“The basketball court for me, during a game, is the most peaceful place I can imagine. On the basketball court, I worry about nothing. When I’m out there, no one can bother me.”
Michael Jordan
Nervousness is a component associated with any sort of competition. It is a physical response to emotional feelings of stress. Everyone experiences nervousness whether it is occurs during tryouts for a team, on the basketball court or a pre game meeting. Learning to limit nervousness is the key to strengthening basketball mental toughness. Nervousness escalates into worry, which not only destroys positive focus, but also weakens physical ability. The successful athlete reinforces their mental game of basketball which allows for peak physical performance. An athlete plagued by worry never reaches their full performance potential.
Worry is fueled by fear. Speculation of the “what if’ depletes mental energy creating a negative mindset. Basketball psychology notes the importance of positive self talk for the mentally tough athlete to withstand the pressures of competition. It is imperative for an athlete to analyze what is their inner self talk, thus establishing if their focus is either positive or negative. Worry pushes self talk with negative words, like “Don’t miss the shot” or “Don’t miss your block”. Worry actually increases the likelihood of the feared event occurring.
Mental game coaching pushes the focus on constructive statements of the present such as “Follow through”, “Play every moment aggressive”. Make sure that your attention is on the necessary play of the game, and not creating game statistics for later glory.
Shaquille O’Neal said it best about his performance and focus on individual statistics, “The day I stopped worrying about stats is the day I started winning.”
Preparation and practice for a game is another area hampered by worry. When the mindset allows fear to infiltrate the self talk, then worry escalates exponentially. Any adversary appears more formidable when the focus if fueled by fear. Coaches and teammates should work to establish a mindset that every player is capable of success, and that hard work and preparation WILL result with a win. A team with basketball mental toughness strives as a collective unit to display a positive mindset. The team entering a game with doubt and worry will most likely result in a loss at the end of four quarters. As a team it is important for all coaches and players to adhere to team goals based on affirmative actions, offering encouragement when needed, and eliminating fear and worry as necessary.
Learning to release fear and worry from your mindset liberates your mental toughness to enhance your physical performance. Sports psychology in basketball promotes the establishment of both team and individual goals periodically throughout a season. Self talk is consistently analyzed as to whether it promotes the recognized goals or rather the fear of the unknown. When the mindset is not strictly focused on the established goals, then it is redirected immediately. Worry is never allowed you to expand, but rather extinguished the moment of realization.
Legendary coach John Wooden pushed his players with the following directions for success on both the basketball court, but more importantly in life, “Promise to be too large for worry, too noble for anger, too strong for fear, and too happy to permit trouble to press on you”.
