“I would tell players to relax and never think about what’s at stake. Just think about the basketball game. If you start to think about who is going to win the championship, you’ve lost your focus.” Michael Jordan

Competition can trigger various emotions and shifts in a player’s attitude especially when different parties are working towards the same goal – to win.

These attitudinal changes during the game can affect the game positively or negatively.

There are emotional reactions to unfavorable conditions which may affect an athlete’s basketball mental toughness and impact negatively on performance.

Note that in order to achieve a top performance, it is important to get your players into the right mindset before the start of a game.

Sports psychology for basketball stresses that the combination of basketball mental skills and physical readiness is the major factor that differentiates the best basketball players from the rest.

Hence it is very important to plan ahead in order to deal with these emotional triggers.

Measures should be put in place to curtail such occurrences. Positive emotions help you to sustain motivation and enable you to approach the game with mental toughness and energy; while negative emotions affect your ability to give optimum performance.

How to refocus quickly when distracted.

Emotions can be triggered by many things – past performance, memories, and conversations with other people, competition venue, and even tension.

The process of knowing how to control your emotions starts with recognizing the negative emotional reactions that affect your performances.

When you start to feel negative emotions during a competition, be aware of what they are, for instance, frustration, anger, or despair. Then identify what situation is causing it. After the game before your next practice put an action plan in place to overcome it and practice it over and over. The next time you are in

After the game before your next practice put an action plan in place to overcome it and practice it over and over. The next time you are in

After the game before your next practice put an action plan in place to overcome it and practice it over and over. The next time you are in a competition you will be mentally prepared and it will not interfere with your game.

Sports psychology for basketball suggests that basketball players should practice basketball mental toughness skills that they can apply to increase their level of concentration and focus on the game.

These skills include positive self-talk, breathing and energizing imagery. Athletes should focus on executing the task before them rather than how they feel.

The result will transform players into being mentally strong players which will help them improve and become better athletes.

How to become fully immersed in your performance.

Focus is a very important mental skill that all athletes should master.

It will come into play when it is time to handle the pressure of the game and distractions. Being able to focus under these circumstances will determine if you win or lose.

Being able to focus under these circumstances will determine if you win or lose.
Virtually anything can distract your attention.

Here are several strategies that can be employed to achieve maximum focus and prevent these distractions.
• Setting goals
• Visualization and Imagery
• Positive self-talk
• Identify triggers
• Using cue words or phrases

Just to name a few. Download the free mental game assessment and get started on Improving your Mental Game in Basketball.