May 12, 2021 | Tagged Motivation
Advice for parents who have kids who aspire to play college Basketball
NBC Camps Director and National Champion Coach, Rhett Soliday, offers these ways parents can help their children who desire to play basketball at the college level and beyond.
Play the Put-Up game: A put-up is the opposite of a put-down. It doesn’t feel good to get put-down. Conversely, it feels really good to get put-up. Parents should play the put-up game with their kids surrounding competition. Here’s the kicker though, put-ups should always revolve around who your kids are and not how they performed. Here’s why – when put-ups are performance based, kids will begin to associate the positivity that comes their way with performance. Likewise, if they don’t perform well, and you still give them performance put-ups, they’ll see right through that and the power of the put-up has been lost. Put-ups are best employed with regards to effort, character, integrity, sportsmanship, servanthood, responsibility, etc…
Camp is where they grow: Any experience where a child can break away from parents and peers and all the pressures that come with those relationships in order to pursue an experience that is all their own, do it! This is not a plug for NBC Camps, it’s simply reality. My daughter attended a church retreat camp this year, her first full weekend away from her parents completely. We challenged her to consider throughout that weekend what things she was learning on her own, without anyone influencing her decisions at home, and then report back to us. We were amazed! If your child loves basketball, they will come home from NBC Camp with goals sets and motivation secured. The carry-over in all areas of their life will be astounding. This goes back to the issue of control. There is nothing better you can do for your child’s maturity than to allow them to have this kind of experience in an awesome environment.
Timing of the next step: If your child has never mentioned wanting to play in college, give it through their sophomore year before you begin prodding, provoking and pressuring. Give it that time to see if it’s truly their dream and if they want to pursue it. If, after your child’s sophomore year, the love for the game is as strong as ever and they are beginning to show some signs of potential success, it may be time to start discussing to possibility of pursuing it more intentionally. Some kids will know from the time they are 8 years old that it’s what they want to do and they are relentless in their pursuit of this dream.
Challenge the process: When it becomes clear that your child is pursuing the dream of college basketball and it is their dream, you now have a wonderful opportunity to challenge the process in seeing them accomplishing that goal. Challenging the process means you serve as a sounding board for your child as they learn how to handle both success and failure. Each fork in the road will bring opportunities to provide guidance, perspective and maybe even the cold, hard truth as we all know at some point our children may look to find excuses why certain things aren’t happening for them the way they want it to happen. Challenge them to find new and creative ways to give themselves an edge they need to be at their best.
Encourage the heart: Whether they succeed or fail in their pursuit of a dream, it is important that they feel encouraged to pursue something that is worth pursuing. Encouragement, similar to put-ups, is the fuel your child will ultimately live on as they strive toward accomplishment. Keep encouraging, don’t ever stop, and be there to pick them up when they need it.
Create balance: If your child is anything like me, their passion for basketball can tend to create an overall life imbalance. They are allowed to pursue their dream as long as the rest of their life has balance (spiritually, academically, family, etc.). Parents who dream for their kids can tend to create an imbalance for their kids.
About NBC Basketball Camps
NBC Basketball Camps stands for Northwest Basketball Camps and we have been around since 1971. NBC Camps is the largest overnight basketball program in the world based on the principles of intensity, basketball excellence, and developing character on and off the court. If you are serious about basketball, you need to check out NBC Camps at www.nbccamps.com.