A post player was having trouble when getting the ball down low because of frequent traveling once the ball was in his hands. He told me that he was working on NOT traveling and I explained to him the value of re-thinking his goal in terms of what he wanted to do rather than what he was hoping NOT to do.
He then showed me the move he would typically make and I asked him to do it without the ball. After doing this several times he worked on getting the pass and making the same move, this time with the ball. So he came up with the thought of making this move assertively and confidently as his intention (rather than staying with the idea of NOT traveling)
I asked him to tell me what would help him do this and he replied, “I think how to make the move before I get the ball.”
I gave him the following additional suggestions:
1. When you are alone, close your eyes and picture getting the ball and making your move. Repeat this a couple of times, seeing yourself acting in a confident and aggressive way.
2. Picture yourself as if you were sitting in the stands and watching yourself make the move. Pay attention to your footwork and rhythm as you imagine watching yourself on the court.
3. Pick out one place in your body that is key in this move - your feet? your core? your upper body? This time use your sense of muscle feeling rather than vision to imagine this move, so that even though you are seated when you mentally rehearse this move you feel the very same muscles activated that you would feel if you were actually playing.
In the gym practice this move alternating between doing it without the ball and with the ball. Every 4th or 5th time do the move in your mind, and then go back to doing the actual move.
Finally, think of one or two words that most describe how you want the move to go and write them down.
One last thing I shared with him was that if he was going to plan the move in his mind ahead of time it was important to be careful to NOT get ahead of himself. Other players have shared with me that on occasion they got tripped up by picturing something in advance and then sticking with that when in the particular circumstances of actual play the defense played him differently and that move turned out to not be the best move for the moment. If you are too caught up in what you are GOING TO DO when you get the ball you may not be leaving enough focus for the PRESENT MOMENT that you are in right now. Without strong focus as the ball is being passed to you, you may be more likely to have it slip through your fingers or be picked off.
So while it is good to feel confident about what you are GOING TO DO, it is no less important to stay focused IN THE MOMENT and be ready to adjust to any last second changes in the defense to make the best possible decision/move.
One way to increase your capacity to do this is to spend a good amount of time visualizing situations where the defender switches things up or your teammates are in different places on the floor.
Adding this skill to your on-court practice can allow you to feel more prepared, and as a rule, when athletes feel more prepared they feel more confident and self-assured - a strong precursor of success.
For previous posts on using visualization click here
1. When you are alone, close your eyes and picture getting the ball and making your move. Repeat this a couple of times, seeing yourself acting in a confident and aggressive way.
2. Picture yourself as if you were sitting in the stands and watching yourself make the move. Pay attention to your footwork and rhythm as you imagine watching yourself on the court.
3. Pick out one place in your body that is key in this move - your feet? your core? your upper body? This time use your sense of muscle feeling rather than vision to imagine this move, so that even though you are seated when you mentally rehearse this move you feel the very same muscles activated that you would feel if you were actually playing.
In the gym practice this move alternating between doing it without the ball and with the ball. Every 4th or 5th time do the move in your mind, and then go back to doing the actual move.
One last thing I shared with him was that if he was going to plan the move in his mind ahead of time it was important to be careful to NOT get ahead of himself. Other players have shared with me that on occasion they got tripped up by picturing something in advance and then sticking with that when in the particular circumstances of actual play the defense played him differently and that move turned out to not be the best move for the moment. If you are too caught up in what you are GOING TO DO when you get the ball you may not be leaving enough focus for the PRESENT MOMENT that you are in right now. Without strong focus as the ball is being passed to you, you may be more likely to have it slip through your fingers or be picked off.
One way to increase your capacity to do this is to spend a good amount of time visualizing situations where the defender switches things up or your teammates are in different places on the floor.
Adding this skill to your on-court practice can allow you to feel more prepared, and as a rule, when athletes feel more prepared they feel more confident and self-assured - a strong precursor of success.
For previous posts on using visualization click here
