Stretching is an extremely important aspect of fitness for many reasons. To stretch correctly you must stretch only 5 to 10 seconds before practice and save your long stretching till the end of each practice. Your long stretches need to be 45+ seconds to actually start seeing improvement. You need to research the types of stretching to find which type is best for your sport. Most often dynamic stretching is most effective as opposed to just passive (sitting is splits).
