Few opportunities in life come without some measure of stress. This is particularly true when it comes to basketball players who are looking to get a spot on their national team, playing in a showcase camp, or trying out for a pro club.
Take the case of Michael, who has been invited to try out for his country's national team for Eurobasket play. Michael had previously been a member of his U20 team two years' running.
But when it came to trying for the senior team, he felt a great deal of pressure.
"It can be tough, with everyone competing for those spots. With my desire to be on the team, I worry what the coaches are thinking. And I worry about what the other guys are thinking of my play, too."
The paradox of Michael's situation is that the very goal that motivates him is also the thing that gets in his way. He wants to make the team, but the worries that this generates cause him to doubt his abilities to rise to the occasion and keep him from playing at his best.
Perhaps nothing demonstrates this better than what happened on a previous occasion. After sub-standard play, it became readily apparent that Michael was out of consideration for a spot on the team. At that point he said to himself, "Oh well, f*** it!" and then went out and played great basketball. Once the worries of whether or not he would get selected for the team were out of the equation, Michael was rid of the stress that had gotten between him and his abilities.
So I helped Michael develop a better approach by way of the following analogy. I told him to think of watching TV. Let's say he is watching golf on one channel. But then he switches to basketball on a different channel. Once he is on the basketball channel he can no longer follow the golf match.
I told him to think of his motivation to make the team as the golf channel. The motivation includes thinking about making the team, pushing himself to be in the best physical condition, working on some of his moves and shots, etc.
However, once he is in the tryout camp, he will be better of by changing to the other channel (and no longer going back to the first channel) where the goal is to play in the moment as a fierce competitor who is also having fun - without reference to the outcome of his play (just as when he played with the attitude of "F*** it" he was not thinking about any outcome and this allowed him to be focused just on playing).
In order to succeed at this strategy of being exclusively on one channel, I suggested that Michael use visualization skills to see himself doing this successfully, including getting back on track when he found himself entertaining worries about what the coach or other guys were thinking about how he was playing. I recommended that he do this with enough frequency that he would be able to do it for real when he was at the national team camp.
By focusing on the quality of his play rather than the outcome, and by setting as the goal to play as a fierce competitor and have fun, Michael could more easily rid himself of the worry that got in the way of full use of his talents and abilities.
Take the case of Michael, who has been invited to try out for his country's national team for Eurobasket play. Michael had previously been a member of his U20 team two years' running.
But when it came to trying for the senior team, he felt a great deal of pressure.
"It can be tough, with everyone competing for those spots. With my desire to be on the team, I worry what the coaches are thinking. And I worry about what the other guys are thinking of my play, too."
The paradox of Michael's situation is that the very goal that motivates him is also the thing that gets in his way. He wants to make the team, but the worries that this generates cause him to doubt his abilities to rise to the occasion and keep him from playing at his best.
Perhaps nothing demonstrates this better than what happened on a previous occasion. After sub-standard play, it became readily apparent that Michael was out of consideration for a spot on the team. At that point he said to himself, "Oh well, f*** it!" and then went out and played great basketball. Once the worries of whether or not he would get selected for the team were out of the equation, Michael was rid of the stress that had gotten between him and his abilities.
So I helped Michael develop a better approach by way of the following analogy. I told him to think of watching TV. Let's say he is watching golf on one channel. But then he switches to basketball on a different channel. Once he is on the basketball channel he can no longer follow the golf match.
I told him to think of his motivation to make the team as the golf channel. The motivation includes thinking about making the team, pushing himself to be in the best physical condition, working on some of his moves and shots, etc.
However, once he is in the tryout camp, he will be better of by changing to the other channel (and no longer going back to the first channel) where the goal is to play in the moment as a fierce competitor who is also having fun - without reference to the outcome of his play (just as when he played with the attitude of "F*** it" he was not thinking about any outcome and this allowed him to be focused just on playing).
In order to succeed at this strategy of being exclusively on one channel, I suggested that Michael use visualization skills to see himself doing this successfully, including getting back on track when he found himself entertaining worries about what the coach or other guys were thinking about how he was playing. I recommended that he do this with enough frequency that he would be able to do it for real when he was at the national team camp.
By focusing on the quality of his play rather than the outcome, and by setting as the goal to play as a fierce competitor and have fun, Michael could more easily rid himself of the worry that got in the way of full use of his talents and abilities.
