December 31, 2021 | Tagged Coaching
Fierce Basketball- playing aggressive but under control
Three ways to improve your fierceness on the basketball court
Tentative, passive basketball is not only boring to watch but also frustrating to coach and impossible to advance. Fierce basketball means not violent or abusive but high intensity, ferocity, and aggressiveness play. Diving after loose balls, “in-your-face” tenacious defense, powerhouse dunks, mid-air rejections, are all part of the visual spectacle of fierce basketball.
Dangers of Too Little Ferocity
Teams who lack fierceness get shoved around. They lose possession of the ball easily. They are pushed and manipulated out of their offense. The other team dominates them. They play timidly, shoot with fear, and make larger blunders because of their fearful mindset.
“There is no fear in fierce.”
3 Ways to Become more Fierce
1. Purpose drives passion. When researchers studied athletes who practiced apathetically and had low intensity, they found they did not have an apparent reason or purpose for their work. On the contrary, teams with high intensity had noticeably clear, tangible well as long-term goals they were working to achieve. The reason a mother bear is so fierce is that she loves her cubs and will protect them at all costs. If you don’t have the love, if there is no internal passion, there will be no reason to be fierce.
2. Fierceness is part of personality, but it is also a habit. At NBC, one of our core values on the court is, “take care of the ball.” This means valuing the possession of the ball, to make sure our passes, our ball handling, our positioning with the ball is fierce and prohibit anyone from taking the ball. Younger or more inexperienced players struggle sometimes allowing the ball to be taken too easily. Part of this is because they do not have a habit of valuing the ball. It doesn’t mean that much to them. We give them drills to associate the ball with something of tremendous value. Once they begin to have a habit of valuing the ball, they immediately take better shots, improve passing and work harder to maintain possession in a strong and powerful way.
3. Words and images are power. Athletes who developed a word or image cue to inspire intensity increased their performance ability and elevated their aggressiveness on the court. Picturing a rocket launching, a blazing fire, or selecting a keyword trigger such as “Work hard,” “Get intense” or even “Fierce” helps improve your performance as a player.
Fierce Philosophy
Part of emotional discernment and maturity of character is the ability to know when to be fierce and when to be gentle and the ability to not make fierceness the opposite of gentleness. A wise person is gentle with people and fierce with values such as follow-through, respect, generosity, courage. We make unwise decisions when we are fierce or harsh with people and too gentle on values. Take time this month to evaluate how fierce you are in your pursuit of truth, goodness, valor, self-confidence, dignity, and gratitude. Evaluate as well how you treat those around you. Are you violent or aggressive and if so, how does your treatment affect your relationships?
About NBC Basketball Camps
NBC Basketball Camps began in 1971 with the mission of fierce basketball, encouragement, intensity, grit, and leadership. NBC Camps began as Northwest Basketball Camp and outgrew the name when camps expanded beyond the Northwest into eight counties and multiple sports. NBC Camps offer intensive overnight and day basketball training. Improve your skills this summer at NBC Camps. For more information call 1-800-406-3926 or visit www.nbccamps.com/basketball