“Everything negative – pressure, challenges – are all an opportunity for me to rise.”
Kobe Bryant

Most athletes possess the ability to remain confident when things are going their way. An athlete with strong basketball confidence and mental toughness maintains a positive mindset and focus despite their surroundings, whether good or bad. The game of basketball is full of negative distractors that cause a player to lose confidence and consequently weaken their performance on the court. Sports psychology for basketball assists the athlete with their reactions to negative distractors without losing focus or physical performance.

Control the distractions, and you control your confidence.

Any basketball player understands the game is full of momentum changes. Often the victorious team is the one with the most perseverance to just keep driving and shooting, even when momentum is not on their side. Adversity will occur, and negative distractions are abundant in any game. Creating a coping strategy to deal with any setback prior to its occurrence diminishes the negative impact on your focus and physical ability.

The athlete with basketball confidence prepares for adversity and more importantly their reaction to any obstacle to their performance. The mental preparation to the game is just as critical to success as physical conditioning and fundamentals.

Kareem Abdul Jabaar spoke of the power of the mental game when he offered, “Your mind is what makes everything else work.”

One exercise for handling distractions is to think about all the possible negative situations there might be in a game. The list may seem long, but should include things like: poor officiating, angry fans, taunting opponents, injuries, shooting slumps, faulty equipment, etc. Certainly these are all things an athlete might experience during the course of the game. On a sheet of paper, write down every possible negative distractor on the left side of the page. Across on the right side create a positive reaction in response.

Seriously consider your reactions. What will you do if you miss four three point shots in a row? How will you react if your opponent says a racial slur to you? What if your coach screams at you? These are all questions to answer when you are calm, and thinking rationally not in the heat of the moment that is full of emotion. Creating an effective and positive response to each scenario lessens stress about the “unknown” because you mentally prepared your reactions to all situations.

Once you write your list of distractors and positive responses, it is also powerful to visualize your reactions. It is not simply enough to say it, and write it down, but you gain the most basketball confidence from creating the scenario in your mind and “watching” yourself react in the most positive and effective way possible.

Michael Jordan offered his advice for handling adversity. “Obstacles don’t have to stop you. If you run into a wall, turn around and don’t give up. Figure out how to climb it, go through it or work around it.”

You have probably heard the cliché advice, “Expect the Unexpected”. While this may be true, the mentally tough athlete not only expects the unexpected, but also prepares their positive response to the unexpected. The truly successful athlete adjusts their responses, and their mental game is not altered nor their focus diminished by any negative situation. It’s just part of the game, and they have already mentally prepared a response.