Here's where the team misses Maya the most; those behind-the-scenes moments in practice where everybody has to dig down and give 100.0% for the entire session. Not 90%. Not 92.5%. Not 98%. Not 99%.
It takes a tremendous amount of focus, drive, determination, and perhaps most of all, desire to show the Big Guy (GA) that you can take what he dishes out and prove him wrong when he says things like "You're all worthless and weak! Now drop and give me twenty!" Maya often spoke of precisely this desire.
Not that she was never part of a team that got thrown out of practice or whatever, but Maya not only had the drive to push herself like no other, she also drove others to push themselves to the brink in practice throughout her tenure. Despite several very competitive types on the current team, there's probably no one capable of getting others to commit the way Maya did. Of course, Maya was legendary in this regard, so it's not surprising that we'd have a drop off this year. This year's team still has to find their own formula for showing True Grit when they really need to dig down and finish with focus, both in tough games and (always tough) practices.
