How to prepare before a basketball game

10 Things a Player Should Do Before a Basketball Game

Part of being a player for a basketball team or any sport, is knowing how the game is played, what to do when, and having the proper equipment. Below are ten things as a basketball player is important you do before a game.

1.Know the when and where the game is being played.

Do not wait until the last minute to find out where the game is being played. Talk to your coach at practice to ask for directions and times. Usually a coach will hand out a game schedule ahead of time and confirm the games as they come up. Ultimately, it is still your responsibility as a player to know when and where the game is playing and how you are going to get there.

2. Get your uniform on.

I know this sounds like a real da step, but getting your uniform means making sure your uniform is clean. Put your uniform on at home, you will not have that much time to put it on at the court. If you have a warm up jersey that goes over top of your uniform, put that on at home too so you do not forget to take it.

3. Pack a bag for the game

Pack a small gym bag with your name marked on it, with game shoes, knee pads, support pads you may need like knee braces, small towel, and a water bottle.

4. Get to the court one half hour before your game time.

Most coaches want their players at the court one half hour before game time so they can go through the warm ups and get last minute instructions.

5. Report to the coach to let them know you are there.

When you arrive at the court, immediately report to the coach and let them know you are there. When coaches are making their line-ups, they need to know who is there. If you appear out of no where at game time, you may not get to play as much as you hoped because the coach did not put you in the line up.

6. Change shoes, use the bathroom, and take off all jewelry.
Before the team warm ups, make sure you take care of all the little details so you will not lose any game time. Change into your court shoes right away. Make sure you remove all jewelry and anything plastic or metal like hair clips. If you walk onto the playing court with any of that on, you will be told to get off the court by the ref.

7. Fill up your water bottle.
If you drink more than one water bottle during the game, have two. But make sure you fill your water bottle up before the game. Make sure your bottle is marked with your name on it.

8. Warm up on the court.
At practice the coach normally will teach your team a warm-up you will go through before each game. If not, just make sure you get out there and takes some shots, dribble, and pass.

9. Mentally warm up.
When you step onto the court for warm ups, you should already be in basketball mode. That means you put aside all your everyday stuff and concentrate on the game. Go over in your mind what you learned at practice about game strategies or new plays. Do not wait until the middle of the game to ask the coach how a certain play is run. Go over what you do not understand with the coach at practice or before warm-ups start. Remember that playing a game is 80 percent mental and 20 percent physical. You want to be prepared in both ways.

10. Listen to the coach for last minute instructions.
After warm ups the coach will talk to you about the game strategies and who is starting. This is an important time for you to listen and focus on what is being said. If you have a question on the coachs instructions, ask. But do not ask the coach questions that do not pertain to that game.

By taking these ten steps before each game, you can be assured you are coming prepared and will be ready to go in when the coach yells your name from the bench. Good luck and remember, learn the game, play the game, and have fun doing it!

Pre-Game Routines Basketball: 10 Ways to Prepare

How do you summon your best when your best is needed on the court? What thoughts do you call upon to help get you mentally right when you find yourself in high leverage situations, like your team down a point with only seconds remaining? 

Throughout professional basketball, including the WNBA, players use performance routines to train their minds so they can fall back upon highly refined skills. This training comes in the form of routines, which can be used pre-game, in-game, and post-game.

For example, here’s the Washington Mystics‘ Elena Delle Donne talking about how she developed a simple free-throw routine that has helped her succeed at the line since she was in the 8th grade: 

“For me, I like to keep it very simple. Step up to the line, find the dot with my right foot. Lined up and take three dribbles, and from there I make an L with my arm and lift and flick. So, for me, the biggest thing is simplicity…free throws are so mental that if a little things goes wrong and you feel it, I feel like you’re out of your shot already. It’s all about staying positive, finding that routine, and keeping it simple. ”

– Elena Delle Donne

So what are pre-game routines and what can they tell us about how WNBA players prepare to summon their best at a moment’s notice? Read on to learn the different facets of these routines and how a variety of elite basketball players use them. 

Routines are a series of thoughts and actions related to the task at hand, which help a player systematically get into the right mindset for whatever performance is needed. Mental Performance coach Gladine Frasso, owner of I Am Mentally Tough, calls pre-game routines “anchors,” which help athletes get into the “here and now.” Gladine notes that an athlete’s routine allows them to shift hats from “the non-athlete to the athlete,” as competing in sport is simply a part of their overall lives. 

Using a routine allows an athlete to focus on the task at hand and be dialed into the game. Of course, we know hoopers have been using pre-game routines (see: nap taking) for years. What helps is to consider, with some detail, just what some high level collegiate and professional ballers (and coaches) do to get their minds right. 

