December 28, 2022 | Tagged Coaching
Negative Habits Great Basketball Players Never Have
3 negative habits great basketball players never do.
Serious Basketball Players are committed to the work needed to be their best. This means a ruthless and fearless self inventory of any habits that don't lead to maximum success. Take a look at your habits. Here are some negative habits that great basketball players never have in their lives.
Negative Habit #1 I know it all /I don't work hard to learn
Many people struggle on one side or the other of learning. They think they know it all or if something is new and challenging, they quit. Great athletes understand that learning happens in the tension of this exploration, the balance between knowing enough to stay engaged and not knowing everything to keep engaged. There is an inclination in all of us to shut down learning and become desensitized when either we think we know it all or if we think it might be too hard. Staying in that learning crucible is the key to growth and advancement.
Negative Habit #2 Not Aware of Dangerous Tendencies
Imagine water running into a basement, the water will move toward the lowest portion of the foundation and settle there. This is a good word picture for our dangerous habits or tendencies.
Become a student at knowing where your natural tendencies and inclinations lie. They will teach you a great deal about your potential success and also help you avoid serious pit falls in the future.
In the NBC Basketball staff training, one of the questions asked is, “What challenges have you faced that you had to overcome.” A very high percentage of coaches answered that they had to overcome a significant injury. Injury prevention is a big topic today and if NBC Basketball can help you avoid a devastating injury that is great news to us. Part of the motivation of addressing injury prevention is because we have seen firsthand how difficult overcoming an injury can be.
A proclivity to favoring a certain leg or certain foods or certain drills has much to tell us about our physical health. ACL tears are often result of a dominant leg taking too much strain or a weaker leg trying to keep up with the dominate leg. Either way it is an indication of imbalance and the unconscious proclivity to favor a strong leg.
Basketball is a perfect sport to spot our tendencies toward the easiest and most natural path. Most students tend to favor one hand when dribbling and their skill set is dramatically hampered by this favoritism. Their non-dominant hand is typically responsible for most of the turnovers and reduction of options available to dominate on offense.
Know your strongest and weakest tendencies. Serious athletes work hard to answer these questions.
Which leg is your strongest?
-Do you have a game plan to equalize your legs?
B. Which hand is strongest?
-Do you have a game plan to elevate your non-dominant hand?
C. Do you favor one side of the court?
-Do you tend to have greater scoring percentage from one side than another, what are the factors that contribute to this consistency?
D. Do you video your games to help you identify tendencies and habits?
- Do you favor certain moves, tend to turn the ball over in similar situations, do you tend to get beat in a similar way?
Negative Habit #3 Not being a student of your opponents' weaknesses
Great athletes are students and they study their opponents. They study game film, they watch other players, they use the bench as an opportunity to analyze and find weaknesses. Not only will the study of your own tendencies and habits help you become a stronger player, so too will the study of your opponent. Watch carefully the idiosyncrasies of your opponent’s shot--do they need to step into the shot, do they drop the ball to their waist before getting into shooting position, or do they have a noticeable rhythm you can interrupt? As a defender your job is to move your opponent where he or she doesn’t want to go. Your goal is to keep them off balance, out of sync, cold and agitated instead of on-fire. By observing their proclivities toward favorite moves, dominant hand choices, favorite shooting spots, lazy tendencies, you can maximize this information as a defender and shut down your opponent. Put in the work to be a student of your opponents.
About NBC Basketball
NBC Basketball Camps began in 1971 and have been training thousands of athletes each summer. Camps are located in 16 states and 8 countries. NBC Basketball wants to train athletes to be more wise, strong, fierce, mentally tough, and compassionate. If you watch Clemson football vs Alabama football, you will see the difference in leadership philosophy. NBC Basketball Camps identifies with Clemson football-- the power of service, love, sacrifice, loyalty, integrity, grit and the will to be one of the hardest workers on the court or field. For more information about NBC Basketball Camps visit www.nbccamps.com/basketball.