In my practices I call it “Buddy Running”. It’s a crime committed in most gyms and training facilities all over the world. This phenomenon has also found its way off the court as well. In our gym it only needs to happen once for me to punish the perpetrators but in other places it’s not only ignored but even worse accepted.
Buddy running usually happens during conditioning. When we line up to do sprints I’m always looking for the players that consistently push through fatigue. Sometime it’s not always the one that come in first, second, or third that I’m impressed with. Sometimes it’s that player who was last a month ago and now is slowly working his/her way up the ladder through pure determination and grit. Buddy running is the complete opposite. It’s when two or more players find a comfort zone next to each other and set a pace (that’s usually less than standard) and stay together throughout the whole sprint. No one is trying to beat the person next to them because the person next to them is running just as slow.
The players create this comfort zone where they can exert some energy without going beyond this safe haven. The purpose of sprinting is not to punish it’s to push. You’re pushing kids past their limits in practice so when the game comes along their prepared to do the same. You always here coaches always say that practices should be twice as hard as the game, so the game becomes easy. The game is the dessert, practice (to some) is the lima beans and liver before you can eat it.
I wrote a quote the other day that said something like “There will never be a shortage of average people on this earth”, and boy does that ring true in today’s world. Everyone wants to buddy run. You put people in your inner circle that have little to no drive and then you pace with them. Running ahead would make you have to work harder (which you don’t want to do) and would most likely cause friction with the pack of buddy runners you see every day. Did Steve Jobs buddy run? How about Bill Gates? Look at anyone that’s considered “great” in their profession and you’ll see a bunch of pack leaders. The pace they set is so fast that only those striving for greatness can run with them.
Mediocrity loves company and nowhere is this more prevalent in our society. Take for example the classroom. When I was growing up the really bright students were called “brown nosers”, and “know it alls”. Now their called “try hards” and other colorful names. Why? Because they set a pace that other students deem to fast. So instead of trying to slowly catch up they’d rather ridicule them instead. Maybe they can influence one of those pace setters to slow down and buddy run with them.
What pace are you setting in your life? Are you just buddy running through life content with being like everyone else? Do you not have the drive to push past the people on either side of you? Greatness is so rare that it’s hard to find people that you can’t actually catch. No one wants to be the first one to break away from the pack so put it upon yourself to do so. And what if you’re always ahead of the pack? Find faster running partners.
I love that you say practice should be harder than the game itself – I had never considered it in that light before, but now that you’ve brought it to mind, it’s quite similar to acting. I would never ‘take it easy’ in rehearsals, for the very same reason. Even so, this is a very timely reminder for me – after quite a struggle, I had been just about to rest on my laurels, and yet again, you prick my conscience – thank you, Cornell!