“What is the best thing you can do in a close game? Drive to the basket and put pressure on the defense! Not jack up jump shots” Bob Knight

The mistake many athletes make is that they don’t treat the mind the way they treat the physical and technical aspects of their game.

According to Sports Psychologist Jim Taylor, when athletes treat their minds as they do their bodies, they perform better.

Your State of Mind

State of mind is primarily defined by your life events, people around you, and how you handle them.

Different athletes react differently to negative and positive situations in sports.

State of mind can refer to a few concepts and ideas, but perhaps the two most common concepts are:

1. Your current emotional. Essentially, are you stable, happy, and able to perform effectively on the basketball court, or are you experiencing some form of emotional distress, or do you lack the mental game awareness that impairs your judgment or knowledge?

2. Your perception of yourself. You could possess an “empire state of mind,” or you see yourself as a strong-willed and confident athlete. You could also have a low state of mind, or a gloomy outlook and make predominantly pessimistic assumptions about your performance.

Your mood shifts your view and influences your state of mind when making a decision or experiencing an event. It is not always easy to master the mind and control the state of it, but over time and practice, such can be possible.

The first step is being able to recognize that stress is building so that you can take steps to manage and alleviate it before it causes problems.

Here are some things that can cause imbalance.

1. Yourself (your thoughts, overthinking, negative thoughts, thinking about the future, about the past, not being present, comparing yourself to others, getting jealous).

2. Neglecting your health (not eating healthy, not drinking enough water, not sleeping well, not breathing right).

3. Giving so much attention to social media (the more you are bombarded with what others are thinking of you and what’s going on around you, the more you go far away from what you really want to do, you stress about you being stuck and unproductive, comparing yourself to others and looking at the negative aspects of your game)

The Pre-game Mindset

One way to overcome the pre-game anxiety and stress is developing a pre-game mindset with a proper pre-game mental preparation.

Your pregame mental preparation strategies can help you feel confident, focused, and ready to trust in your skills.

Pre-game ritual varies for different athletes for the simple fact that every athlete is different, and they react to different situations differently.

However, here are some basketball psychology strategies you can follow to get yourself into a pre-game mindset.

Lots of NBA players do this, even LeBron, so there’s zero shame in it.

Pick a few of your favorite songs or watch a couple highlight videos of your favorite player and stretch out while you’re doing this.

Then close your eyes and visualize performing well and winning the upcoming game.

Do these before you play.

*FREE Guided Imagery Audio – Text Mental Game to 33777 and get your free Guided Imagery Audio. This will help you elevate your game sooner, quicker, and faster!