The best players on every team do this. Most never get asked to.
On demanding more from yourself, your teammates, and the people coaching you
We were running a technical goalscoring exercise. Forwards and goalkeepers, no defenders, just working through connections and shooting techniques inside the circle.
One of the forwards received the ball with her back to goal, took her first touch across her body to get her feet facing forward, and shaped to shoot.
The ball whizzed into the sideboard, and the goalkeeper called a halt to the exercise.
“You won’t have time to turn in a game when you’re being tightly marked. Shoot that from your backspace, it needs to be realistic.”
This was coaching, but from a team-mate. Firm, direct, no apology for saying it. The forward nodded, and they ran it again.
A few minutes later, a different player took a big backswing on a shot from close range - the kind you can get away with when there are no defenders and nobody contesting it. The goalkeeper called that out too.
“What are you doing? You’re a few yards from goal. You won’t have that time and space when it’s for real. Hands apart, get it off your stick quicker.”
Again: a teammate, not a coach. Direct, no softening.
In the highest performing environments I’ve been in, this is what separates groups that consistently improve from ones that plateau. If you have one or two who do it, great, but when it’s a majority, it elevates the environment massively.
What elite athletes actually demand
The best players I’ve been around are demanding. Of themselves, each other, and their coaches.
They ask for what they need from teammates: the right pass, the right lead, the right weight on the ball. They understand that 11 players are codependent on each other, and that the group only gets better if everyone holds everyone else to the same standard they hold themselves.
If something isn’t working in a training session, they’ll let the coaches know. If an exercise feels unrealistic, they’ll push back on it. If a teammate is cutting corners, someone will notice, and someone will say something.
This sounds simple, but most players - even good ones - often don’t do it.