Coaches clearly know the value of practice. But, I am not as clear about their relationship to practice. They are freaked out when circumstances prevent a scheduled practice. Or, the team has a “bad” practice. Or, they worry did we have enough practice?

The truth is that no one knows the perfect number of practices it takes to prepare a team. And, I do mean no one. We use our experience, trust our intuition and change our schedule if needed. The experts say that the bulk of our athletes are over-trained. What’s up with that?

I think that every practice is an opportunity to learn something, therefore no “bad practices.” There are fluctuations in energy that influence performance. There are outside influences on each athlete that sometimes have an effect on performance or not at all.

As in life and with our circumstances there are “ups and downs.” The trick may be to have our energy graph look like rolling hills not like the Alps. Big ups create big downs … eliminating wasted motion, well-defined purpose and an on-going commitment to strive for 100% engagement will go a long ways toward maximizing your efforts.

When I say 100% I do so knowing that 100% is an ideal and therefore, un-attainable. It is un-attainable given the purpose of our efforts to close the “gap” between where we are and where we are committed to being.

When the gap is closed another gap will appear ergo 100% is never a reality. I think what we are talking about is “I gave the best I had today to close the gap and tomorrow is another day.” Let the athletes know you noticed and that you respect them for that.

“The Art of Losing, Coaching and Thriving in a Made-for-TV World” is available today on lulu.com. Coach Todd’s guide to effective coaching is a valuable addition to your library and will support your efforts daily.