“A key basketball skill is imagery. The best players “see” situations before they happen so they can be prepared” Dr. Jack Ramsay

You gave it your best, but it wasn’t good enough. You were prepared but didn’t get the outcome you were looking for. As athletes, we have all been there.

The reason behind this is you are yet to master the mental game skills of basketball.

Mental imagery is one of the most important mental game skills.

Mental imagery helps performance improvement. It sharpens your mind so that you can manage the optimal performance on the court.

There is evidence from sports psychology for basketball that mental imagery can affect and improve your performance. There is also evidence that mental imagery with mindful attention to emotional control can enhance your ability to perform in stressful situations. 

What does it take to develop powerful imagery and become the best on the court? 

Here are a few techniques to get you on your way to a successful imagery practice:

Make Yourself Comfortable

Get comfortable while trying to develop quality imagery. Ideally, find a quiet place so you will not be interrupted, and you can focus all of your attention on what you will be doing. 

Use All Your Senses

It is useful for mental imagery that you use all your senses. Be immersed in the mental imagery feeling all the sights, sounds, and smells of the activity you imagine on the court.

Be The Star

Image your performance from the first-person point of view; this is an internal imagery perspective.

Internal perspective refers to seeing yourself in your mind as if you are watching yourself perform on the court. It is imaging the execution of skills from your viewpoint.

Research suggests this perspective is more effective in producing results so you can star in your performance every time.

Imagine Successful Performances

Your imagery should focus on optimal performance.

That may involve winning, perfect execution, calming the body during a performance. Remembering your best performances and then practicing recreating feelings and similar movements.

Practice

Just like basketball, shooting requires practice and feedback, so do imagery and visualization.

These pathways in the nervous system require regular reinforcement to turn into a positive performance.

Mental imagery is the first step to becoming more conscious of your perceptions and actively putting these perceptions into vivid images.

By making imagery a conscious activity, the process becomes more automatic and easy to do.

This allows you to create strong images of feeling, movement, and the form you want, which will enable you to use those images to execute effortlessly.

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