The mental side of Basketball

While pondering what to write about over the weekend, I realised that “The Last Dance” Documentary was airing today, so I delayed writing the article until I watched the first 2 episodes. And to be quite honest and have my 2 cents, its really good, but anyone that’s done any bit of film study on MJ and the bulls or even read up on their history knows a lot of what was going on in those first 2 episodes. Don’t get me wrong, I thoroughly enjoyed it but I have also heard a lot of what was said in those episodes but I’m ever more keen to watch the next episodes IN A WEEKS TIME!!!

This with my recent fascination for Sigmund Freud and his studies on hypnosis and the way the mind works and personal identification has led me to write this article on the mental processes in basketball more so through personal experience.

During lock down I’ve been struggling a bit with anxiety, a bit of depression, and withdrawal, I mean I’m sure every athlete can relate being locked up now but the other day I went back and watched highlights of my games through the years, I had goosebumps for a solid 20 minutes while watching some footage and in those minutes I was deaf and blind to the world around me. No itchy legs nothing. Its not even a feeling I get when watching NBA highlights etc. But a cheeky full body workout and some stretching and all was right in the world.

Basketball probably means too much to me

I’m sure we’ve all been in a situation where you are so motivated to go train and put up 1000 shots, run 1000 times up and down the floor, dribble the ball 10000 in and out of cones for you jump shot, running, jumping, shooting, but when you step on the court and start shooting you miss your first couple of shots and start beating yourself up about it but you dig deep and persist and finally get the shots to fall, but from there it goes downhill, suddenly nothing is falling and you air ball a shot. You lose your mind and kick something in frustration.

I have been there countless times with jump shots, post moves, free throws, the whole lot.

Even at training with Marlins in 2019, I had a rough practice and made a couple of errors but I kept beating myself up about it. On the way home I wanted to cry and run away, I actually contemplated quitting everything and just stick to coaching. The days that followed were just dark and gloomy, no motivation to do anything, I just wanted the world to swallow me whole because my mentality was: if I think I played so bad how bad must I have looked to the other guys, they must think I’m terrible. Something funny happened though in the next couple of practices and sessions by myself, I realised when I’m on the court playing, everything else falls away. And I remember back in 2017 playing at the annual Ashraff tournament, I had a mental breakdown, not because we lost but because there was so much going on in my head, over thinking and fighting with a team mate on the court didn’t help much, after the game I walked out of hall 29 at Wits and walked far away and just cried for a solid 20 minutes. And that’s where I met someone who changed my whole perspective of the game. When he finally got me to calm down we went and got food (the best solution to any problem really), we started talking and he mentioned something I’ll never forget, “one game doesn’t define your whole career”. As soon as he said it my whole mood changed, I went back to my team mate, sorted out our problem and we carried on (we didn’t win the tournament but it was a revolutionary lesson).

These mental processes we go through may in the moment feel like the world coming to an end, but you have to realise that its just apart of the journey and its okay to experience things like that, its how we grow as individuals.

Lessons

Through high school I’m sure a lot of athletes can relate, you HAVE TO win, you earn respect by winning, its how you get noticed. And it eventually becomes so ingrained in you that winning becomes natural, you go into the game thinking “how much are we gonna beat these guys by?”, which is a good mentality but at the same time can be a hard one because if you lose you break mentally. Losing should leave a bitter taste in anybodies mouth, especially if you know you have the potential to win, but the biggest lessons you can learn in basketball come through losses, I mean how else do you know where your weaknesses are otherwise? Here’s a question: Do you think you can have a perfect team? Ill tell you my answer: No, you cant be perfect, nothing and no one is perfect but why cant you chase perfection? This is a mentality I try to instill into every player and team I coach and train, “we cant be perfect but what’s wrong with chasing perfection?”. Another lesson I try instill especially into youngsters that are very hard on themselves is the “one game doesn’t make your career lesson”, because now more than ever youngsters are being pushed to their limits to chase dreams. A

If you have any lessons or stories you’d like to share then feel free to let me know or head over to the forums section and write something up over there. Also tell me what you think by getting hold of me through the social media handles.

Have a good one!!!