Motivating yourself for an upcoming Basketball Game

Posted by Eitel in For Coaches, For Players | 0 comments

When you are playing a competitive sport sometimes you need to have something to motivate yourself before a game. It is important to have a positive mental state during the game because that will help to make you successful and cope with the stress created during competition. When an athlete has a positive attitude it manifests itself to the world as self-confidence. The athlete who is self-confident and has a winning attitude will then be more motivated for their upcoming games.

Self visualization of success before games can help the athlete be more motivated. Visualization of winning then makes the athlete a winner not only in their own minds but also becomes an actuality in their life by creating self-esteem. Self motivation may seem to be a little difficult especially if you find yourself in a mental slump. Here are a few ways for you to motivate yourself before you play your basketball game:

• Focus on the reason you play basketball. Think about the things that you enjoy about playing.
• Think about the best games you have played and feel the passion and drive from the memories.
• Make sure that you create some type of pregame warm-up that helps direct your drive to succeed. A good pre-game warm-up will not only prepare your body to play but get your hormones pumping to get you excited to play. Try things like Tai’chi, Pilates, stretching/toning exercises, yoga, or moderate aerobic exercises like jogging or bicycling.
• You can also center your mind by meditating before a game.
• You can review your favorite sports DVDs of great games that inspire you.
• You can read the philosophies of great sports authorities through books and sports literature. Read things from people like Michael Jordan, Red Auerbach, Bobby Knight, and other great players and coaches.
• Create a mantra for yourself that you recite that makes you feel passion to attain your goals. You can repeat the mantra to yourself when you are warming up for your game and anytime you feel the need to motivate yourself. Think of a phrase that sums up how you want to feel or what you want to accomplish. For example: I am a winner. I am successful. I love to play the game of basketball. Then repeat these positive words to yourself as your mantra.
• Talk to people who are positive and help to motivate you and your passion for the game.
• Keep a journal of positive quotes and stories that you can look at when you need motivation.
• Think about all of your wins and great plays that you made during games. Think about your best memories while playing basketball.
• Talk to your coach and teammates about how you feel and what you want to achieve. Have positive discussions about your passion for the game and your accomplishments.
• Think about what you want to do with your basketball career or efforts. Focus on your goals and anything you have earned in the way of trophies and tournaments won.

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Tips on playing Defense correctly

Posted by Eitel in For Coaches | 1 comment

Defense is a very important and occasionally overlooked component of the game. It doesn’t have the glory of scoring points, or magnificent showboating slam dunks, but it does make or break a game. What people do not realize is that without defense, the game would essentially be a boring back and forth scoring festival where you know exactly where the points would be. With a defence involved you really never know what is going to happen next.

Conditioning is one of the first elements that a defensive player should work and work hard on. Playing defense at the start of the game is one thing, but being in good enough shape to play that same defense by the end of the game makes the difference between good and great players. Things like proper diet, aerobics and light weight training will go a very long way in extending your endurance and providing you with the battery life that you’ll require!

Knowing yourself goes a long way. While every player has strengths and works on them to keep them in tip top shape, it takes a unique and special player to identify and admit their weak points, and work on those. Weak points will never improve unless you work on them. If you find yourself winded as the game goes on, aerobics and cardio are going to be a focal point for you.

Variety is another weapon of the team defence. If your team always plays the same defense, opposing teams will identify it and find ways to easily beat it and score. Where adding in new formations, switching player’s to different positions and just shaking things up will go a very long way in keeping an offense guessing as to what you are up to.

When you are defending a player one of the most underutilized tools are a player’s hands. Get those hands up when a shot is being made as the slightest touch can alter a balls trajectory and send it just enough off course to cause a shot to miss, or even cause the ball to come into your team’s possession.

Listen to your teammates and listen often. Communication is crucial with teammates, and they will often tell you the information that you need to know, even if you can’t see it. They will be your eyes, so trust them! Also on the sidelines be open and talk with your teammates, someone may have noticed something about the other teams tendencies that may give your team the upper hand, and without communication would just go unnoticed.

One final point to help hone your defensive game and help improve it is the use of fakes. While players on offense frequently fake, players on defense do not utilize fakes as often as they should. Faking an offensive player can force him to make an unplanned move and can cause the offensive plan to go out the window. This can cause mistakes and miscommunication and open a window for the defence to get the ball!

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The Reason why Basketball is so popular

Posted by Eitel in For Parents, For Players | 2 comments

Basketball has enjoyed a meteoric rise in popularity over the last decade. While a lot of people fail to see how this could happen, it is very easy to track down a few key points that could be helping and stoking the flames of growth for basketball. Some people even go so far as to say that basketball is no more popular than it was back in the prime days of Michael Jordan. If this were the case, than the games wouldn’t be popular, and they wouldn’t constantly have packed arenas and high ratings.

The internet has become a huge publicity tool for basketball. Not only can league players go online and obtain advice from people in all walks of life, but local players can always go online to certain social sites or certain web services and find other players online that are in their area to play.

The internet allows for fans new and old to watch old basketball material, be able to access new basketball material, and has the ability to follow today’s current basketball. Before the internet, you had to read the newspaper, or sit in front of the television to get the scores and highlights from that day. Now that technology and the internet have taken it so far that you can get all of that material even on your cell phone.

As well as the internet, people are just getting outside more to parks and away from their video games and busy lives. Basketball is a great way to enjoy some physical activity in a fun setting that allows you to be competitive, but also allows you to have a lot of fun while doing it. Basketball is a sport that can be played in and outside, and is a year round sport.

