TOUGHEST COMPETITORS REACT POSITIVELY TO PRESSURE

In anything important, there will be pressure.  Everybody feels it, but the toughest competitors react positively to that pressure.  Competitors want to be at their best under pressure, and but putting yourself in pressure situations as often as possibly, you are acclimating yourself to that pressure, and the pressure will be less likely to get in the way of your performance.

"We put our players in stressful situations all the time in practice, especially end-of-game situations," Tom Cream said.  "We put pressure on them, and we let them figure it out under great stress, together.  Did we work to get and take the right shot?  Did we do the tough necessary to get the right shot?"

From "Toughness" by Jay Bilas