November 22, 2019 | Tagged Skills,
Building Your Basketball IQ- 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 which 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 to 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 for 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
Commitment 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 in 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 key 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.
About NBC Basketball
NBC Basketball offers summer camps, clinics, fall and spring basketball academies, travel teams and more. NBC Basketball began in 1971 and is a leader in the importance of attitude, mental toughness, mindset, gratitude, servant leadership and faith. NBC stands for Nothing Beats Commitment and the understanding that daily habits reveal our future. For more information about NBC Basketball visit www.nbccamps.com/basketball