⛹️‍♀️ Just Play

📰 COLLEGIATE ELITES WEEKLY

Issue 074 — November 10, 2026

Practices, strength training, skill development, and competition all play important roles in an athlete’s development.

But there’s another part of sports that deserves just as much appreciation.

Simply playing.

Open gyms, pickup games, backyard competitions, and getting together with friends offer experiences that organized practices don’t always provide.

There’s value in having opportunities to compete, experiment, and enjoy the game without everything being organized around a specific objective.

Sometimes, the best thing an athlete can do is just play.

🏀 FREEDOM TO PLAY

Organized practices are a key part of athletic training and development.

Coaches teach skills, introduce concepts, correct mistakes, and help athletes prepare for competition.

But there’s a different kind of value in getting together with friends and just playing without a coach directing every move.

Think about pickup basketball, an open gym, playing volleyball in the backyard, or organizing a game with friends.

There’s no practice plan to follow, no drills to complete, and no coach telling you what to do next.

Athletes have the freedom to decide how they want to play.

They can organize their own games, choose teams, create their own rules, and compete without everything being planned for them.

It’s a different experience from organized practice, where the structure and direction is already provided.

It’s a chance for athletes to enjoy their sport, have fun, and experience the game without everything being planned for them.

⚡️ FIGURE IT OUT

One of the benefits of unstructured play is that athletes have to figure things out for themselves.

Without a coach directing every move, they’re responsible for making decisions, adjusting to different situations, and finding ways to compete.

They have the freedom to experiment.

Maybe it’s a new move they’ve been working on, a different way to approach a situation, or simply seeing what happens when they try something unfamiliar.

Some things work. Others don’t.

But through those experiences, athletes develop a better understanding of the game.

They learn to recognize situations, make decisions, and adapt.

They also develop a feel for the game that can be difficult to teach through instruction alone.

Unstructured play gives athletes another opportunity to apply what they've learned, explore different approaches, and develop confidence in making decisions on their own.

💙 THE LOVE OF THE GAME

There’s a difference between playing a sport because it’s on your schedule and playing because you genuinely want to.

For young athletes, sports can quickly become filled with expectations.

Practices, tournaments, playing time, and the pressure to improve can make the experience feel more like an obligation than something they enjoy.

And while those commitments are part of competitive sports, it’s important that athletes still have opportunities to play simply because they want to.

Playing with friends, laughing at mistakes, and competing without worrying about the outcome. 

Just enjoying the game.

🎯 FINAL THOUGHT

Structured training and organized competition are important parts of athletic development, but there’s also a place for simply playing.

Not every moment in sports needs to be focused on improvement or have a specific objective.

There’s a time for putting in the work and a time for simply enjoying the game.

Be Elite.

✅ TAKE ACTION

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