“How come we can never practice with the same intensity we play with, in a game?"

It's a common question from coaches and leaders, who are doing their best to prepare their athletes and teams for the real thing. And, the reasoning is solid - the closer we can get to replicating the conditions of the game or performance in practice, the better our odds of playing our best when we get there.

So what gets in the way?

We need to understand the constraints of practice that influence effort and energy. The better we can manipulate those constraints, the more we can get out of the practice time we do have. And the better our team can perform.