Some may not want to share their routines, for personal or competitive reasons. Here’s all-time great Seattle Storm‘s Sue Bird on Courtside with Lyndsey D’Arcangelo being, well, a bit vague about the specifics of her routine:

“You know, I don’t wear the same socks or have a rabbit’s foot or anything like that. But I’m very routine. It puts me in my happy place. So, it’s really nothing of note to tell you, it’s really boring and mundane. It’s pretty much the same every time. Do this then, do that, then, boppity-bop-bop-bop.”

– Sue Bird

But Sue! You “yada-yada’d” the best part! What are some of those specifics that an elite athlete like Sue Bird gets into to put themselves in a ready state to compete? Let’s break down some areas.

Across the board, basketball players report using a mid-day nap as part of their pre-game routines. Bella Alarie of the Dallas Wings told Queen Ballers Club, “If we have an evening game, I’ll take a nap and make sure I’m rested and my mind and body feel ready for the game.”

While some pro hoopers have the luxury of a full 90 minute nap, even 20-30 minutes of shut eye can be hugely valuable for athletic performance, improving your ability to focus, mood, reaction time and, yes, how well you shoot a basketball.

A study that examined the impact of a nap on Stanford University basketball players found an improvement of 9% in both free throws and 3-point shooting by those that used naps. 

Try to find a hooper that doesn’t like listening to music to get ready; you’ll struggle to do so! Music is a great way to modulate your energy up or down as needed to prepare for what lies ahead. Need to relax? Try some smooth jazz or classical. Need to get hype? Get your hip-hop mix together. 

Depending on the energy level you want to arrive at, different playlists featuring songs with different beats per minute can help you do just that. Former overseas pro hooper Milani Malik-Richardson says the right music was essential in her career. “I have to make sure my playlist is right,” says Malik-Richardson. “Just anything that is going to amp me up, get me in the right mood, like tonight it’s on!”

Asked by the WNBA what her go-to music was on game day, Washington Mystics’ shooting guard Shavonte Zellous mentioned a different approach: “When I get in the shower, I listen to gospel before the game. And then it’s all turn-up music after that. It’s all Future, Drake and all of that type of stuff.” 

Players report doing different activities that are personally meaningful to them that help get them into a performance-ready mindset. These sorts of actions can help a player pre-game or during the game (again, think free-throw routines). Some players like to wipe the bottom of their kicks to “flush” a mistake; others will point up to the sky after a made basket.

Kateri Poole, named Miss New York by the Basketball Coaches Association of New York coming out of high school, has a series of actions she uses every time she laces them up: “Right before games, I cross my heart, kiss my fingers, and tap my shoes five times. It’s like a good luck thing for me.” 

While to some this may seem like a random series of things to do, or even superstition, for Kateri, who uses these actions to honor a cousin who was murdered when Kateri was a Freshman in High School, these actions go way deeper. “I cross my heart and pray, like please protect me. It just makes me remember who I’m playing for.” 

Coach Lindsay Whalen, the head coach of the University of Minnesota’s women’s basketball team and a previous point guard for the Connecticut Sun, also used very specific ritualized behaviors prior to playing:

“I have to get my left ankle taped before my right ankle. I have a piece of gum that I chew before I go on the court, and then when I warm up I throw it out. Before I come to the team huddle, when the five players huddle, I put my feet on the sticky thing (shoe sole cleaner) and my hands on the sticky thing. Then I clap once. I say a prayer before every game during the national anthem. I ask for no major injuries on either side of the ball.”

Specific rituals add meaning and consistency to an athlete’s preparation, providing them with a sense of calm and confidence leading up to the moment of performance. 

Use of imagery, or visualization as it is commonly known, is a critical component to a serious athlete’s pre-performance routine. Basketball visualization has many benefits, including reducing stress and worry, enhancing confidence, and assisting with the proper execution of sport-specific demands.

When a person imagines themselves succeeding on court, they activate similar areas of the brain that also become active when they are actually engaging in the task. This is known in sport psychology as “functional equivalence,” essentially demonstrating that we can ‘trick’ the lower order dimensions of our mind into feeling that we are completing a task without actually physically doing so.

Of course, like many mental skills, this takes practice! Bella mentions this is a big part of her pre-game routine: 

“I spend time just in my own mind, thinking about what I’m going to do in the game, whether that’s playing great defense, getting rebounds, making my shots, I just go through all that in my head. And try to get myself in the right mindset. I think that’s done wonders for me.”

Former WNBA player Natalie Williams said this practice helping her as well: “I just try to visualize to get mentally prepared for what I need to do each and every night depends on what my team needs.”

One element of a pre-game routine that can easily get overlooked is setting personal intentions for how you want to show up for that performance. By telling yourself you want to be “calm and confident,” or “focused and free,” for examples, you are priming your mind to think and act the way you are intending. This can have a powerful impact.

