It’s not true that practice makes perfect. Actually the saying should be, “perfect practice makes perfect.” You have to have effort and intelligence. We talk quite a bit about that. This is especially true when I see a player who could be great defensively. She has great energy and enthusiasm, but she fouls or is out of place guarding the wrong person. It’s a combination of effort and the intelligence to stay within the team concept and know exactly what everyone on the team is supposed to be doing.
Great players work more individually outside of practice than the average players. The really great players are the ones who come in early, stay late, and come in on their day off.
They knew their weaknesses, and they worked on those weaknesses. We’ve had good players who came in and worked hard in practice. But after those two hours are over, they leave .The only way you can improve as a player is by what you do on your own. To that extent, I believe players are made over the summer if you put the time in over the summer, when the coaches aren’t allowed to be there, that’s when you really see the improvement.
We’ve had people who have left the locker room after having just played a game and go straight to our auxiliary gym, the pit, to shoot free throws because they weren’t happy with the way they shot them during the game. You have to have that kind of dedication to be great.
