As an athlete, I always put in my best effort while playing. However, the effort that you put up on the field often has to be subsidized by the effort put up off the field. Sometimes you must put in more effort off the field than on. Ideally, the effort on and off is equal, but it is astronomical. That is only ideally. In reality, what is often seen is that athletes only put in the effort on the field because that is all they think that matters. That is not to say everyone does that. Professional athletes put in insurmountable effort off the field just so they can succeed when actually playing. However, not all of us are professional athletes. There must be a balance between the two that needs to be found in order to succeed.
Athletes generally think that the most important aspect of what they do is their performances while playing the game. For professional athletes, all we see is their effort on television while playing their respective games. Many kids grow up with the ideology that only the effort put up on the field counts. This is due to what they see. As much as this is true, non of the athletes on television got to where they are now without the effort put up off the field. All the days prior to playing they have to work hard in whatever they are doing. The saying "practice makes perfect" is true. All athletes must practice hard and put in each days worth of hard work to achieve something great. Non of the athletes in today's world would be where they currently are without all the hard work and practice put in in the past.
When talking about the hard work put in in the off-season, this does not necessarily mean practicing the same thing over and over again. For example, if you are a soccer player, your hard work in the off-season should not only be the practice you put in playing soccer with the ball. It is important and should not be over looked. You still need to practice what you do to a degree. But there is another area that needs the effort put into it. This can be athletic training such as strength or cardiovascular training. Most athletes that want to succeed will need to put in this type of effort to get better. While working out, I have often heard my friends say, "working hard or hardly working?" I have overlooked this until this point. That hard work that is put in in the weight room is significant to success. Many people overlook it at hardly work, but it is important not to do so. You must always work hard to then succeed while actually playing.
It is evident that hard work and practice translates into the performance on the field. It can easily be transferable to any sport that any individual plays. The best example is from our school. It is obvious that our volleyball program does not breed the tallest players. It has been dug into us day after day. But, we do everything we can to overcome this, and we have proven to be a successful program. We are told be must become better, faster, and stronger. You get better by practicing, you get faster by working on your foot speed, and you get stronger by working out. Jokingly, it is often said we need to get taller but unfortunately if there was a way we would have already found it. Anyways, those three words that have been repeated to us are necessary to our success. All that effort comes through the off-season. It is then where you succeed. Without the off-season, no work would ever translate into the success that is actually seen during the season. The two go hand in hand to achieve success.
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