My my My my
 
 
 
 
 
 

How bad do you want to be successful basketball


USA Basketball - 3 Keys to Athletic Success

If you want to be successful at anything in life, especially basketball, you need to work hard every single day. Are you rolling your eyes? Sound cliché? Sound redundant? Probably, but nevertheless it is true. One of the best coaches and motivational speakers I have ever heard speak was Jim Valvano. I have an old grainy video clip of him speaking in which he said something that changed my life forever:

"Every morning when you wake up, you have only two choices. The choice to work hard or the choice to not work hard. That's it, no other choices. Either you work hard or your don't; it's pretty simple. If you choose not to work hard, you will fail. If you choose to work hard, you still might fail! How is that for a deal? Success is never guaranteed, but it is impossible without hard work."

While I firmly believe hard work is the backbone of success in any endeavor, I believe there are several other factors that contribute to whether or not you are successful. I am going to focus on three of them:

Find Positive Influences

It is very rare for anyone to be successful without any help. So a key to being successful is finding someone who pushes you. Someone who pushes you to be the best you can be. Someone who holds you accountable. Someone who motivates you. Someone who tells you what you need to hear; not what you want to you hear. Someone who gives you energy. Someone who encourages you. Someone who coaches you.

Everyone needs someone like this in their life. If you are really lucky, you will find several people like this and surround yourself with them as often as possible. And don't wait for this to happen by chance, go find this person! You have a much better chance of being successful if you do.

This person can be a sibling, a parent, a friend, a teammate, a coach, a trainer, or a mentor. Who they are is not as important as what they are. Are they someone who makes you better? Are they helping you become more successful?

Tiger Woods is one of the most dominant athletes on the planet. He has natural ability, a tremendous golf IQ and a relentless work ethic. He has already attained astronomical success. So why does Tiger Woods need a coach?

He doesn't. Tiger Woods doesn't need a coach. He wants a coach.

He wants someone to make him better. As good as Tiger is, arguably the greatest golfer of all time, he wants to find areas where he can improve. He studies film on his swing hoping to find a flaw. Why would the best golfer of all time want to find a flaw in his swing? Because it will mean he can still get better. Tiger humbly recognizes this and uses a coach. But it is not just the fact he uses a coach that is important. It is the fact he has found someone in his life to push him; every day, every practice, every match. Tiger's success is not an accident.

Do you have a person like this in your life?

Be Willing to Learn

Another important ingredient to being successful is gaining access to developmental resources. Whether you are a basketball player or coach, you have to make sure you are constantly progressing and developing. Either you are getting better or you are getting worse; there isn't anything in between.

As a veteran basketball strength & conditioning coach, I spend a good deal of time on my own professional development and am constantly seeking both people and resources to broaden my scope and assist in my success. I read the latest training books and manuals, watch the latest training DVDs, attend numerous coaching clinics, and network with dozens of collegiate and NBA strength coaches. I know part of my success is making sure I am on the cutting edge with my training techniques, concepts, and equipment. This commitment to my professional development takes time and effort, but it is well worth it.

What resources do you use to get better?

Strengthening Your 'Want To'

A third ingredient of being successful is strengthening your "want to. " Everyone has a want-to list. If you are a basketball player your want to's probably include "I want to jump higher" or "I want to gain 10 pounds." Most times people's want to's are just lip service. They just say they want something but they don't work as hard as they can to get it.

Think your want to is strong? Let's say your goal is to gain 10 pounds over the summer. If I weighed you on June 1 and told you on September 1 I would weigh you again and if you were 10 pounds heavier I would give you $1 million in tax-free cash, would you accept my offer? Of course you would! Think you would attain your goal? I guarantee you would. Heck you would probably exceed it and gain 15-20 pounds. because your want to would be unstoppable!

