Being a Self-Reliant Athlete

Posted by Eitel in For Players | 0 comments

Being a self reliant athlete may seem like a very small and unimportant thing, but to coaches and teammates it is the difference between a good player, and a great player. Self Reliance goes a long way in both on and off the court activity and shows that players not only are there for themselves, but also are there for their team. Players cannot and should not ever solely rely on others, as they need to learn to do certain things for themselves. Taking that initiative can even earn you promotions and better reputations all around.

First place that a player can improve is becoming self reliant during workouts and during stretches. Waiting for someone to tell you what to do is fine and dandy, but it never hurts to step up and start your own routine in advance. Modifying your own routine or seeking the advice of your coach or other players to change your routine also shows initiative because you will be attempting your own self improvement without being told to.

While a coach is there to help out the team wherever and whenever he can, you also have to realize a coach cannot hold the hand of every player all the time. While they can give you some 1 on 1 time on occasion, they cannot do it every day all the time. It is the player’s responsibility to do a certain amount of preparation on and off the court so that they are ready to go for practice and for game. If you need help with your workout routine, as k the coach, but once you get advice, look up variations online, and meld it to your needs. You as the player know what your game requires you to improve, and know what your body needs to improve.

The players that most impress coaches, and often earn promotions and increased play time, are the ones that take initiative and do things on their own without being told. They are the ones that do things outside of mandatory team activities, and they are the ones that stay extra time just to do their part. Some people will say that it is nothing more than “kissing up”, while a coach, and other players will notice it is simply dedication.

To be self reliant, does not mean that you have to become a slave to the game and do nothing but, it just means that you come prepared day in and day out, and are willing to give it 100% from start to finish. It just shows you are dedicated to the team and to the sport, and that you understand that there is in fact “No “I” in Team”.

While being self reliant used to be mocked and made fun of, more and more athletes are becoming self reliant, and are discovering that it makes life both for players, coaches, and overall teams easier, and more fun. When everyone is pulling their share and no one is forced to pull someone else’s load, you will find that morale, and team chemistry will benefit!

Photo credit: Suss-Man (Mike)

Realistic Goals to Set and Achieve as a Basketball Player

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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.

Photo credit: laffy4k

Setting Goals and Milestones with Your Team

Posted by Eitel in For Coaches | 1 comment

A team that has its sights on a solid objective is bound to work hard to achieve that objective. This objective is also known as a goal. A milestone on the other hand is basically like a timetable of the project life. For example, if you set ‘reaching the state finals’ as your goal, one of your milestones would be ‘ranked top five by the first quarter of the season’.

Goals and milestones complement each other like bread and butter. Having one without the other will render one ineffective. A goal acts as a source of inspiration and a sense of objective that is shared by the whole team. Each and every member will have an idea of what needs to be done in order to achieve that goal.

The milestone on the other hand comes in handy as a check and balance system towards achieving the goal that was set. As mentioned earlier, milestones are set points along your project lifespan to achieve certain smaller objectives. Therefore, if the team is unable to achieve a certain point as scheduled, it is indicative that something needs to be done to resolve the lag.

When setting goals and milestones, it is important that you set them ‘with’ your team rather than ‘for’ your team. By including every team member in this process, a sense of ownership towards the goals will be developed. This will later be reflected in their sheer commitment towards achieving all the milestones. Also, having clear goals will avoid misunderstandings between your players and your support staff with yourself.

Goals should be set so that they are realistic and achievable. This is important to give the goal a sense of credibility to it. Although it’s not wrong to dream of big goals, just be sure that those goals are realistic. By having realistic goals, you and your team can work together progressively towards achieving them.

In addition to this, the goals and milestones that you set with your team must be specific, measurable and time related. Specific simply means that what needs to be achieved and when it needs to be achieved are mentioned explicitly. For example ‘everyone must be able to sprint below 10 seconds before 31st January’ is a specific goal that can be followed. This goal is also time related and measurable.

To make sure that everyone chips in their ideas towards setting up the goals for the team, talk to them beforehand about this. Tell them about the importance of goals and how they can help the team. After that, ask them to go home and put serious thought into it.

When you see them during the next practice session, take up some time after or before practice to discuss on the goals. Try to get the team to agree on certain goals. Once this is completed remind everyone of their commitment towards the goals.

The good thing about having these goals is that you will be able to use them as a source of motivation for your team. Always remind them of what the team as a whole wants to achieve and how the team agreed to work towards achieving them.

Photo credit: laffy4k