Bobby Knight said, "Most people have the will to win, few have the will to prepare to win.”

Basketball is a game of seconds! A player cannot stand in the lane more than 3 seconds at his end of the court. A team has 8 seconds to get the ball across the mid-court line when it takes possession. But when your in a game it's easy to forget - to delay those precious few seconds that make the difference between winning and losing.

The only way to be confident in these tight spots in game situations is to discipline yourself on the right steps to take while you're practicing. 

When I am doing clinics I tell the people to think about "invisible lines". If you think the line that is called the baseline is 3 feet inside the real one, you'll never go out of bounds. If you post up 2 feet outside of the lane you'll never have 3 seconds called on you.

There are many other such situations in the game that you need to keep in mind!

PRACTICE MAKES PERMANENT

If you have that attitude that you won't do in practice what you don't want to do. when you play, you won't have to unlearn bad habits. Remember that you are really playing when you are practicing. A lot of coaches will say, "You will never play better than your practice.”

So it is in life. Every day is practice day. Every good deed done becomes a habit. Every time in prayer, meditation, Bible study builds resources for the day when you will need that extra reserve. The crucial difference will come at the moment of temptation or trial.

Hebrews 11 is often called the "Roll Call of Faith". Included people like. Noah, Abraham, Moses, Gideon, David, and many others. Do you think they put in a lot of "practice time" before they had their moments on the court? Others were commended for their faith even though they didn't see great victories in life because they looked to something greater!

That's no easy sainthood... no simple step to being a great Christian. It takes practice time: practice the faith, living the reality of Christ within, a reality which enables you to live better shoot hight, and realise more than you ever thought was possible.

MATTHEW 7:24-25

"Therefore everyone who hears these words of mine and puts them into practice is like a wise man who built his house on the rock. The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house; yet it did not fall, because it had its foundation on the rock."

PHILIPPIANS 4:9

“As for the things you have learned and received and heard and seen in me, practice these things, and the God of peace will be with you.”

"Practice doesn't make perfect, it makes permanent".

You need to practice correctly. Godliness doesn't just happen. It is the result of putting the Word into action in your life.

Coach Wooden had a saying, "You can't live a perfect day without doing something for someone who will never be able to repay you. Go find someone!