Practice vs. Games: Why Your Athlete Isn’t Getting Better From Playing Games Every Weekend
Every weekend, parents pack the car, load the cooler, and head off to another tournament. Dozens of games, hours on the road, endless fees—and the hope that all this playing time is making their child better.
But here’s the question most sports parents never stop to ask: Are more games really helping my athlete improve?
The answer might surprise you.
If you’re a sports parent wondering whether games or practices matter more for your child’s development, you’re not alone. In today’s travel sports culture, there’s a growing belief that the more games an athlete plays, the better they’ll become.
But the reality is the opposite: practice is where athletes truly grow.
Games are important, but they’re simply the stage that reveals the work put in during practice.
As a coach, one of the biggest misconceptions I see is the obsession with games. Parents often believe that the more games their child plays, the more value they’re getting out of the experience.
I get it—games are exciting. They’re where the uniforms come out, the scoreboard lights up, and everyone gets to cheer.
But here’s the truth: games don’t make athletes better—practice does.
Games Are Just the Performance
Let’s take a minute to think about sports like music or theater. When a musician steps on stage or an actor performs on opening night, what you’re seeing is the product of countless hours of practice. Rehearsing scales. Running lines. Fine-tuning every detail so that when it’s time to perform, they’re ready.
Sports should be the same way. A game isn’t where you build skill—it’s where you express what you’ve built in practice. The passes you’ve drilled, the footwork you’ve repeated, the shots you’ve taken hundreds of times—those show up in the game.
If the practice time isn’t there, the performance will show it.
“📌 Pro Tip for Parents
Want to know the best way to tell if your child is actually improving?
Don’t just count points scored—because improvement isn’t the same as output. Instead, measure whether they’re doing the specific things you worked on in practice that week. Are they applying the footwork you drilled? Are they making better decisions under pressure? That’s real growth.”
Why Practice Matters More Than Games
Here’s why practice is the foundation of athlete development:
Reps Build Skill.
Every repetition in practice grooves muscle memory. The more quality reps an athlete gets, the more automatic their skills become under pressure.Fundamentals Win Games.
Games are often decided by basic skills—passing, dribbling, footwork, decision-making. These aren’t learned in games; they’re sharpened in practice.Game IQ Grows in Training.
Understanding the game—spacing, timing, decision-making—comes from controlled scenarios in practice where mistakes can be corrected and lessons sink in.Confidence Comes From Preparation.
When an athlete knows they’ve put in the work during the week, they step into the game with confidence. Practice creates that foundation.
The Problem With Too Many Games
In travel ball, it’s easy to get caught up in chasing tournaments and stacking weekends with game after game. But here’s what often happens:
Not enough time to train and recover.
When weekends are jam-packed with four, five, or even six games, athletes barely have time to rest—let alone practice. Their bodies are exhausted, and their skills plateau because they’re not getting quality training sessions in between.Mistakes go uncorrected.
Games expose weaknesses, but they don’t fix them. If a player consistently misses shots or makes poor decisions, that won’t change just by playing more games. Without practice time to break down and correct those mistakes, the same errors repeat themselves over and over.Skill development stalls.
Games provide limited touches compared to practice. In a single game, a basketball player may only take 5–10 shots. But in practice, they can take hundreds. More games don’t equal more growth—more focused reps in practice do.The illusion of progress.
Playing all the time can make parents and athletes feel like they’re improving simply because they’re “busy.” But being busy doesn’t mean being productive. True progress is measured in how much stronger, sharper, and smarter an athlete becomes—not how many games they’ve logged.
The result of too many games? Athletes end up with a lot of mileage on their bodies but very little actual development or improvement.
And at the end of the day, isn’t the goal to get better?
Practice Is Where Growth Happens
Parents, if you really want to invest in your child’s athletic success, prioritize practice. Encourage them to love the process of getting better, not just the thrill of the game. Games are the test—but the test doesn’t teach you. The preparation does.
When athletes commit to practice—really commit—their growth is exponential. Then, when game day comes, they’re not just “playing.” They’re performing. They’re showing the results of all the unseen hours.
That’s what separates good athletes from great ones.
The Bottom Line
Games are important. They’re fun, they’re competitive, and they’re where memories are made.
But let’s not confuse the performance with the process.
Games are an expression of practice. Practice is where athletes actually get better.
The more we shift our mindset around this, the more we’ll raise athletes who are prepared, confident, and ready to dominate when it matters most.
If your athlete struggles to carry their practice skills into games, confidence may be the missing piece.
Get your copy of Next Level Confidence for Athletes - the complete guide to building your athlete’s confidence to help them unlock their true potential.