3) Always think positive
Positive thinking is a mental attitude that admits into the mind thoughts, words and images that are conductive to growth, expansion and success in the field of basketball.
It is a mental attitude that brings good and favourable results in the court. The important thing that one must remember is that never ever tell your mind what it is that you
don’t want to happen. Like, if you say, I don’t want to miss this short. Or I don’t want to choke. I don’t want to have a poor game today. Your brain goes right to that thought, and that is what you just programmed your mind to do.
There is no greater joy than a healthy, positive life. You feel exhilarated, energetic, happy and on top of the basketball world. A sense of total well being permeates your mind. The future in the field of basketball looks bright. You feel good to be alive.
Instead of using don’t, replace it with what you’d like to happen. I will make my free throws today. I will stay relaxed and focused. It’s going right in the basket. I am playing strong defence. I will make my team-mates better, and we will find
a way to win!
4) Visualise yourself performing perfectly
This is probably the most effective way to pre-program your mind and body before competition so that you respond without thinking and you compete naturally.
Visualisation is much more than a random daydream or just “seeing” you succeed. It is an extremely focused intention for improving your basketball performance.
Visualisation is an important personal development tool. Just as affirmations can help you motivate yourself and focus better to achieve your basketball goals so can using visualization or mental imagery.
Visualise yourself performing perfectly, right before you go to bed at night. Whatever you think about before going to sleep, it runs through your unconscious mind 16 times. Also, go through any skill that you are performing poorly and see yourself perform
that skill perfectly over and over again.
There was a research study done with basketball players split up into 2 groups. One group shot free throws everyday for a month. While the other group, Visualised shooting. After one month, both groups improved by over 30%. There was very little difference.
It goes to show that your mind doesn’t know the difference between what you vividly imagine and what actually occurs.
5) Look through your opponent’s eye
Imagine looking through your opponents eyes, as if you were him playing against you. And if you were playing you, how would you go about doing it. If we will talk about Michael Jordan - the famous player of all time, it was one of his favourite tricks that
few people know about. He said that he seemed to always know what his opponent was going to do, because he went through this process.
By simply learning these five skills, you can easily change how you perform. Go ahead and try it for a day. You may not be perfect right away, but that’s okay.
Until then, Good Luck and those who focus like a champion feel like a champion!
To be continued…
Tags: