One of the biggest enemies of excellence is just doing do it. Just doing it is in most cases is good, but there is a big difference between good and great. So much of training consists of mundane tasks that must be repeated to achieve excellence; it is very tempting to just do it to get the stuff that makes a difference. I maintain that it is the mundane tasks, the details, the basics; the fundamentals that when repeated with quality will provide the big pay off. It is things like paying attention to detail in warm-up, to finishing off each run or swim the way you would finish a race that will be the difference makers in the pressure of the Olympic Final or when the game is on the line. As coaches we cannot afford to let our athletes just do it. We have demand quality in everything the athlete does. We have to set a standard and level of expectation where excellence is a habit. Nothing in high performance sport is routine or mundane, every movement counts so practice the way you will compete – with quality. Remember you are what you train to be.
