Success is gained by many different factors. Hustle, work ethic, time put in, chemistry, heart, conditioning, strength, basketball IQ, and many, many more. Yet one large part of success that’s not heavily used is mental preparation. Like practicing your jump shot, mental preparation needs practice and constant development to be useful. It takes imagination, creativity, and diligence with results that may shock you.
How To: Close your eyes and…
• Mentally run over what your jobs are for the upcoming game.
• Mentally picture the offense your team runs.
• Mentally run through what you need to do to improve in practice.
• Mentally run through how you’re going to defend your opponent.
• Mentally picture yourself shooting and hitting free throws.
Potential Results…
• It builds confidence.
• When you’re prepared mentally, you rid yourself of apprehension and worry.
• Your thoughts stay positive and therefore your demeanor creates a healthy aura to those around you.
• It’s one less thing to worry about. If you know you’re prepared, you can now… Just play.
In closure, a great part of mental preparation is that it can be done anytime and anywhere: during pregame when you’re suiting up, the night before a big game, during halftime of a game, etc. Give it a try, you may scare yourself with the results.