One way to gauge the strength of your "want to" is by seeing how many times you give in to the little voice in your head. The voice that says, "I am too tired to work out today. I don't want to get up early. My legs are too sore to get up extra shots. I can't do that drill, it is way too hard." If you let that little voice win, your want to is not strong enough If you let that voice win, you won't be successful.

How strong is your "want to?" Do you really want something or just say you do?

USA Basketball - 5 Keys to Being a Great Basketball Coach

If you want your youth basketball team to have an All-Star experience all season, there are a wide range of ideals you need to focus on to make the experience as positive as possible.

Here are five ways that you can be an All-Star basketball coach.

All-Star Qualities

  • Sportsmanship - Remember basic courtesy and good manners? Use your practices and games to reinforce these basic principles. Make sure your players can give a firm handshake with eye contact to officials and opposing coaches, as well as a high five to opposing players.
  • Teamwork - Teach your players that "we over me" is what most often leads to "us over them," in team sports competition. Encourage your players to be selfless and supportive teammates in both losing and winning efforts.
  • Positive Attitude - Life is not fair and basketball is worse. Help your players get over it and still do what they need to do to succeed. Playing sports is one the best ways to practice overcoming adversity and preparing to handle tough times in life. Humor helps!
  • Respect - Pay it forward and get it back. How a coach interacts with other adults--coaches, parents and officials--will naturally influence the behavior of your players. Be mindful that you are a role model and are always being watched. Insist that your players respect coaches, officials and opponents--like you do. Have the courage to enforce your rules with every player and parent involved with your team.

Coaching

  • Philosophy - Want a surefire way to be a great youth coach? Lighten up! Here's a tip. Not one of your games will be Game 7 of the NBA Finals. Billions of people don't even know you exist, let alone feel that your practices and games are important. Recreational league and even elite travel team coaches should understand that kids want to play sports and to have FUN! Let your players figure things out. Ask questions, but don't give instruction or answers. Stop teaching so much and give your players a chance to learn. Watching them grow will be fun for you too!
  • Communication - Have a team meeting to start the first practice of the season, or as soon as possible thereafter. Limit your postgame analysis to positive things that occurred in the game and deal with what went wrong by establishing a specific goal to work on starting at the next practice. Ask parents to delay or even eliminate the dreaded postgame interview with their child. When you need to correct a player, use the "compliment sandwich" State something positive the player did well, give a very specific correction, then restate the first positive thing.
  • Continuing Education - All-star coaching requires continuing education. I have been privileged to learn the game of basketball from seven coaches who are in the Basketball Hall of Fame. Each one of them was always striving to learn more. In your efforts to learn, make sure the substance of the material is appropriate for the skill, age and maturity level of the players that you coach.
  • Use Resources - There are several organizations that offer assistance to youth coaches. Do an online search for youth coaching information sources. Read books, watch videos and attend coaching clinics in-person whenever possible. One hour online could make you a better coach.

Practices

Play to learn, play to practice, and you will win when you play in games. Remember how much fun you had growing up when you used to just go outside and play with your friends? We advocate using the "compete to learn" approach to practice--it lets kids play and have fun while competing. This type of practice, using competitive drills, does a better job of preparing players to compete in real games. Technically, this is called transference. What you do in practice carries over into what you do in games.

  • Individual Skills - Want to improve your team's ball handling? Games like dribble knockout are very popular. Every player must have his or her own basketball. Coach starts the game. Every player must dribble constantly, stay in-bounds and try to knock the ball away from all other players in the game. Lose control of your basketball or go out-of-bounds, and you're eliminated. Boundaries for 10-12 players could start as half the court. After several players are eliminated, the boundary is reduced to only inside the 3-point area. Boundary is reduced again to the free-throw lane. Finally, when there are just two players left, they play the "finals" in the free throw half circle.
  • Team Concepts - Run half your offense by playing 2-on-2 or 3-on-3 restricted to one side of the floor. For example, make even (by size/ability) teams and conduct a 10-minute tournament using an action like the pick and roll. Allow for 20-second timeouts and allow players teach themselves how to make the play work.

