When it comes to editing down photos for my photo essays I rarely include shots from warm-ups. For some reason they feel inauthentic -- almost cheap in a way. Warm-ups are a great opportunity to get candid photos of a star athlete, but it's such a casual shot that it hardly fits into the flow of the usually intense action photos.
There was one photo essay in which I used two warm-up shots in a photo essay when SMU played Texas A&M because they were high-profile, impact players (Ricky Seals-Jones & Kenny Hill, who are in the gallery above) I felt deserved a little extra attention but if I would've been able to get a better game shot of the two I would've easily chosen the latter. I guess, in a way, I use warm-up shots as a crutch in case I feel like my game shots are lacking a bit.