Practice, practice, practice

Whether if's field hockey, football, skiing, squash, you name it, the name of the game is practice. And more often than not, practice boils down to hours of tedium, with repetitive drills to develop strategies and technique, with conditioning exercises that stretch the sinews and tone up muscle, and with a variety of activities that seem only peripheral to the contest itself. Win, lose, or draw, there's a lot of agony sometimes torturous, sometimes not to endure.

You've seen the scene repeat itself on a hundred tv interviews the 16-year-old gymnast who has sacrificed almost everything had her own tutor, worked out seven hours per day since the age of six, even gone so far as to move halfway across the country to be able to work with some coach whose students have won 18 bronze, seven silver, and five gold medals in international competition. She looks hardly old enough to stay at home without a babysitter and the interviewer a glamorous former medal winner herself thrusts a mike in front of her and asks, "Was it worth it all?," knowing that she's now considered too old to continue to compete in the big-time. Fortunately, most Big Green student/ athletes haven't had to make those sacrifices. They have other things they can do and do well other interests, other talents.

If pratiite mecfas perspiration, it also means conditioning In the eighties, & has meant spending a lot of time getting in shape to . avoid debilitating knee injuries, and, as this year's football team , has learned, it has involved that old standby, mental toughness, learning to "keep the faith" when nothing seems to go right.

Along with the exhaustion of a hard workout come "chalk, talks," where errors tactical and mental are pointed out and "the right way" (aka the coach's way) is discussed. The ancient adage "practice makes perfect" seems from time to time to be the coaches' only maxim, though there's always room for a lap or three around the field for whatever ails you.

PRACTICE 3:00-6:00 PM