How satisfied, thrilled, and accomplished do you feel when you play really, REALLY well? Like, so well, that you don’t even know what happened. It felt like something took over your body and played for you. This is called your “in zone” mode. This “in zone” feeling changes the game, makes you feel unstoppable, and you never want to leave this zone once you are in it.

Now, how traumatized, upset, and disappointed are you when no matter how hard you felt like you tried, you just didn’t have the best performance. It doesn’t matter if you won or lost this game. It is about how you, individually, performed. It seemed like none of your lay-ups would go in, can’t control your dribbling, fouling left and right. Nothing is going your way. 

After each competition, practice, pick-up ball game you play, evaluated your performance. Analyze how you played before the game, played during the game, how was your attitude, and overall effort to see what areas might need more attention. This is also a good time to give yourself a complements on the areas that are your strengths. 

Here is what a simple checklist should entail: 

  1. Before: 
    1. Effective warm-up?
    2. Performanced all elements needed before playing?
  2. During Competition:
    1. How was my offense?
    2. Was I a team player?
    3. How was my defense?
    4. Did I hustle for every play?
  3. Attitude: 
    1. How was my body language?
    2. Was any of my anger addressed to the ref or crowd?
    3. Did I try to keep stats in my head?
  4. Overall Effort:
    1. Did I quit during any plays?
    2. Did I use my energy effectively? 
    3. Did I go as hard on defense as I did on offense?

Written by:

Sarah Grippi

Basketball Mindset

 

Category: Basketball