practice vs playing?

[mvp]

I play my buddies about 10-14 hrs a week plus some local tournys but everyone tells me Im not doing myself any good unless Ipractice drills. So my question is: if you play every game to win with full concentretion is'nt that as good if not better than drills? I also work on safties on tougher players, break outs and runouts with the players i can beat more easily etc. I would love to hear what people think.

 

[Cdryden]

First off I am not a pro, so keep that in mind while reading this.

Drills in my opinion allows you to do the same thing over and over several times in a row and that is how muscle memory is built. When you are playing a game against someone else (or yourself) even when your focus is 100% you are not repeating the same shot over and over and therefore you are missing out on some important aspects of practice.
I believe both drills and playing matches are essential to becoming a well rounded player.

One more thing, I think it is a good idea to set a start time and a finish time for your practice sessions and stick to them. Block out everything else, set a goal and work towards it . ( like drilling position play ). Hope that helps.
Chris