“Concentration and mental toughness are the margins of victory” -Bill Russel

When playing sports, basketball players tend to train their body by doing physical exercise and keep their body fit by maintaining a healthy diet. Often, they neglect their mental preparation which is a much-undervalued factor in basketball.

To achieve peak performance, you need to train your mind to be tough.

Players may be physically strong and be very quick on their feet, but what determines a good athlete from a great one is their mental toughness on the court.

That is the ability to stay composed under pressure and control your emotions during the game.

Improving Your Mental Game:

Many great athletes have had incidents where they wasted a great opportunity to win all because they folded under pressure.

When the spotlight is on you and you have only a split-second to make a decision, which can change the entire direction of the game, it’s very overwhelming. Not many athletes can handle this kind of pressure and end up caving in.

Players who possess mental toughness can cope with on-court pressures.

Psychology in basketball suggests, every athlete’s performance is influenced strongly by their mind because your mind is connected to your body and controls how you react in certain situations. If your mind is well trained and tough, your body will follow suit.

Basketball psychologists advise players to anticipate adverse situations and think about how to respond with confidence so they don’t flake. Once your basketball mental toughness has improved, you’ll be better prepared to face interferences and obstacles without the expense of your motivation. There will be a major enhancement in your overall performance.

Get Focused:

One crucial purpose of mental toughness is improving a player’s focus and confidence.

It is so easy for your mind to wander off during a game because you tend to worry about the little things too much. Ordinarily, there are lots of things that go wrong during a game, like an unfair penalty, teammates not cooperating, or the audience yelling things that are demotivating.

When these things happen, you have to keep your confidence strong and only concentrate on the task at hand. Only think about your next move and utilize the controllable factors that can help you achieve your goal.

The opposing players may not be as focused so you can use this to your advantage by striking when the player appears to be distracted.

Distractions are a weakness, so if you can train your mind to concentrate when necessary, you have a competitive edge over other players.

Basketball psychology states, “your concentration is only as good as your mental toughness.”

Building confidence is also a key to staying focused and of course when the opposing team scores it can be demotivating for you. That is why being mentally tough is so important so that no matter how bad things get, you don’t lose confidence and you keep giving your best.

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