just like the top players in country.

Kentucky basketball players battle in practice

The Kentucky men’s basketball team is undefeated heading into the NCAA tournament. Much of this can be attributed to the fact that the team has an impressive array of NBA prospects, such as Karl-Anthony Towns, Willie Cauley-Stein and Trey Lyles. However, according to The Courier Journal, the team’s heavy practice regimen explains much of their success as well.

“It’s like a prize fight,” Towns told the news outlet. “Every time you step into practice, it’s like a big-prize, heavyweight fight. You gotta make sure you’ll bring it, because you’ll get embarrassed in practice. You compete so hard because you want to get better.”

Clemson football searches for help at quarterback

The Clemson football team is looking for help behind starting quarterback Deshaun Watson, according to Fox Sports. Coach Dabo Swinney will use spring practice to identify his backup signal callers. And after talking to the press, it seems that he doesn’t have any favorites. Practice will be the time for the backups - Nick Schuessler, Kelly Bryant and Tucker Israel - to show what they’ve got.

“Whoever your backup is, he’s one rolled ankle away from going in and we’re expected to win,” Swinney told the news outlet. “When the backup comes in, they don’t turn the scoreboard off. Walk-on, true freshman, it doesn’t matter.”