The steps every sportsperson can take to get the most out of their individual practice

The following is an extract from the new book, Be The Best You Can Be In Sport, a book for Irish youth by Paul Kilgannon (@carver_coaching). The book is a worthwhile and practical tool for practicing self-improvement and self-coaching in sport and in life, with insights from many of Ireland's top coaches and sports stars. Paul has kindly allowed us to publish an extract from his book which focuses on individual practice, followed up by a testimony from Henry Shefflin.

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If our last chapter began with ‘I have often heard it said that the best students are those who want to learn’, the following two chapters could be captioned as, ‘the best students are those who know how to learn.’ ‘Preparation delivers success’ is a truism I like to share with those I coach. If you wish to be the best you can be, making a personal commitment to honing your craft is critical. Taking 'ownership' is key. To build skill, we need to take and sustain action. Action drives motivation and confidence follows. Collective training is one thing, and in truth, is possibly the easy part. I hope this book will offer you many tools to help how you approach it in a positive manner and we will look at this separately in the next chapter. Individual personal ‘practice to get better’ is a different thing and in my experience is rarely optimised. Great opportunity lies here. For example, if you wanted to work on fielding a high ball in Gaelic football you might get two or three ‘reps’ in collective training, whereas if you spend 5 minutes on your own you might do 50 reps. However, making them meaningful, quality reps is critical and we will look at this shortly. The reality is that every athlete can push their capabilities within skill execution, and one of the secrets to enjoying sport is to become more proficient in the fundamental skills of the game. Your skills are your tools. The outcome of performance in competition is simply a by-product of the effort you have made to prepare, relative to your ability. Everyone has the will to win, but not everyone has the will and know-how to prepare to win. The fundamentals require constant re-emphasis. Many athletes fall into the trap of confusing mindless, aimless, ‘practicing all the time’ type routines, with ‘maximum intensity and quality’ type practice. All practice is not created equally. If you want to change you need to do something that changes you. Simply repeating a skill, even over a period of many years, doesn’t build expertise. Once you reach a reasonable level of competence the skill becomes automatic and ‘mindless practice’ will at best, maintain your abilities but not improve them. If your craft is something you really want to excel in, you have to push past that comfortable stage and challenge yourself. More isn’t necessarily better- quality is critical. You have a limited amount of time and energy to practice so it is prudent to make the best use of it. Effort and strategy are key. Some athletes often fall into the trap of being ‘too busy training to practice’.  This is a time management issue and can be addressed (see Chapter 21). Individual practice is essential. Though perfection is unattainable, aiming high allows you to surpass your own preconceived limitations. Run from your comfort zone. Aim for perfection; deliberately practice the core skills of your game. Get uncomfortable. Strive to be ‘brilliant at the basics’. In the basics, attention to, and mastery of, tiny details are commonly overlooked. Do the simple things better! How close can you get to perfect? As with most things in life, effort is important but so is strategy. If you focus your practice, while maximising your application, with time, the repetition will create momentum and this momentum will produce improvement and better performance. The key to effective practice is to make it purposeful and deliberate. Understanding the demands of your sport and the role or position you play, as well as learning how to properly analyse your performance (see Chapter 7), will help inform you of what parts of your game you need to focus on. Deliberate Practice is based on the research of K. Anders Ericsson. It refers to a special type of practice that is purposeful and systematic. For example, if you were a full back in rugby and high catching was something you struggled with, you would purposefully and systematically practice to address this. High catching would be one of your ‘work ons’ and could be done before or after collective training with the aid of a teammate or coach. Visualisation techniques (see Tony Óg’s Skill No. 3) could also be used to assist the process. Deliberate Practice requires focused attention and is conducted with the specific goal of improving performance. It differs from ‘regular practice’ in that regular practice might largely consist of mindless purposeless repetitions. The goal of Deliberate Practice is not to be enjoyed. Its only goal is to improve your performance. However, I feel this is not to say it cannot be enjoyed by those with the correct mindset and outlook. Satisfaction is to be gained through application and learning, and this should be embraced and viewed as enjoyable. Deliberate Practice requires sustained effort and concentration. It requires the learner to continuously challenge themselves, set goals and practice at the edge of their current ability. Too easy, and there will be no learning. Too hard, and there will no opportunity for feedback and improvement. Remember, when you do what is easy in life, life becomes hard; when you do what is hard, life becomes easy. The greatest challenge of Deliberate Practice is to remain focused on improvement. The more we repeat a task, the more mindless it can become. Mindless activity is the enemy of Deliberate Practice. Feedback is essential. Measurement is one means of feedback. What we measure we improve. Key Focus Skill- Striking off both left and right hand side. Secondary Skill- Catching The fact that you are 7 metres away from the wall using a standard sliotar means you must strike with conviction using ‘strong hands’ in a game like manner. Useful and meaningful feedback from a coach or mentor is also important as it allows you to adjust, refine and become more specific on the areas you are working on. You can also video yourself and compare your technique to a player whose striking you admire. Using a model can be useful, as can videoing yourself. Below are principles you can utilise to practice deliberately. by Paul Kilgannon features interviews with 50 top coaches and sports stars in Ireland and is available to buy for €24.99.