After all, our thoughts impact our beliefs, which in turn impact our behaviors, and those behaviors are the content of our actions. By intentionally priming ourselves to show up in a particular manner, we are setting the stage for doing so.

Players aren’t the only ones that can benefit from a pre-game routine. Coaches, performers in their own right, also need to customize thoughts, actions and behaviors that will help them be at their best then their team needs them most.

Coach Vickie Johnson of the Dallas Wings mentioned to Queen Ballers Club turning off her phone, listening to motivational speeches, and setting the intention of “Leaving it all out on the floor, giving them everything that I possibly give them, offensively, defensively, encouraging them.” Oh, and Coach Johnson was sure to say she takes a pre-game nap as well!

6. Eating right

The right meal can set you up for success on court. Similarly, eating the wrong food can doom you. If you are wondering why you are fatigued and dragging late in a game, you can often look no further than what you ate (or didn’t eat) for lunch that day. 

“Nothing that you eat should slow you down,” says Milani, who has been a vegan since birth. While not every athlete will be vegan, generally speaking, a mix of carbohydrates, protein, healthy fats, fruits and vegetables and limited dairy is ideal when thinking of how to give your body the right nutrients to make it through a long game. 

Players also need to be mindful of when they are eating as eating too soon prior to tip-off can lead to a feeling of lethargy and being weighed down, whereas eating too long before the game can limit your overall energy level. Your bet is trying to eat 2-3 hours before showtime. 

For the high-level hooper, a review of the scouting report is another element of the pre-game routine that can’t be overlooked. Whether it be a granular breakdown of the opponents tendencies, an overview of a team’s sets, or watching film of the team you’re about to face, learning the nuances of your opponent is a vital component to success in the WNBA. 

The life of a professional basketball player is full of demands on time. You have appearances, ticket requests, endorsements, friends and family all pulling at the same 24 hours a day that we all have. With all of these demands on your time you are sure to be distracted mentally.

urther, you are bound to have external distractions at the game: unruly fans, fans you want to impress, and calls that don’t go your way, just to name a few. On top of that we all have internal distractions that constantly take us away from the most important moment: the present. Nerves, fear of failure, an internal critic; all of these elements pop up throughout the course of a game. 

By knowing and naming distractions we are more able to release them, and making a point of intentionally doing so is a great way to decide you are going to be free of distractions come performance time. There are several ways to consider doing this, but perhaps none is better than using your breath as a tool to focus (and then refocus) on the present moment. 

Of course, part of any pre-game routine will include a solid physical warm-up. Dynamic stretching, on-court individual skill work and a team warm-up are all part of a physical warm-up that will get your body ready to perform.

Milani points out that when doing your individual skill work you keep it game-specific: “I like to take about 50-100 shots I’m going to actually have in the game. You have to prepare yourself for what you’re actually going to do in the game.” 

No matter what your pre-game routine may be, it is best for you to individualize it so that it is customized to your particular needs. No two hoopers are exactly alike! While one player may need a 90-minute nap, another may only require a 20-minute catnap. Diets vary, stretching routines are body specific, and ritualized actions that are meaningful for you will have no impact on the next player.  

It’s critical for players to find what works for them, apply it, and then continue to tweak it as you see fit. Eventually you will arrive at a routine that fits you, and then you can keep it “the same every time,” as Sue Bird mentioned. 

“Do this then, do that then, boppity-bop-bop-bop.”

Pre-game routines are vital to your success! The game is dynamic: venues change; opponents change; how you are feeling on any particular day (physically or mentally) changes as well. By creating a consistent set of thoughts, feelings, actions, and behaviors that are tweaked and catered to your individual needs, you are creating a template for consistent performance every time you are out on the court. 

Up next, learn more about improving your game with basketball mindfulness, or explore the best ball handling drills at home.

By the way, get equipped to improve your game with our partner Wilson’s cool basketballs, and support Queen Ballers Club. There are WNBA replica balls by WNBA team, and, of course, our favorite the Evo NXT Game Basketball.

Don’t let WNBA stories go untold. Would you be willing to send a $5 tip to our Venmo tip jar because it helps support our reporting? @megsterr.

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Written by Danny Ourian, M.A., a Certified Mental Performance Consultant® (CMPC) with the Association for Applied Sport Psychology and the founder of Hoops Minded, a mental performance training service for basketball players and other athletes. In addition, he is an Affiliate Faculty member with Holy Names University’s Sport and Performance Psychology department. He lives in Oakland (CA) with his wife and son. 

Basketball Valuables | VTB United League

January 20

Last weekend was full of interesting matches in the League. Enisey almost beat CSKA, Kalev was stronger than Donetsk with a minimal advantage, Nizhny Novgorod, shutting up the siren, snatched victory from Tsmoki-Minsk. ..