Game Strategy

  • Keep It Simple System (KISS) - Basketball is a simple game. Keep it simple! If you are a regular reader of instructional material, you might think that you need to have lots of practice drills and a complicated or intricate system to win games. No, you don't. Establish one or two alignments and three or four actions, and that's it. At the youth level or even in the NBA, most successful coaches try to have their team master a few simple things. 8-10 year olds can do this successfully. Try KISS at your next practice and even in your next game, your team will show instant improvement!
  • Simple Transition Offense (Fast break/press break) - Score a lay-up in less than five seconds without dribbling.
  • Simple Half-Court Offense (Ball movement/teamwork) - Everyone must catch and make a pass before anyone can shoot!
  • The Best Offense Ever Designed - Give the ball to Michael Jordan and get out of the way. You can't get much more simple than that! However, that is an actual "play," as it is part of the "complicated" triangle offense. The triangle is a patterned motion offense that has several basic actions such as give and go, pick and roll and give the ball to Michael and get out of the way -- otherwise known as a clearout. By the way, that offense has won nine NBA championships and you, even as a youth recreational league coach, can run some of its actions to win games in your league.

Make All-Star Memories

The experience of playing on a youth sports team can affect a child's development as a person. How will you affect your player's communication, cooperation, goal setting and work ethic? How will your players remember this experience 10 years from now? Most won't remember the score.

If your team employs the ritual of getting together after every game for ice cream or pizza, takes a field trip to a college or pro game, or attends a movie together, your players will remember those good times long after they forget the score of the game. Parents sometimes enjoy these social events more than the kids.

How to get results in basketball

"Any experienced basketball player will tell you that there is a huge difference between learning and applying technique!"

Online basketball expert, national level player

Any experienced basketball player will tell you that there is a huge difference between learning and applying technique! It's only natural that beginners (or those who are returning to play after a long break) get caught up in the game on the court - all you hear is "rush...to the rim...lead...use the whole court". All your strength is focused on not making mistakes, in order to know that you do not let your team down. What exactly are you doing? Positions? rebounds? Blocks? Intercepts? This is really important, but there are other great ways to add value to the team. Take a break from your own achievements - this will allow you to become a more valuable player. This article does not contain obvious advice on keeping fit, working on speed, dribbling, serving, etc. But here you will find 5 ways to become more efficient from the very next game. You are much closer to success than you think!

The main reason basketball players lose passes and miss comfortable rebounds is because their hands aren't ready. This seems obvious, but still deserves special attention. Your hands should always be ready to receive the pass, and your palms are directed towards the ball - the server will perceive them as a target.

Here are a few exercises you can do during your warm-up to prepare for the game:

POWER DRIBLING HITTING THE BALL

The correct execution of passes gives confidence on the site. However, there are a few things to keep in mind here.

The basics of technique play a huge role for beginners. Practice a 2-handed chest pass and a bounce pass. After that, you can move on to other methods.

Don't pass just for the sake of passing. Determine who can take the pass, who can't, (identify strong offensive players, weak defenders) and go for it!

IMPORTANT: DO NOT KEEP THE BALL - make passes and passes will be made to you.

Low, wide stance: There are only 2 cases where you should deviate from this rule - this is rebounding and covering the ball. In any other situation, it is important that the stance is low: straight back, bent knees, feet shoulder-width apart, arms extended forward. In this position, you are firmly on your feet and ready to respond to passes. It is very important to be between the defender and the ring.

This is the main way to participate in offense without the ball! If you are a beginner basketball player, then you will most likely score infrequently. Perform screenings to:

  1. give partners the opportunity to open up
  2. open yourself

Shield the dribbler, shield your opponents without the ball (to help your teammates) and keep moving. The ball will find its way to you.

