“A lot of late nights in the gym, a lot of early mornings, especially when your friends are going out, you’re going to the gym, those are the sacrifices that you have to make if you want to be an NBA basketball player.” Jason Kidd

In the world of professional basketball you either make it or you don’t – nobody is the exception to that rule, and true basketball mental toughness is needed to survive the tough daily grind.

After living the majority of their young lives playing the sport they love most, young rookie year athletes storm the courts for practices that lead up to the regular season’s start date, and each and every bright young star must not take for granted the basketball mental game that they have developed that has brought them so far in their young career.

Jason Kidd knows a thing or two about the mental game of basketball and what it takes to survive from day one to the championship at the end of the season, and the mental preparation that helps to acclimate athletic young rookies to the rigors and the fast-paced schedule of life as a professional basketball player.
As part of the mental preparation for basketball young players must commit to the mantra that sometimes ‘its lonely at the top’ of the sport that they have devoted the majority of their young lives to.

As youths, basketball amounted to the squeaks of tennis shoes on the polished courts of elementary and middle school gymnasiums. As a high-school aged athlete the camaraderie of your teammates and the basketball mental toughness needed to grind out hard-won victories over your peers and opponents. As a collegiate athlete the loud cheers of fellow students, alums and fans became a source of intimidation, and a necessary hurdle to overcome if one was interested in honing an adaptive basketball mental game.

Nowadays sports psychology for basketball has to consider the previously unheard of variables media coverage, large-scale fandom, and the temptations that are born of being paid more money than had even been earned before.
To an underdeveloped basketball mind these hurdles could become roadblocks and could potentially derail a young professional basketball career if not managed appropriately.

The challenge then becomes more of a practice in basketball mental game discipline, and great efforts should be made to follow a more professional and organized routine in order to maintain an edge of competition at the top level of the sport.
Rookie professional basketball players must not only prove their worth with stout basketball psychology but the open-minded approach to following the professional examples set forth by some of their veteran teammates.

Athletes quickly learn how to adapt to the highest echelon of the game that they live with a fierce and unwavering mental game of basketball and some of these practices can be learned or taught from veteran teammates and mental game coaches that have proven year in and year out how to be a formidable professional basketball player.

Down the free mental game assessment and get started on Improving your Mental Game in basketball.