Alan is a 7-footer who, like a lot of the bigs I work with, finds himself not getting many touches of the ball.
It has affected his game in a number of ways.
For one thing, it has brought his confidence down, and then on occasion when he would get a pass he would drop the ball.
He even felt his confidence leaving him when it came to shooting free throws, even though in a game I saw him play he shot 4 for 4 from the line and his form looked pretty solid to me. Then he had people, his teammates among them, telling him why he needed to be dunking the ball so he felt pressure to do that.
A couple of days after we spoke, I was watching a ball game on ESPN, and heard the guy calling the game say how everyone wants to dunk and gives little importance to free throws, but games are often won or lost at the free throw line.
I reminded Alan how solid his free throw shooting was and told him to not make the mistake of losing his perspective because everyone is putting such emphasis on dunking the ball. I told him he would have his share of dunks but it would be a shame if he lost sight of the larger picture.
Alan emailed me to say, “You are right about the free throws. I feel like my confidence has been restored. I can’t wait to get back to practice after the Christmas break!”
It is easy to let go of our confidence, and every mistake we make presents an opportunity for other voices to get into our head. When we step back and find a way to find our own voice – and vision – we are able to silence the other voices and restore our confidence.
It has affected his game in a number of ways.
For one thing, it has brought his confidence down, and then on occasion when he would get a pass he would drop the ball.
A couple of days after we spoke, I was watching a ball game on ESPN, and heard the guy calling the game say how everyone wants to dunk and gives little importance to free throws, but games are often won or lost at the free throw line.
I reminded Alan how solid his free throw shooting was and told him to not make the mistake of losing his perspective because everyone is putting such emphasis on dunking the ball. I told him he would have his share of dunks but it would be a shame if he lost sight of the larger picture.
Alan emailed me to say, “You are right about the free throws. I feel like my confidence has been restored. I can’t wait to get back to practice after the Christmas break!”
It is easy to let go of our confidence, and every mistake we make presents an opportunity for other voices to get into our head. When we step back and find a way to find our own voice – and vision – we are able to silence the other voices and restore our confidence.
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