“I never looked at the consequences of missing a big shot … When you think about the consequences, you always think of a negative result.” — Michael Jordan

Performance in basketball is largely about Training the Mind. In Basketball a player needs to be equipped with the essential toolkit of mental skills to enhance basketball mental toughness and avoid probable distractions. Hence a mental tool kit can offer the much needed skill upgrading package for mental game basketball.

Effective application of mental tools in sports psychology for basketball can work consistently when the three aspects of athlete behaviour, coach conduct and the system of coaching can work in a balanced manner.

Since the mind controls a wide scale of activities on the court, the mental game in basketball helps in controlling the movements of the body and allows the muscles and memory to act in sync.

Basketball mental toughness ensures strength in confidence, concentration, agility and astuteness. The subconscious mind guides a player to give his best performance on the field.

Mental tools in basketball can be applied aptly to strengthen this subconscious zone. Hence an appropriately designed mental tool kit can be extremely valuable to sharpen the skillset of an athlete.

For instance, visualization is a mental tool that can help in building basketball mental toughness and making the player competent as well as improve certain areas of performance.

In fact scientific testing has proven that daily visualization alone can improve a player’s free-throw ability significantly and if combined with physical practice on regular basis, visualization can reflect direct benefits on performance.

Apart from heavy workouts and drills, mental toughness can be best applied when the player is well prepared from all aspects. This include evaluation of one’s skills for a particular game, finding out training tactics which best fits the player’s skillset (reading books and magazines might help), systematic workouts and gym time for proper conditioning of the body.

The mental game can help in balancing the analytical part with the physical activities. Concentration or focus, is a key component of Basketball mental toughness. It can develop best when training is taken like a game itself.

The mental game coach can play a useful role in directing the players to enhance this crucial component of his mental game. Being casual about mental training leads to waste of the mind by itself and hamper the potential peak performance.

Download the mental game assessment and get started on improving your mental game.