James Maddison Quotes

We were pretty darn good - fit and ready to play - but today's level is different. Those ground strokes are ever so much faster, coming back at you at a pretty good speed. Footwork-wise, you've got to be ready to hit that next shot. It's a tough time.

I am a defender, but I can play the ball. I have a good technique.

I wasn't a natural defender. I was a striker as a kid. I have learned a lot but there is more to learn, of course.

Carrying the ball is one of the strongest points in my game and I like to be a danger on the pitch.

Lionel Messi, I never saw him in the gym. I've never seen him train in the stops or do technical exercises.

I've added a bit more composure on the ball and defensively got a bit cuter and improved in one-on-ones.

I do a lot of kicking practice and passing, and it has made a massive difference.

Boxing, mixed martial arts and tennis are the hardest sports to train for.

One of my assets is my fitness. My fitness around the net and my movement: that's my defense to the power.

I would still like to get more athletic and have players that can really cover what's going on in the game.

Tackling, and that ability to stay on your feet and pressurise a player, is a dying art.

Tennis takes care of everything. It requires agility and quickness to get to the ball, core strength to get power into your shorts and stamina to last for an entire match. In addition to toning your arms and shoulders, it's a total body workout for your legs and abs, and works your heart and core unlike any other sport.

Defensive backs are the best players on the field. But when you get an exceptional player like a Deion Sanders or a Darrell Green - these guys are fast and they have very good technique. You have to work a little harder.

The essence of football was blocking, tackling, and execution based on timing, rhythm and deception.

My body is a vehicle for the mechanics of my sport.

Football shape is one thing, and then 'futbol' shape is a completely other thing. It's a whole other level of fitness that you have to work to maintain.

Most of our physical education teachers were just teachers, and they had to do the extra stuff on their own. I remember very vividly that they would hold a cane pole between two of the students down low, and we would all jump over it. And they would raise it and raise it and raise it.

People have no idea how hard football is, absolutely no idea. It's all about pace. You can say, 'Yeah, you've got speed of thought' - but you've got to have a little bit of a zip.

One of my friends, Bruno Andrade, was so quick, he just used to knock the ball past whoever he was playing against, and I thought, 'Why can't I do that?' Until then, I would try to dribble and maybe try a stepover, but Andre would just knock it then - beep, beep - and he was so fast, he would get there first.

For me speed and power is the most important thing on the footy field as well as agility which I work on everyday.

I just used to bank on my athleticism.

Personally, I always try to focus on the little things in my game. As a defender and attacking outside back, I continuously work on completing passes, not being too predictable going forward into the attack, good services into the box, good positioning and footwork.

I want to be active. I want to be able to show everything I can do. I can blitz. I can cover. I can play zone and play man. I can do it all.

You can't play football without having a good training pitch.

I played all sports when I was young. I was into wrestling, basketball, baseball, football, and I ran track. But wrestling was my main sport because there was no criterion height-wise.