I played D1 college football. Pretty much every player on the team was hypercompetitive. That mindset plus the right DNA is required to be successful at that level.
Being hypercompetitive, you put a lot of time and effort into being a good player. It's just what you do. Out of season that means a lot of conditioning and strength training with some skill work. In season there's still conditioning and strength training but more skill work and even more work on game planning for that week's opponent.
Some of the guys on the team had NFL careers but it was a small minority. Even the elite football colleges have only 40-50 players in the NFL out of several hundred who played on the teams with them.
Playing with the pain from fatigue or a big hit is a non-issue. Your body and mind are used to it and, frankly, if you like playing football you were probably pain tolerant to begin with. Serious injuries are a different story.
Outside of football, life is like pretty much any other college student: classes, studying, friends, social activities. Life goals the same. You'd probably take an NFL career if it was possible, but it's probably not possible.
WRT rivalries, in the college life part of your day you want to beat your rivals just as much as any other student fan. However that doesn't affect your training and practice much because you are already giving that work max effort because you are hypercompetitive. Said another way, if you are giving less effort to preparing for non-rivals you are probably not going to be on the field anyway because someone else is out-working you and earning the game time.
In May 1981 Yale faced off against St. John's in an NCAA Regional game. Ronnie Darling pitched for Yale, Frank Viola for St. John's.
Darling threw a no hitter through 11 innings before giving up a single in the 12th. That single led to St. John's only run, which came on a double steal. Viola scattered 7 hits across 12 shutout innings for the win.
Some people suggest it was the greatest college baseball game ever. Debatable but certainly an amazing performance.
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I played D1 college football. Pretty much every player on the team was hypercompetitive. That mindset plus the right DNA is required to be successful at that level.
Being hypercompetitive, you put a lot of time and effort into being a good player. It's just what you do. Out of season that means a lot of conditioning and strength training with some skill work. In season there's still conditioning and strength training but more skill work and even more work on game planning for that week's opponent.
Some of the guys on the team had NFL careers but it was a small minority. Even the elite football colleges have only 40-50 players in the NFL out of several hundred who played on the teams with them.
Playing with the pain from fatigue or a big hit is a non-issue. Your body and mind are used to it and, frankly, if you like playing football you were probably pain tolerant to begin with. Serious injuries are a different story.
Outside of football, life is like pretty much any other college student: classes, studying, friends, social activities. Life goals the same. You'd probably take an NFL career if it was possible, but it's probably not possible.
WRT rivalries, in the college life part of your day you want to beat your rivals just as much as any other student fan. However that doesn't affect your training and practice much because you are already giving that work max effort because you are hypercompetitive. Said another way, if you are giving less effort to preparing for non-rivals you are probably not going to be on the field anyway because someone else is out-working you and earning the game time.
Great story but some of the facts are in error.
In May 1981 Yale faced off against St. John's in an NCAA Regional game. Ronnie Darling pitched for Yale, Frank Viola for St. John's.
Darling threw a no hitter through 11 innings before giving up a single in the 12th. That single led to St. John's only run, which came on a double steal. Viola scattered 7 hits across 12 shutout innings for the win.
Some people suggest it was the greatest college baseball game ever. Debatable but certainly an amazing performance.
Story here: https://www.nytimes.com/2012/06/09/sports/baseball/darling-viola-pitchers-duel-lives-on-in-st-johns-baseball-lore.html
You mentioned evening but if you arrived in the morning then the noon public skate at Yost is a neat experience and an absolute bargain.