KUALA LUMPUR: For the last three decades, this scribe has heard the excuse of "peaking too soon" or "peaking too late" many times.
However, the German hockey teams have proven that there is no such thing.
This was evident when their junior team won back-to-back tournaments in Malaysia.
Rein van Eijk's side first won the Sultan of Johor Cup (SoJC) on Sept 29 and then lifted their seventh Junior World Cup (JWC) crown in Bukit Jalil on Saturday.
For the record, Germany have competed in all 13 editions of the JWC and were finallists nine times.
Unlike many, the Germans eschew the concept of centralised training for months.
Their domestic league holds a sacred status, not to be overshadowed by national training.
These are some of the differences which separate the champions from the rest in world hockey.
"We simply love the hockey culture in Malaysia. This country has many tournaments with thousands of players training and competing year-round.
"In Germany, we avoid long centralised training camps. We encourage players to represent their clubs in the domestic league to gain experience.
"For example, I only assembled my players just before the SoJC due to their commitments in the league.
"After the SoJC, we went home and trained for a few days at an indoor stadium due to the cold weather," said Van Eijk.
In Saturday's JWC final, Germany defeated France 2-1.
France's Jules Verrier scored first in the 17th minute.
However, the resilient Germans netted two goals through Jan Cordes (32nd) and Liam Holdermann (40th) to win the crown.
Malaysia must emulate Germany's attitude and strategy to excel in hockey or all their efforts through development programmes and year-long centralised training will fail.