“Never give up! Failure and rejection are only the first steps to succeeding!” Coach Jim Valvano

Much of building basketball confidence and mental toughness stems from handling negative situations and maintaining a positive mindset with unwavering focus.

Adversity occurs everywhere in life, both in and out of the gym.

The mentally tough athlete realizes that difficulties are expected, not feared.

Mental preparation for the game plans for all adverse circumstances and creates a strategy to control reactions so that there is no loss of focus or confidence. A player who spends the extra time and effort to strengthen their mental game effectively diminishes the negative effects of any adversity on their physical performance.

Every basketball player from the youth league to the NBA makes errors. Mistakes are part of the game, and there is no such thing as perfection on the basketball court.

You can always do better, and you can continuously improve.

Problems occur when errors weaken a player’s confidence and mental focus. When a player focuses on a past mistake, their mindset becomes negative, destroying mental toughness.

Have you ever worried about committing a particular mistake or error, such as missing a layup or committing a foul, only to do precisely what you did not want?

This is because you focused on a negative aspect of your game and not the positive plan for execution.

When faced with an adverse circumstance, it is crucial to remember the 3 R’s for overcoming adversity.

• Recognize—you must first acknowledge any difficulty or negative thought. It would help if you did not dismiss adversity as “nothing.” This is also important when one mistake becomes the primary focus of not repeating. If you air-balled the last three-point shot, you must not constantly replay that mistake in your mind by reinforcing the negative focus. Instead, it is essential to acknowledge the mistake and then visualize shooting a perfect three-point shot. Always imagine yourself being successful.

• Regroup—a regrouping statement is something that will jolt your thoughts from past mistakes back into the present. When your mental focus remains in the past on errors, then it creates an even more significant negative impact over time. One mistake can potentially create a negative impact that becomes a major distraction to mental toughness. This is often how slumps occur in performance on the court. Basketball confidence develops when you leave the past completely in the past without polluting your present frame of mind and mental focus with anxiety from previous mistakes.

• Refocus—an effective mental preparation routine addresses the need to stay in a present frame of mind, focusing on the next play with favorable execution. Time is wasted worrying about previous mistakes, and mental toughness weakens when the focus is too far in the future. The solid basketball mind only concentrates on the next task at hand and doing it well.

When facing an obstacle or adverse circumstance, it is critical to analyze your thoughts and beliefs.

Are your thoughts focusing on mistakes or poor performances, or do your beliefs sound fearful?

Basketball confidence develops as players gain the ability to face and overcome adversity without letting their focus falter to anything negative or limiting performance.

Understand that mistakes are part of basketball, but the mentally tough athlete utilizes their mental preparation and positive focus on the present to diminish any of the effects that adversity brings.

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