First step to victory

It’s a well known adage that we play like we practice. If we practice with a mediocre attitude, we will play with mediocrity. If we practice like a champion, we play like a champion.

For every coach, this mentality is a challenge to instill in their players but it is one that is essential if a winning program is to
be built.

Getting into the warrior mindset can be a challenge, especially if you’ve never been in the trenches of the battle. But grasping hold of the urgency of each week’s contest, and being ready to engage at full capacity, is so very imperative.

If you approach each contest with the mentality of do or die, you are likely to put everything you have into prevailing.

If you go into each practice knowing that it is up to you to push yourself to be the very best if you want to live to play another day, you will find that you refine and perfect your skills.

If you grasp the concept that it takes a team effort and that every role, no matter the apparent
significance, is vital to victory, your odds of coming out victorious increase exponentially.

The football field, the volleyball court, the swimming pool, and those cross country trails are the arenas of battle for high school athletes in the fall. Every time you venture into that realm you must be at your very best.

The only way to ensure that you are performing at your peak is to do so at every single practice. It is in those challenging sessions where you will take your first step to victory.

Test your limits each and every time you dive into
the water.

Push yourself in every long run, or hill repeat.

Hone your serving skills and your hitting and blocking techniques.

Give it your all in every skill drill and conditioning drill on the football field.

Prepare to win, or give everything you have trying.

If you do that, and still come up short, you will have no regrets. If you hold back and don’t give your all until game time, however, you will never know if you reached your full potential and that will be something you can never
get back.

What it comes down to is discipline. It’s about putting forth that extra effort. It’s about all the little things that go into helping a player become the best they can be, and a team becoming the best it can be. Each athlete must give 100% every time they step on the court, the field, the trail or whatever arena you compete in.

Practice like you play because success can and is measured by your effort, which is something only you can control.