The Least Recognized Reasons
Most Basketball Players Don't Succeed
by Andy Louder
Basketball is an incredibly competitive sport. Because the game is so popular
and enjoyable to participate in you have to be extremely good in order to be
considered a top-notch player. A top-notch player is not just someone who is the
best on his or her team - it's someone that you know is going places. It's a
player that is going to stand out all through Jr. High and High School and then
go on to play at the College level (whether that be at a Jr. College, a Division
III School or a Blue Chip Division I program).
The fact of the matter is, only a small percentage of players will be successful
in reaching their goal of becoming that elite player and most of them completely
fail to understand why their goal was not met. For some players the reason is
obvious - they lack the skills. But for so many others it has nothing to do with
skill. A lot of players have all the talent and skills they need (and plus some)
to make it big but still underachieve. For them the reasons aren't so obvious
and go unrecognized. The purpose of this article is to uncover and examine those
reasons.
Here they are in no particular order:
1. They let the wrong people influence their
lives
I know this might sound a little strange at first but bear with me. There are 2
pieces of the puzzle here. One that deals with a support system and one that
deals with positive influence.
Becoming an elite basketball player requires a ton of dedication and sacrifice.
If you have friends that don't understand that or don't support that it's going
to be next to impossible for you to accomplish your goal. Eventually their
influence can and will drag you down. You need positive thinkers in your life
and it's important that you surround yourself around them. I'm certainly not
suggesting that you ditch any friends or family members that you may have that
don't understand your goals I'm simply suggesting that you try to spend the
majority of your time with people that share the same goals or that strongly
encourage you to work towards yours. I've seen so many players waste a lot of
potential because they let negative influences into their lives. It happens all
the time.
Most all financial experts say that one of the keys to accumulating wealth is to
surround yourself around other individuals that are already wealthy or that
share the same goals as you because when you do you support each other without
even knowing it and the positive energy from that ignites success. The same can
be said for just about anything, including basketball. Imagine for a second a
piece of burning coal by itself. That piece of coal will quickly turn cold if it
remains by itself, but if you surround it with other pieces of burning coal it
will create an intense source of heat that will burn for a very long time.
The take home message here is to spend more time with your friends that
understand your passion for basketball and support it. Hang out with other
teammates instead of random friends that won't talk basketball with you. Avoid
communicating with anybody that belittles your dream to be a star. It's sad but
sometimes family members can even be the most negative influences in your life.
If that's the case you need to have a sincere discussion with them about how
important it is for them to support you and if that doesn't work, turn to your
coach for help.
2. They misunderstand what their coach's roles
and responsibilities are
We are dealing with 2 issues here... players thinking that their coach is out to
get them and players that misunderstand their coach.
The bottom line is all coaches want to win. They could care less who the
individuals are that help them win. They want to put on the court the players
that give them the best chance of winning. Sure there have been incidents where
coaches have acted inappropriately and might have singled out a player unfairly
but that only happens about 1 out of every 100 times you hear it brought up.
It's extremely rare.
What you need to understand as a player is that your coach wants you to be a
better player because if you are a better player your team will win more games.
Coaches are under a ton of pressure to win games, to think that they would get
caught up in silly mind games by singling out players is a stretch. If you
aren't getting the playing time or opportunities on the court you think you
deserve you need to approach your coach respectfully and ask how you can better
your situation. Then you need to take the instruction given with humility and go
to work. 99 times out of 100 it's the player's own fault they aren't getting the
results they wish and if they alienate themselves from the coach by thinking
that they are the cause of it, failure awaits them.
Here's the other thing you need to understand about coaches... they are direct,
bold and sometimes feisty because they want the best for you. I have seen a lot
of very good players go downhill simply because they can't take criticism very
well. They think their coach is upset with them and it causes them to lose
confidence in themselves and if they let it continue it ruins their future.
It sounds a little weird to some people but the reality is coaches push their
best players the hardest. If you are getting yelled at or getting criticized a
lot consider it a compliment! That means your coach sees a lot of potential in
you and expects you to be performing better. Most coaches don't spend a lot of
time in the average player's faces because he or she knows that their potential
is limited. Also know that coaches are really competitive. They want to win.
Don't take things personal.
3. They aren't mentally sound
It's no secret that in order to be a top-notch player you have to have superb
skills. You have to shoot, handle the rock and be in great condition. The thing
is there are thousands of players out there that have all these skills but can't
meet their goals simply because they aren't right in the head.
A mentally sound basketball player is one that is self-confident (but not
arrogant), aggressive, driven and prepared. They have a good attitude and
dedicate a fraction of their training to meditating. They study game film and
really think about how they want to play. They picture themselves playing well.
Being mentally tough takes practice just like becoming a good shooter does. You
have to work at it. This is the single biggest cause of failure for basketball
players in my opinion. Most players underestimate the power of their mind and
think the game is all physical. This is precisely why great streetball players
are a dime a dozen but yet only a tiny fraction play at the College level.
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