September 08, 2024   |   Tagged Skills,

How to improve your responsibility on and off the basketball court

Check out this article to find ways we can improve our responsibility on and off the court as student-athletes who love the game of basketball enough to put in the work.

What is responsibility? —Responsibility is both a strong feeling and a mindset. It is the drive to follow through with expectations not only for your life but also for others. Responsibility comes from the word response. Your actions provide a response to others about your character and behavior. It’s an obligation to answer to someone else for our behaviors or actions.

What is the difference between accountability and responsibility? Responsibility is the mindset before a task and accountability is the answerability after a task. I am responsible for the execution of the task; I am accountable for how the task is executed.

“I have the responsibility to work hard and get ready so we can take this team where we need to go.” Philip Rivers

What are the characteristics of a responsibility?
Take a self-test:

• I have a high level of self-control and self-discipline.
• I am honest and transparent.
• I prioritize commitments and obligations.
• I am dependable.
• I respect the rules, codes of conduct and expectations of my teams, schools, home or business.
• I set my own goals for achievement.
• I initiate what is needed for success.
• I have high task efficiency.

Dangers of lack of responsibility
Any kind of sport, business, relational, or emotional success requires a foundation of responsibility. When we place the expectations for our success on the initiatives of others rather than making our success our own responsibility, we do not achieve. Lack of responsibility leads to the lack of autonomy, underdevelopment of personal virtues, missed opportunities, failed relationships, and lack of trust.

Dangers of over-responsibility
Over-responsibility can be a debilitating mental health issue. Feeling responsibility for more than you can control leads to despair and anxiety. You know you are struggling with over-responsibility when you feel responsible for the happiness of other people. Each person is responsible for their own happiness and attitude. When we take this on, we not only enable another to blame and shame us, but we also trap ourselves. Another danger of being over-responsible is to become too severe with ourselves and others. We fear losing control and can become anxious about cleanliness leading to OCD tendencies. We can become religiously overly responsible leading to severity in judgment and abusive moral piety. Overly responsible people can become fixated on perfection, symmetry, or beauty, which results in comparison, criticism, and shame. Overly responsible people struggle to ask and accept help. They can become burnt out and overwrought.

Surprising Research about Responsibility: A person’s perception of how responsible they are to a team or a task or the family will be proportionate to their follow through. The higher the perception of responsibility the higher the self-discipline and initiative.

What also was surprising in the research was that students understood they are highly responsible for their own learning on and off the court, but that understanding did not equate to actual behavioral actions. They said one thing and did another. Their behavior did not show they took responsibility.

Numerous studies point out that most students don’t consider they have responsibility for peers or siblings. This equates to a highly self-focused mindset and a blindness toward the responsibility to help lead, inspire, encourage, or motivate others.

Finally, a powerful insight for responsibility is that students can close the gap between being a victim, or being responsible through direct modeling and teaching. Students developed a responsible mindset when students shifted their mindset reset grasp that the quality of an experience is not merely what they are provided with, but also linked to their own effort, attitude, passion, commitment, and follow through,

BASKETBALL RESPONSIBILITY

Gratitude and responsibility go hand in hand while entitlement produces victimhood. When you start to blame or become bitter toward your team or coach, insight and wisdom become difficult.

Basketball is a beautiful sport to teach responsibility. Each team member is responsible to bring health, wisdom, courage, and follow through to the team. Each member is responsible for their role and work to contribute to the team. If everyone on the team wants the ball 100 percent of the time, they will not be a team. Perhaps that person should play an individual sport that allows them 100 percent opportunity with the ball. A team sport requires each person to be responsible for the execution of their unique roles. Teams who do not share responsibility, who blame each other, or who are solely self-seeking are not truly teams. How well each member executes their interdependent task for the most optimal outcome is the measurement of that team’s future success. A cohesive team operating together is a powerful force. A team operating individually, without rhythm, unity, is a divided team which we know will always fall.

Basketball Responsibility

• I am responsible to be trustworthy with the ball.
• I am responsible for my character and the quality of my attitude.
• I am responsible for my leadership and how I live.
• I am responsible for building up my teammates and helping them be successful.
• I am responsible for part of my relationship with my teammates and coach and my part is powerful, contagious, and influences other people.
• I am responsible for my own interior happiness and peace.
• I am responsible for my words, my actions, my tone, my dedication, and my follow-through.
  
  

What kind of season are you going to have? Most people wait to find out based on how others treat them. Great leaders build an inspired season and find ways to contribute to making the season the best possible season. Victims wait and react. Leaders initiate and create.

Hey NBC Basketball Athletes,
What a time we had with you this summer! Thank you for being student-athletes who are inspired to learn and improve: who take responsibility for learning and growth and who lead through example. We can’t wait to see what your minds are cooking up for the 2024-2025 season. You are powerful, compassionate, dedicated, and toughminded. Thanks for committing to hear the truth that the quality of your season is not merely what you are provided with, but also created from your own initiative, attitude, passion, and dedication. #theseasonstartsnow

About NBC Basketball
NBC Camps started in 1971 with 108 students out of Cusick, Washington, and has grown to become one of the largest overnight basketball camps in the world. For more information visit www.nbccamps.com.