January 29, 2020 | Tagged Skills,
Basketball Acumen-- the way to have the competitive edge as a basketball player
Everyone wants an edge as a basketball player. Building the skill of acumen as a player can give you that edge. What is acumen?
Consider this insightful story:
The greatest swordsman in the world challenged a man (who was an expert swimmer but who had never handled a sword) to a duel for their lives. The swordsman allowed the novice one concession; he could pick the time and place for the duel. The swimmer at first was terrified, but then, instead of thinking about his deficits, he began to study his abilities. Where did his acumen lie? The swimmer announced the duel would be held at sea and the great advantage held by the swordsman was neutralized with the decision to hold the duel in the most dangerous part of the surf.
Acumen is not a common word but it is an important word because it means the ability to make good judgments and quick decisions especially in an area of expertise. For the swordsman, he had the advantage of acumen in sword fighting. The swimmer had the acumen of navigating a raging sea. Acumen gives us advantages over people with average skills. Acumen comes as a result of intensive learning and purposeful practice.
ACUMEN—WHY IT MATTERS
Decision making is a crucial skill in basketball and life. Your ability to make not only wise but immediate decisions in key moments requires skill and training. Those without acumen, often make wrong decisions, impulse ones or decisions that don’t lead to an optimal outcome. If you aspire to be excellent at anything in life, you need to develop acumen. Simply doing a task for many years doesn’t give you acumen. For example, learning to drive is an important skill to have, especially in cities or locations of car dependence. As a student learns to drive, the skills acquired build to a level of competency which allows them to get licensed to drive. But every skill acquisition has a level of plateau, and research on driving shows that once a person reaches a level of competency, they start to move to autopilot where their skillset levels out and is maintained but is not improved. Driving for 20 years does not make you a better driver than a person who has been driving for 5. The same is true for every task. Once a person reaches a “satisfactory skill level”, their actions and behaviors become automated and they reach a threshold of no improvement. This is amazing!!
This means that continued practice DOES NOT lead to better performance!
Acumen means that you have surpassed the satisfactory skill level and now are operating at a level beyond.
Basketball Acumen
Basketball is a very complex sport and the current way parents and athletes are working to advance skill in this sport needs serious review. There are key attributes of this game that require intentional, purposeful practice to improve. Shooting, passing, and dribbling are skills that require an athlete to fight the satisfactory skill plateau. Games DO NOT improve these skills. They only reveal their current state.
If you want to truly build basketball acumen you must engage in daily intentional deliberate practice. Let’s break this down into a workable plan.
Step One
Motivation is key. If you have a bad attitude, if you don’t feel like giving 100 percent, you already will be limiting your body and your mind. Your mind dictates the intensity of the body. The body will choose the comfortable path. The mind and better yet, the heart has to be the driver. It is no wonder that courage is said to reside in the heart. To be excellent requires great bravery. It is a daily decision to live with courage.
Step Two
Goals are the target of your heart. Once you have the engine of your heart behind you, use your mind to focus on your goals. Goals should be thought of as precise baby steps that march you to your task. If the step is too easy and too small, push yourself. If it is too big, back up. Your sweet spot is where the task is just barely out of reach. Goals help you teeter on the edge of what you are and aren’t’ capable of doing.
Step Three
Commit to the long haul. As NBC Coach Mike Nilson says in his awesome podcast Hoop Commitment, “Don’t break the chain.” Your day in and day out doggedness is the march you need. Focus on making every day as excellent as you can. Don’t worry about the gulf between yourself and your big dream. Focus on your daily commitment. Pretty soon you will have marched to the top.
Step Four
Love and seek feedback. Work your trouble spots with feedback. Instead of hiding your weaknesses, bring them out into the light. Shine a big bright light on them and get some good counsel. Shame is a feeling that you can’t change your weaknesses. Strength is your ability to be unafraid of feedback. This is a decision of the will. If your ego is based on externals (appearance, performance, popularity) then feedback is way too difficult. If your foundation is in the unshakable truths of life, especially if you have a strongly rooted faith in God, then feedback becomes a tool for improvement rather than a measurement of your worth.
Step Five
Recovery is one of the most important keys to health. We don’t value it enough. Stanford’s research on sleep for basketball players is profound. Disciplined, consistent and healthy sleeping patterns improved free-throw percentage 9% and three-point shooting 9.2% not to mention improving mood, daytime attentiveness, and vigor. If you don’t rest, you can’t improve.
Basketball Acumen Tip
Mastering the “pick and roll” is a separator. Athletes who understand the nuances, advantages, and strategies of the pick and roll have entered into a higher echelon of basketball knowledge than but the average player who doesn’t truly understand or implement the power of the pick and roll. When executed at the highest level, it is virtually unstoppable. Players need to have the ability to pass quickly, deceptively and with pinpoint accuracy. They must have the ability to see the moment the defender drops his or her guard. They must see the angles and the options immediately narrowing decisions to 3-4 optimal choices. According to the researcher, Anders Ericksson, more options lead to more likelihood of success. A great player can quickly navigate to the best three or four options and respond immediately as the options unfold.
About NBC Basketball
NBC Basketball is part of the NBC Camps Academy of Sports Excellence. training athletes for success on and off the court. The mission of NBC Camps is to help educate and equip students with tools to be resilient, courageous and powerful. NBC Basketball focuses on training from the inside out. NBC stands for Nothing Beats Commitment and the philosophy that a person's daily habits reveal their future. Camps are located in 6 countries. For more information about NBC Basketball visit www.nbccamps.com/basketball