“When you reach that elite level, 90 percent is mental and 10 percent is physical. You are competing against yourself.” Dick Fosbury

If you want to win games, you have to be both physically and mentally strong.

During the tense moments in the game, your mental toughness can give you an edge over other competitors by blocking distractions and focusing on the game.

If a physically sound player has doubts during a highly charged play that demands the best performance, a game almost won could be lost.

For this reason, it is crucial to train physically and mentally. Developing your mental game will help you give perform best in challenging situations.

Boost Your Performance

There are many ways to boost your mental and physical performance.
• Exercising your mind and body every day
• Having a positive attitude
• Setting realistic goals
• Regular self-assessing
• Turning weaknesses into strengths
• Concentration and Focus

Enhance Mental and Physical Performance

Confidence

Great players who have achieved success had belief in themselves, i.e., confidence that they will achieve it.
When you have confidence, part of the work is done. Confidence gives a positive outlook on things. The brain and body feel energized and focuses their energy on achieving the goal. An old saying epitomizes the same view – “great battles are won in the mind and not in battlegrounds.”
One may know everything theoretically, but to make it happen practically, you have the courage and mental toughness to take up the challenge and channel all the energies to make it happen. The belief in yourself that it is achievable and within your reach is confidence in your abilities.

Awareness

Humans beings are unique because they possess this unequaled ability to be aware of their actions. They can assess their abilities, reflect on their past, learn from mistakes and benefit from experiences.
This awareness about self can be used to enhance your mental and physical performance. As you accurately reflect on your weaknesses and how you can convert them into strengths, learn from other athletes’ experiences; this will help you soar to the top of your game.
Take the best of what you observe and others share, then put together a uniquely designed style to help you reach optimal performance.

Self Control

Self-control is about making the mind and body disciplined so that both are synchronized and co-ordinate in the best possible way to achieve a goal.
When the focus of the mind and body are in sync, it becomes easier to achieve the goal.
Self-control is necessary for maintaining discipline, avoiding procrastination, and training the mind to achieve emotional stability so that rational decisions can be made in a split second. Developing your mental game for basketball and self-control will also help you become resilient, rebound quickly, bounce back from the setbacks of missed shots and bad plays.

Attribution Training

Attributes or criteria that athletes associate with the outcome of their success or failure may have resulted from their learned behaviors and past experiences.
If you can identify those attributes and work towards them, you can enhance your performance and elevate your game. To clarify, let’s take three players who could not score a basket. If you ask all three of them, they may cite a different reason for their unsatisfactory performance. One may refer to their inability, another one may blame the noisy atmosphere, and the third one may blame the lack of knowledge of technique.
Once you realize the attribute and the root of the problem, you can change it by logical reasoning, positive actions, mental game coaching, and finding a realistic solution. This will yield better results and increase your mental and physical performance, giving you optimal performance.

If you want more information about how to improve your mental and physical performance, enroll in my online course at www.dcmentaltrainingu.com