On sprint training. Me and a friend figured out that if you moved your arms fast whilst not running a full sprint it gave the appearance that you were trying very hard and coach didn't give you a hard time. Like most slackers instead of using the trick once in a while we over did it and the coach soon figured it out. The result was even more sprints. Needless to say our team too wasn't too good.

That really only works if the other team is terrible relative to your own. ‘Playing to tie’ a team that is an even match (or close to an even match) results in a competitive advantage for their side.

This does work ok for long distance competitive running, since the factors at play are time and metabolic rate and is missing the strategy present in team based ball sports like football, soccer, basketball, etc.