Good athletes must possess physical strength and speed, but great athletes must also maintain a basketball mental toughness in order to meet their full athletic potential. Basketball mental toughness is the ability to perform at your best level, exceeding expectations during the pressures of a competitive situation.

These are the basketball players who bring their best game when the pressure is the highest, and also motivate those around them to perform at a higher level in team sports. Basketball mental toughness allows a player to execute at a superior level, despite pain or exhaustion, and not limited by external factors.

Fear of failure creates an anxiety that hinders any athlete. The power of negative thinking truly cripples a person from their best performance. Every athlete experiences failures, shortcomings, and injuries, but how the athlete views these setbacks makes all the difference in the final outcome. The basketball player who misses a free throw and later is constantly repeating the words, “Don’t miss, don’t miss” as he approaches the line is creating anxiety.

This anxiety can evolve into a full blown mental block not dealt with in a positive manner. Past mistakes should certainly be examined, but the frame of mind should center on a constructive plan for improvement. Instead of the comment, “Don’t miss”, the basketball player should use a positive thought such as “More arc” when he approached the free throw line.

Michael Jordan expressed it best when he said, “I’ve missed more than 9000 shots in my career. I’ve lost almost 300 games. 26 times I’ve been trusted to take the game winning shot and missed. I’ve failed over and over and over again in my life. And that is why I succeed.”

It is critical for an athlete to visualize themselves competing perfectly in their mind. They must believe they can win. A basketball player who cannot picture in their mind what it looks and feels like to make shots, rebounds, and blocks will never play to their full athletic potential. Improving your mental game in basketball is imperative and true athletes desiring improvement must deliberately seek methods to improve their basketball mental toughness and devote time to the effort. Practice perfect in your mind before you ever hit the gym or the court.

Learning to control your emotions and adrenaline during competition is another component of basketball mental toughness. There are many relaxation techniques that allow you to control your breathing and positive mindset despite external influences. This also improves your ability to deal with the exhaustion and sometimes pain of the competition, keeping your focus on your performance and not on anything detrimental to fulfilling your goal or mission.

The mind will either be your biggest asset or your greatest enemy if you are an athlete. The positive mindset allows athletes to utilize adrenaline and emotion in a constructive manner to improve their level of play in competition. Permitting negative thinking causes emotions to work against you and thereby limits your physical ability. It restricts your focus, and depletes your ability to perform. Great athletes understand this choice and devote both time and energy to developing their mental game and their basketball mental toughness.