SITE 9 LOCATION0002 There are 8 main points on the court that attackers usually occupy to attack. Simple arithmetic suggests that at least 4 of them are free at this moment. Make sure you don't get too close to the rest of your team. Why?

  1. This allows you to strengthen the attack - so it will be more difficult for defenders to keep track of all opponents;
  2. You will be in a better position to shoot/pass/dribble to the basket when you receive the ball.

Do not forget that your hands should always be ready.

Try to consciously change positions (moving quickly between two points on the court) so that you get used to playing from different points. A conscious change of position will bring you the location of your team, but the enemy defender will clearly dislike you!

This is certainly not a complete list of tips, but rest assured that if you follow them, your next game will be better than the last!

Forward!

how many years did it take Mozart and Picasso to be successful?

How long does it take to be successful in your craft? What do those who achieve their goals do differently than the rest of us? John Hayes, professor of perceptual psychology at Carnegie Mellon University, tried to figure this out.

For several decades, the scientist has been figuring out the role of effort, practice and knowledge in the work of the best of the best, regardless of what field they belong to. After reviewing the actions of the most talented artists in human history - such as Mozart and Picasso - John tried to determine how long it took them to reach the world level in their "marketing niche".

Moreover, Professor Hayes began to study how the once made existential choice and the slow accumulation of life and professional experience that followed led geniuses to success.
What else can you learn about the idols of mankind, and how to use this knowledge to improve your own results and achieve your business goals?

  • Success does not come immediately, but how many attempts have you made?

Ten years of silence

Starting his research by studying successful composers, Hayes analyzed thousands of pieces of music created between 1685 and 1900, trying to answer the following question: "How long does it take a person's interest in music to achieve world fame"?

In the end, Hayes developed a list of 500 compositions that were most often performed by symphony orchestras around the world and which are deservedly considered masterpieces in their field. A total of 76 composers created these works.

Next, the scientist plotted the rise and fall of each composer's career and calculated how long they worked before they created their most popular works. Surprisingly, almost every one of these masterpieces was written after 10 years dedicated to the career of a composer (only 3 works from the list in the TOP 500 were exceptions, being written after 8 and 9 years of professional music making).

There was not a single person who could create a really worthwhile work without first devoting a decade to practical exercises. Even a genius like Mozart was forced to work for 10 years before creating what became recognized masterpieces. This period, filled with hard work and lack of recognition, Professor Hayes called "a decade of silence."

In his subsequent research, Hayes found similar patterns at work in the careers of famous artists and popular poets. These same findings were further confirmed by scientists such as Prof. K. Anders Ericsson, whose study, popularized later by Malcolm Gladwell, pointed to the need to "spend 10,000 hours before becoming an expert in your field" .

However, when Hayes, Erickson, and others delved into this issue, they found that time was only one part of the equation. Success was not just the product of a decade of practice or 10,000 hours of hard work. To understand what really can maximize human potential, it is necessary to evaluate how the best performers work.
NBA superstar Kobe Bryant's workouts are a perfect example.

  • Success is a habit or secret Richard Branson

How did Kobe Bryant get to the top?

image source

One of the most successful basketball players in the world, winner of 5 NBA championships and 2 Olympic gold medals, Bryant earned $200,000,000 during his playing career. In 2012, he was selected to the US national team, where one of the leading sports coaches worked with him. In the following Reddit story, coach Robert (last name unknown) describes his first experience with Kobe and points out the reasons why the athlete has achieved such phenomenal success.

USA Basketball Team Fitness Coach, says:

“I was invited to Las Vegas to help with Team USA training before their trip to London. I've worked with Carmelo Anthony and Dwyane Wade before, but this is the first time I've interacted with Kobe. The night before the first warm-up, at five o'clock, just as I had finished watching Casablanca and was falling asleep, my cell phone rang. It was Kobe. I picked up the phone, rather surprised.

"Um, Rob, I hope I'm not intruding?"

“Hmm, no. What happened, Cob?

