Discipline

What do you relate to the word discipline? This word takes on many negative and positive connotations, allowing for people to have completely different meaning of its definition. In sports this word is used to describe successful teams and players who show a lot of commitment. Discipline can look bad in the eyes of some because of past experiences; such as practices or workouts, where disciplined showed up a lot. Others find it as a goal. They strive to be disciplined because they know that it brings success, and with success comes memories.

Discipline is also known as mental toughness. In this case the mental toughness of teams and players and how they use it to become better athletes, and even use it in their workouts to maintain a healthy lifestyle. 

In football, discipline brings good teams to great teams. Being able to change up the snap counts, avoid penalties, and focus on having proper technique is what makes teams had to beat. During practice adversity is thrown at you all the time. The coaches want to prepare you for Friday night because undoubtedly adversity will strike during the game. Also,  coaches do this  to make the players more disciplined and more focused on the task at hand. For example, if a drill is messed up the coaches are there to help you learn from your mistakes. If a player is disciplined they take the correction, apply it, and learn from it. 

Conditioning; the last word an athlete wants to hear. Conditioning is done at the end of practices and is really determined by the teams discipline. The team has two options in front of them. Either go hard and get better, or give up, not try, and remain the same. Some days are harder than others that's for sure, but the harder you can push yourself the better you will become. In football I've been pushed to what I thought was my limit, but then I decided to stay disciplined and find another side of me that I didn't know I had. Coaches somehow find a way to motivate players during conditioning to excel them to the next level and find out just how dedicated they are. During conditioning it is apparent what guys are disciplined and who aren't based on how hard they try and what mistakes they make. The great players, mentally,  find another place to go, get done what they need to, and at the same time find it deep within them to motivate their teammates at the same time. This breeds success and leads to great things.

Discipline is only accomplished if the athlete can focus on what the task at hand is, and mentally tough enough to push through hard times and strive to help their team. A drive to succeed has to be burning inside and the dedication to do well must been seen in order to gain discipline. However, if a team can bond together and focus on the little things, they will be successful and be extremely hard to stop.