Do you have what it takes to be a world-class athlete? Do you know what it takes? Well, if you don't know, keep reading!

I attended U.S. Women's National Soccer Team training session at Seminole Sports Training Center near Orlando, Florida recently while team was preparing for Women's World Cup, which began Saturday and runs through July 10.

The United States Women's National Team is a great team. In 1998, their record was 22-1-2, losing only to Norway. The U.S. team won Women's World Cup in '91, came in third in '95, and won '96 gold medal in first-ever Olympic soccer competition for women.

When we arrived at field, team was already warming up and stretching. They were working on individual skills like juggling, volleys, and heading. Then they played small-sided games like 4 vs. 2, playing to maintain possession of ball. The purpose was to transition to defense as fast as possible once a player lost ball.

Next, they worked on fine art of "finishing," or scoring goals. They worked on several ways to attack goal from different angles.

What impressed me most was that best women's team in world was practicing so hard! After practice I spoke to a few of players.

"We know every other team is playing their best when they face us, so we have to be as good as we can be," said defender Brandi Chastain.

Goalie Briana Scurry added, "You have to work hard to stay best."

"In order to achieve your goals and get where you want to be, you have to continue to practice," said forward Danielle Fotopoulos. "I always practice year-round with a club team or doing whatever I can to improve myself."

When players were younger, they sometimes had to miss parties, dances, and sleepovers, just so they could play soccer. Most of us would consider those sacrifices, but they don't, they chose to play for their love of game.

The rewards are great for these world-class athletes: traveling around world as a team, getting paid to play and competing in Olympics.

"That was a dream come true for me," Scurry said about winning gold medal in 1996 Olympics.

"I had been dreaming about being in Olympics since I was really young, so it was an incredible feeling for me. My family was there, my friends were there, we won it at home (in Atlanta), so it was just most unbelievable experience."

What’s best thing about being on National Team? "I get to play sport that I love everyday with my best friends," Chastain said.

"The relationships and friendships, we're just a big family here," said Scurry, "I can count on team for anything."

There's a particular “magic” moment in tennis—one that lasts a mere fifth of a second. If you have (or can develop) discipline to fully exploit that moment, you may astonish yourself and your opponents with your new-found scoring ability.

The moment I'm talking about is last 1/5th of a second before your racquet strikes ball. The discipline I'm referring to is that of keeping your eye entirely on ball for that super-critical moment.

We've all been told many times that we should keep our eye on ball in tennis. But how many of us really know what that means? How many of us really practice it?

Keeping your eye on ball doesn't mean watching it until it is a split second from hitting your racket, and then glancing away to look at your opponent. It means watching it until it has hit your strings and begun its rebound.

This is not a new secret. Bill Tilden, perhaps greatest player who ever lived, wrote about it more than 80 years ago and tried to drive its importance into heads of his readers. Early on in his classic book, The Art of Lawn Tennis, he cited statistics “to show you how vital it is that eye must be kept on ball UNTIL THE MOMENT OF STRIKING IT” (his emphasis).

“About 85 per cent of points in tennis are errors, and remainder earned points. As standard of play rises percentage of errors drops until, in average high-class tournament match, 60 per cent are errors and 40 per cent aces. ... Fully 80 percent of all errors are caused by taking eye from ball in last one-fifth of a second of its flight.”

Wow. Sobering statistics, to be sure. But exciting ones, too, because what Tilden is telling us is that it's within our power, right now, to eliminate majority of our errors! And reducing errors we make is surest way to starve our opponent of points and extend his opportunity to give up points to us.

Tilden was a great tennis observer as well as a player. He studied and wrote about all of top players of his day, and observed and advised many a tennis beginner. We can trust him when he says that greatest fault commited by novices (and by many more experienced players) is trying to watch too much besides ball.