Lets put it this way.....I have a 3rd grade son who play's on my 4th grade son's MAYB team, he can dominate a 3rd grade game like no other....15-20 points without trying. In our own playing he can make my 4th grader look silly at times and even in the 4th grade team practices he looks like he is a 4th grader and scores at will and plays great defense..........then the weekend comes, he gets in the games and he freezes a bit and the speed of everything going on around him just is different, it could be just the buzz in the gym, the anticipation of the game, maybe even too much excitement but it is just a bit fast for him and he reacts a little slower or makes just stupid plays from time to time that has me scratching my head because I have not seen it before out of him. But my 4th grader who he destroys in practice and playing on our own handles the games just fine and does great.....you tell me why??????????
Sometimes kids (even 18 year olds just have to get comfortable, and that's it), and before you say they need to play to get that, that is not true, if anything that can be more harmful than helpful, this happens over the summer and for some reason it just happens at its own pace.