Against this background, the game in Riga, where the local VEF host the Lithuanian "Neptunas" did not seem to stand out in anything special. However, it has become special for the three arbitrators.

This meeting was entrusted to judge me and my colleagues from Finland and Estonia - Johann Sarikowski and Mart Uuehendrik. For Johann and Marta, the Riga match was the first in their careers in the VTB United League. And for the first time I played the game of the tournament as the chief arbiter.
Despite the fact that in the upcoming match we met teams that occupy the third and ninth lines in group B, none of us had problems with motivation.

When we met at breakfast, we almost immediately moved on to discussing the upcoming evening's work. The Riga club was not a mystery to us. We discussed the recent VEF game against Valencia in the Eurocup. We determined the team leader and the most problematic players for refereeing. From the experience of previous matches, we knew that most often VEF plays correctly, without being rude. But there are fights among the Rigans in which the team begins to defend themselves not only aggressively, but also unnecessarily tough. And then the judges have no choice but to fix fouls over and over again. We discussed that if today the VEF players, frustrated by the disappointing defeat from Valencia, start acting rudely, we should fix all the fouls from the first minutes. At the same time, we immediately agreed that if a large number of fouls confuse us during the meeting, and we start missing something, the game will go out of our control.

After that, we moved on to talking about Neptunes. We were well aware of the main players - Gailyuus, Brodas, experienced Gustas and newcomer Vasilyus. In addition, I was pleased to see Nikita Barinov, a graduate of the CSKA youth project, on the list of the Lithuanian team.
After examining the individual characteristics of basketball players, at the end we discussed our actions in possible conflict situations during the match.

Pre-game referee meetings like this happen all the time. Sometimes they turn into a formality. I am sure that this time each of us participated in this meeting “not for show”. We really sincerely wanted to prepare as best as possible for the upcoming match. In addition, the meeting did not turn into a monologue of one arbitrator. Each of us took part in it, shared our observations and thoughts with partners.

In general, one and a half to two hours flew by unnoticed and, I'm sure, very productive.

Before the game in the referee's locker room, we again held a short 15-minute meeting, focusing on refereeing mechanics. We agreed that the referee on the weak side would be more active in helping the referee under the basket. We also discussed how we will act in situations of the last throw.

Contrary to the forecasts of some experts, the game turned out to be stubborn. Throughout the first half of the match, the clear favorite of the VEF was in the role of catching up. And, despite the backlog that the Latvians created in the third quarter, the question of the winner was not resolved until the very final siren.

I think that we played the game with integrity and as a real team. True, it seemed to me that in the middle of the third 10-minute period, our team lost the necessary concentration for several minutes. But, the main thing is that we quickly got together and brought the game to the end with high quality and professionalism.
I'm also happy with how we handled the timeouts. In minute breaks, they did not rest, but worked. They exchanged observations, shared information about the problems that they noticed and tried to find solutions. At the end of the timeout, we clearly knew what to do in a given situation. In general, after a minute break, not only the teams, but also the judges came out more prepared and motivated. At dinner after the game, Johann admitted: "Today, even the girls from the support group could not be considered."

In conclusion, I want to tell you about another interesting episode of the match. Despite the fact that in the final period there was an equal fight, the coach of Rigans Ramunas Butautas was not afraid to let 17-year-old Andrzejs Pasechniks onto the court a few minutes before the end. The young center with a height of 210 cm appeared on the court for the third time as part of the VEF in the VTB League games. Apparently due to excitement, in the very first attack, Andrzejs made a loss by releasing the ball into touch. After 20 seconds, Pasechniks, playing defense, got a foul. “Now Butautas will replace him,” a thought flashed through my mind. But the coach only loudly encouraged his young ward: “Angejs, play without a foul!”

A minute later the center got a second foul, and the not so big advantage of the Latvians in the score was even reduced. But here, Butautas left the young player on the court. And not in vain. In the next attack, Pasechniks was left alone and from an average distance confidently put two points into the basket of the Lithuanians! I glanced at Ramunas. A happy smile played on the coach's face, which he did not even try to hide. After that, Pasechniks, who played out, converted two more free throws, and the hosts confidently brought the match to victory.

I understand very well that for any coach, the result is the most important thing. Indeed, club leaders often judge the quality of his work only by what place the team took at the end of the season. Therefore, coaches trust the place on the court more to experienced, proven players. And the mistake of a young guy can be very expensive!

... The league entrusted three young judges to judge the match between VEF and Neptunas. And Butautas was not afraid to release a young and talented player on the court in an equal ending. Yes, not everyone is ready for such decisions. But such trust for the young is priceless!

Aleksey Davydov,
FIBA ​​referee
Photo of the author and Mikus Klavnish (VEF press service)

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