May 01, 2022   |   Tagged Coaching

Composure on the Basketball Court

Improve your composure on the basketball court

Composure in basketball is a fierce commitment to the highest level you can give on each aspect of what you personally are called to give. Everyone is called to be a tough defender, a strong rebounder, an intense competitor, and to play with hustle and heart. Beyond that, how your individual talents help the team at the highest level is the true test of composure.

Those individual talents may be scoring, shooting, passing, or necessary offensive skills. But they are nothing without the composure involved in the commitment to building an overall all-around game that results in better teams.

Composure is the ability to play at the highest level under the highest pressure without fear of failure and with consistently high-level results.

Composure is the result of mentoring, practice, navigating failure, growth mindset and learning how to engage success when the chips are down.

You need to excel at composure.

• Take care of the ball in traffic. Keep your composure under pressure.
• During double teams and full court press, watch your passes and keep under control.
• Don’t let the other team get on a roll. Interrupt their success.
• Stay positive and don’t start blaming the refs, teams, coach or self.
• Learn quickly from your fouls. You can get a few bad calls in a row if you start losing your composure. Stay calm and that will keep you out of foul trouble.

Losing your cool can cost you your job as a coach or your playing time as a player. Having composure on the court is important not only as a role model but for your future. Here are some tips to keep cool when things get hot.

• We get angry when our hopes and expectations are in jeopardy. Keep these flexible. Don’t make your goals too outcome focused. Discipline your mind to help keep you from fearful thoughts about what might or could happen. Stay positive.
  
• Anticipate difficulty. Don’t be surprised by it. Be prepared to navigate difficulty with a good attitude.
  
• Find ways to de-escalate your stress. Work out, pray, journal, spend time with family. When life gets more stressful. Get more intentional about carving out time to recalibrate.

Composure is a skill and a habit that comes from small daily disciplines. Modeling a life of composure as well as holding yourself to a standard of daily habits of composure will help internalized this quality for your life.

NBC Basketball Camps

NBC Camps are committed to the mission of equipping student-athletes for success on and off the court. NBC Camps focus on never quit attitude, grit, mental toughness, leadership, gratitude, personal faith and the tools necessary to make your dreams a reality. Whether your dream is to play in the NBA or the NFL, run a major corporation, be a great father or mother, NBC Camps train you to take what you learn at camp and apply these principles to your life to help you win from the inside out. For more information about our training programs visit www.nbccamps.com.