Anthony Yarde Quotes

As a running back, when you get the ball year after year - and I would say three years on the short end and seven on the long side - you reach a point where it seems like overnight, your body changes and you can't do what you used to do anymore. We see those drastic declines more at running back than any other position.

I certainly look at the modern guys and think they are a different species to when we played. They are fitter and their conditioning is extraordinary.

It wasn't really until the 10th or 11th grade when I started to play well, and football took the place of baseball, which was my love when I was five years old. I don't know what happened; baseball just got boring to me, I guess.

Swimming is probably the ultimate of burnout sports. It's ironic because millions of people who swim as their regular exercise love the meditation aspect of it; you don't wind up with any orthopedic injuries. But when you swim at a world class level for hours and hours - the loneness of the long distance runner.

It is very important to me to maintain a consistent workout regimen during the season. The Bulls staff does a great job with providing me with a weekly workout, and these kept me energized throughout my rookie season. In the off season, I try to increase my strength and add new dimensions to my game.

An Olympic pursuit really takes a full three to four years of Olympic preparation.

I want to do what I can to give the next generation of athletes added advantages in the game.

But through experience I learned to control my body and locate the ball.

And when I went to Houston, they had a conditioning coach by the name of Gene Coleman. And that was the first time I had gone to an organization that had a program with a weight room and designed specifically for pitchers.

That's the same in college. It's the same in high school. Kids are getting bigger, stronger, faster, more into the weightlifting, more into nutrition, more into size.

My dad was my first coach and drove me extremely hard from a very young age.

You never know how long a player has left, especially with strikers. Once you turn 30, as a striker, you are usually on the way down, and playing from the age of 16, at such a high level, has to take its toll.

College, our job is to get guys to get better. Work hard, get better and be in position so when your time comes you get to play in the NBA.

My favorite was always whichever sport was in season. I think these days it's almost saddening to see kids who are 10 or 11 and are forced to choose one sport and specialize in that sport and play that sport year-round. By playing different sports... you become a better all-around athlete.

It's a real strength for me that I've never minded the training process. It's something I enjoy. I really like being in the gym or, certainly, on the field.

You can't go to college and develop into an Olympics champion. It takes too much time, too much training.

It's essential for a fighter to go separately and just focus on training away from everybody else.

Sports psychology or mental training has been viewed as a weakness, and I think that's a pretty silly way to look at it.

I'm getting a lot better with my conditioning, making smarter moves on the floor.

At Barcelona, we didn't do gym work until the age of 18. That was really hard.

I think that wrestling guys has elevated my game in a whole different way. My timing, my transitions, everything is crisp. It's a whole different level.

When I was in Europe maybe you are tired for all year - playing, training, training, training.

I've learned things in Italy at the age of 31. Some of the passing drills are so complicated you need a high level of concentration and if you mess up the rhythm, believe me you are told!

What if you didn't have education for sports? People with a natural inclination for sports, athletes without any kind of education, without any kind of training, they would just be couch athletes instead of the world class Olympians that we have.

During the off-season, I try to increase my practice sessions, and I am also training with my coaches.