Why Practice Feels Easier Than Games

In practice there are no consequences, so you play without monitoring yourself. In games consequences arrive, attention turns inward, and skilled movement gets supervised by a part of the brain that shouldn't be running it.

The fix is not trying harder. It is narrowing attention to something external and specific — the target, the ball, the opponent's hips.

Add stakes to training so the shift is rehearsed rather than discovered on game day.