Previously I discussed the situation of an athlete who struggled with indecisiveness ("How decisive are you?").
Recently the Rick Mahorn Big Man Camp (www.bigman.camp) began offering online coaching. Coach George Galiotos and I worked with Joe, a 7-foot high school post player, as we viewed a video clip of a past game which he had sent us. In one possession George pointed out where in one defensive play, Joe overhelped a teammate which resulted in weakening the overall defense of his team. George explained, "You have to either go all the way to trap or stay with your player. By not committing either way you allowed the player you were defending get an easy pass."
Then I asked Joe if this represented something he often experienced: a sense of indecision or hesitation in games - and he said that this was an issue for him.
I told him that most likely the source was one of two factors - or possibly a combination of both - a) a lack of experience or b) fear of making a mistake.
Joe quickly said it was the latter, and added, "I think too much about the crowd. Because I am the tallest guy out there everybody expects a great performance out of me. I've been trying to overcome this."
Like any of us, Joe is to be commended for his attempts to correct a fault or shortcoming. In these circumstances, a sport psychologist can sometimes be useful in providing strategies or techniques to harness that intent and make it a bit more focused.
I gave Joe a way to look at it which is designed to give him such a handle. I pointed out that while the crowd was a source of anxiety for him in those moments, playing in front of a crowd is also part of the thrill. The trick for Joe is to be aware of the difference between the two and notice when he is crossing the line from crowd=thrill to crowd=anxiety.
I reminded Joe that when he plays pick-up games and makes a mistake it doesn't matter, he is just having fun. When he would be in a game and realize that he catches himself worrying about what the crowd might think about him to focus instead on what it is about playing that makes it fun (just like in the pick-up games).
As a rule a you cannot experience anxiety and have fun at the same moment. This is known in psychology as reciprocal inhibition, meaning that two different responses to a situation are mutually incompatible. As we all know from weight training, two opposing muscles (e.g., biceps and triceps) can't contract at the same time. This means that players that are having fun are experiencing little thought about things like what other people might expect from them.
For Joe, this would mean that next time he finds himself with two different options at a given moment, he can quickly and fully commit to one, and know that if it plays out well that will be to his credit, and if it proves to be a mistaken choice, then he can let it go and play on.
Recently the Rick Mahorn Big Man Camp (www.bigman.camp) began offering online coaching. Coach George Galiotos and I worked with Joe, a 7-foot high school post player, as we viewed a video clip of a past game which he had sent us. In one possession George pointed out where in one defensive play, Joe overhelped a teammate which resulted in weakening the overall defense of his team. George explained, "You have to either go all the way to trap or stay with your player. By not committing either way you allowed the player you were defending get an easy pass."
Then I asked Joe if this represented something he often experienced: a sense of indecision or hesitation in games - and he said that this was an issue for him.
I told him that most likely the source was one of two factors - or possibly a combination of both - a) a lack of experience or b) fear of making a mistake.
Joe quickly said it was the latter, and added, "I think too much about the crowd. Because I am the tallest guy out there everybody expects a great performance out of me. I've been trying to overcome this."
Like any of us, Joe is to be commended for his attempts to correct a fault or shortcoming. In these circumstances, a sport psychologist can sometimes be useful in providing strategies or techniques to harness that intent and make it a bit more focused.
I gave Joe a way to look at it which is designed to give him such a handle. I pointed out that while the crowd was a source of anxiety for him in those moments, playing in front of a crowd is also part of the thrill. The trick for Joe is to be aware of the difference between the two and notice when he is crossing the line from crowd=thrill to crowd=anxiety.
I reminded Joe that when he plays pick-up games and makes a mistake it doesn't matter, he is just having fun. When he would be in a game and realize that he catches himself worrying about what the crowd might think about him to focus instead on what it is about playing that makes it fun (just like in the pick-up games).
As a rule a you cannot experience anxiety and have fun at the same moment. This is known in psychology as reciprocal inhibition, meaning that two different responses to a situation are mutually incompatible. As we all know from weight training, two opposing muscles (e.g., biceps and triceps) can't contract at the same time. This means that players that are having fun are experiencing little thought about things like what other people might expect from them.
For Joe, this would mean that next time he finds himself with two different options at a given moment, he can quickly and fully commit to one, and know that if it plays out well that will be to his credit, and if it proves to be a mistaken choice, then he can let it go and play on.
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