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Basketball Mental Skills Article

Eliminate Expectations that Cause Stress

“If you accept the expectations of others, especially negative ones, then you never will change the outcome.” Michael Jordan

stressed-basketball-mental-Most athletes are not born with basketball mental toughness.

The mind is similar to our muscles, in that, the more it is “exercised” the stronger and healthier it will become. At some stage an athlete may become aware of the patterns of their thoughts and in the ways that these thoughts trigger specific behaviours and physical responses unique to the athlete. Some athletes are capable of achieving this stage on their own, others with the aid of a great coach or a mental game coach.

Take, for example, a young athlete who is experiencing the feelings of tension and anxiety in competition for the first time. They have seen the outcome that the tension and anxiety had on their game. However, they may not be aware that what was being tested was their mental game.

Basketball athletes can learn that tension and anxiety (i.e. stress) can sometimes be a sign that their own expectations may be unrealistic, which can often result in becoming a drain on the mind and body during competition.

The athlete that is aware knows that it is their own unrealistic expectations that have become a huge source of anxiety. Anxiety which was generated by the pressure they effectively placed on themselves by having unreasonable demands of themselves. These demands only served to limit performance and not to enhance performance during practice or in competition.

The aware athlete can then begin to find their own unique ways to keeping themselves in check by focusing on the things that can have a positive outcome on their performance.

One possible method to refocus the athlete’s mind can be to have a pre-competition or pre-game warm up routine. By focusing on their own technique during the pre-game, the athlete can make last minute fine tuning adjustments to their form or even think about ways to exploit the opposition with their own strengths.

One of the other techniques, used in sports psychology for basketball, is the setting of process goals as a direct replacement for expectations. Process goals allow the athlete control over dealing with techniques or tactics that are required to perform well. This could be remembering to use their legs as well as their arms when shooting.

Athletes can also use progress goals as a mental map on their way to achieving their own chosen end result. The end result could be from anything from making the playoffs to being chosen as a starter for the first time.

Process goals can prove to alleviate anxiety and tension.

*Download the free mental game assessment and get started on Improving your Mental Game in basketball

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