"Wanted to ask if you could help me with my workout, that's all."

“I looked at the clock. 4:15 am.

“Of course. See you in the hall a little later."

It took me about twenty minutes to pack up and leave the hotel. When I arrived at the main training hall, I saw one Bryant there. He was covered in sweat and looked like he was going for a swim. It wasn't even five in the morning.
We did another hour and fifteen minutes of warm-ups, then gave 45 minutes of strength training in the gym. When we parted, he returned to the court to work on throws; I - to the hotel, where I fell exhausted. I had to return to training at approximately 11:00. I got up - sleepy, swaying from fatigue and lack of sleep (thank you, Kobe), intercepting the bagel, went to the site.
The next scene stuck in my memory. All the players on the team were there: LeBron was talking to Carmelo, and coach Krzhizhevsky was trying to explain something to Kevin Durant. On the right, Kobe practiced jump shots. I went up to him, patted him on the back and said:

"Good work since morning."

"What?"

"Yes, the warm-up went well."

“Oh yeah, thanks, Rob. Thank you for noticing."

"When do you finish?"

"Finishing what?"

“Well, jump shots? When are you going to finish with them?"

“Oh right now. I wanted to do 800 shots, so yeah, now."

Again, Kobe Bryant started stretching at 4:30 AM, continued cardio until 6 AM, rocked from 6 AM to 7 AM, and finally practiced throws from 7 AM to 11 AM. Oh yes, and then proceeded to the general training with the whole team.

Obviously, Kobe worked his 10,000 hours, but there is another, more important part of his story.

  • Good and bad habits of the smartest people on the planet

The value of deliberate practice

Kobe doesn't just train a lot - he does it purposefully and very deliberately. In practice, his goal is crystal clear: 800 jump shots. Consciously, he concentrated on developing the skill of throwing the ball into the basket. The time spent on training was not significant for him.

It sounds simple, but in fact, this approach is very different from how you and I relate to our daily work, because most people, when talking about the efforts made, use the amount of time as a criterion for measuring the effort expended (for example, “I worked 60 hours in Week!").

Such time expenditure will make you tired, but not achieve serious success (even if it's the proverbial 10,000 hours) that purposeful activity can achieve. For example, most people who think they really put in a lot of effort in training just develop their skill of "staying in the gym" rather than their skill of "throwing the ball into the basket. "

Continuing the basketball analogy, consider this quote about deliberate practice:
“Consider the actions of two basketball players practicing free throws for an hour. Player A shoots 200 shots while Player B only 50. Player B catches the balls himself, dribbles slowly, takes a few breaks to talk with friends. A colleague helps player A to return the balls, he also keeps a record of all the throws made, and if he was unsuccessful, he notes why: whether the throw was too short, too long, whether the ball deviated to the right or left; and the player checks his results every 10 minutes. You can not consider their hourly training equivalent. If they practice like this all the time, then even if they were at the same level at the beginning, it is easy to predict who will be the best player after a hundred hours of training. Aubrey Daniels

Each of the players in the example above could boast of an hour-long workout, but only one of them did it deliberately and purposefully.

The researchers noted that the top performers in each discipline were adherents of deliberate practice. The best artists, musicians, athletes, executives, and entrepreneurs don't just work hard, they work specifically to develop specialized skills. For example, Jerry Seinfeld's "Don't Break the Chain" strategy is a conscious exercise in joke writing.

  • 10 lessons from Steve Jobs, useful for every marketer

Applying to everyone's life

"Genius of Geniuses" Mozart devoted 10 years of hard work before creating the first popular work.

I don't know about you, dear reader, but the LPgenerator team is inspired by this.

You can apply the same approach to your work, your goals and your desires. Combining the ideas of "a decade of silence" and "deliberate practice" can achieve amazing results and bypass everyone in your path.

In everyday use, this will not become a heavy burden, and this has its advantages.


Learn more