Today’s age of professional basketball player tends to draw a little more attention than players of the past. That is due to the many changes in how the game is played, delivered, and enjoyed by fans. The internet allows an unprecedented amount of access that previous to the internet age couldn’t have been achieved. The amount of information available at any one time to anyone looking for it brings the sport into a whole new light.

Not only has the internet become a publicity tool, and a research tool, but also has become a solid training aid. Players of all levels have access via many sites, blogs, forums, etc to various kinds of information that can help every aspect of their game. Things like workout routine, eating habits, playing styles and more can be found simply by typing some very basic terms into a search engine and rolling with what comes up.

Players now have the ability to network with other players in various locations worldwide and of differing skill levels, which in itself promote different levels of the game, and is in itself an ambassador for the game. Potential players will be able to view a large amount of information without having to ask questions that sometimes will make people shy away because they hate to look “weak”.

Today’s fans, players, and coaches all will agree that basketball has become far more popular at all levels in the past decade, and the internet, as well as the evolution of the game is at the forefront of that trend!

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Realistic Goals to Set and Achieve as a Basketball Player

Posted by Eitel in For Players | 0 comments

When you are standing on a basketball court, your goals differ from position to position. While simply saying “I want to win more” would suffice to some people, it is not as simple as that. You need to set realistic goals that you can achieve. Setting unrealistic goals that you cannot possible achieve or even improve upon can demoralize not only yourself, but those around you as everything a member of any team does, affects the whole team, and not just that person.

Some goals to keep in mind when you are trying to improve your on the court and off the court issues are as follows.

1. One realistic goal that most people like to look at off the start is scoring more points. While you cannot guarantee a certain amount of points each and every game, you can maximize on the chances that you do get. That means doing extra drills each and every practice and keeping track of your progress. Getting help from fellow team members that have a better shot then you is always a plus. You cannot watch yourself shoot unless you are videotaping, and sometimes even watching yourself on video tape, you may not catch something that someone else does. It could be something as simple as timing the release of the ball better, to something as complicated as the power that you have behind the ball. While power seems to be a “small” issue in the eyes of some, if you put too little, or too much power behind a shot, you may find yourself wasting some good scoring chances.
2. Conditioning is another realistic goal that can have its success measured rather easily. If you find yourself becoming winded in the later quarters of the game, this could be an indication that you need to focus more on your conditioning, or could also be an indication that you may be over stretching yourself. In either case, some additional time spent doing a wide array of exercises from simple treadmill workouts to intense cardio can help strengthen your body and keep you at the level of performance you need for the entire length of the game. While the physical longitude of a player seems like a minor issue to some, to the seasoned player, coach, or fan it means everything. A player that is playing at a diminished capacity can become more prone to injury, foul, or even just let points through simply because they cannot keep up or fulfill their role on the court. Which puts the task on the other players of the team and they are tired themselves.
3. Attitude is a crucial component on and off the court. It shapes not only the image you project to your team, but the image you project to your fans. This image may not be crucial to some, but to the overall team chemistry it can be a maker or a breaker. If you are a sore loser, and instead of trying to find solutions, you blame it on everyone else, it can make the team feel lower than it likely already does, and give teammates a negative image of you. If you are greedy and put yourself before your team and always try to take a shot, when you could have passed off to a teammate, and given them a chance. It sounds corny and old, but the old saying holds true. “There is no I in TEAM”.

While these are not a list of every single thing a player can do to improve overall, these items listed above are just some of the most pressing matters on and off the court that face players.

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Key Things to Do During a Time Out

Posted by Eitel in For Coaches | 0 comments

Timeouts seem like such a small part of the game and are often overlooked. Timeouts are a very crucial and highly misunderstood part of the game in some accounts. They can change the flow of the game, and can give a much needed breather when the game is down to those last few points and in the dying moments.

Timeouts cannot be wasted. The time they provide is precious and means it is a chance for a team to change the tide of the game, or get a quick breather for that last stand they may need to make to win. The coach needs to pick and choose the proper times when to call the timeouts because as much as it can save a game, it can also break a game if used improperly.

Some of the most popular uses for timeouts are as follows.

1. As a quick break in play to let your players get refreshed, grab a swig of water and just catch their breath. Sometimes the opposing team will just have the pace of the game going so fast and in their favour, which a timeout puts an instant stop to it, and gives your guys a moment to gather themselves and prepare a plan of their own.
2. Timeouts can be used to “ice” the other team. If as mentioned above the team is on a roll, or in a groove, the timeout also serves to put an end to their “roll”.
3. Timeouts can be used to just completely switch gears. During a timeout the coach can go over a new plan or play that might just open the hole up in the game that your team needs to nail down that win. This is the time where the coach can rally the players and implement a shift in game play meant to confuse and disorient the other team. Towards the end of a game the opposing team is used to your tendencies and will defend and attack accordingly. If the coach makes the right switch in plays, it can catch a defence completely off guard and open up a hole needed to secure the game.
4. All of the above points lead to the fact a time out wrapped into one nice neat little term, is a momentum shift. It grants the coach the ability to change the momentum of the game and give his team the chance to change direction and stop a slide, or to refresh them for the last moments. This is an invaluable resource that needs to be used with the utmost care. It not only serves the strategy aspects discussed above, but also as an instant morale booster if the coach knows his team well enough. A few well placed words and a team can come out of the timeout as good as the beginning of the game.

Timeouts and how coaches use them are as important as the game itself. Like fouls, and bad plays, a bad timeout, can change the game.

Photo credit: SD Dirk