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What excuse do you give yourself for not doing your best every time you step out on the court to practice or play in a game?
WHAT MAKES A PLAYER GOOD
A lot of players are potentially good. They try hard to show everyone how good they are, how many great plays they can make. Along the way they make some great plays but they also make a lot of mistakes. They go quickly from good to mediocre, and many of them spend their entire basketball careers hearing coaches’ say, “you COULD be good.” But they aren’t.
Good players are those players who get the job done, who concentrate on the little things, playing the game right, getting good defensive position, being there for rebounds, and always taking high percentage opportunities, whether shooting, passing, stealing or penetrating.
ATTITUDE
A good attitude is something you have to decide consciously to have. In bed at night you have to be able to close your eyes and see yourself as the player you want to be under all circumstances.
Can you make yourself hustle when you’re out of breath and your legs are like lead weights? Can you keep encouraging your teammates even though you think some of them are not playing as hard? Can you accept your coach’s criticism and listen to what he is saying even when you feel sure he is wrong? Can you listen and think that maybe, just maybe, YOU could be wrong? Can you give your best under all circumstances or are there dozens of things that cause you to lose your temper or hustle or concentration?
What is YOUR vision of the ideal player and the ideal attitude? What is your vision of YOU? Close your eyes…..
ALIBIS
Placing blame and making alibis is really not much more than a simple bad habit. It is not something you really want to do. It is merely something you do. But good players lose this habit, and learn not to look for alibis. They learn to accept responsibility. They don’t waste time on excuses, because they are to busy thinking up ways to overcome the problems.
CRITICISM
No one can ever be expected to like criticism, but you certainly must be able to take it and learn from it. Regardless of what your situation is, criticism is going to be a large part of your basketball experience if the goals are excellence and winning. “Suck it up” as the saying goes; it’s part of the game.
EFFORT
No one gives 100%. Forget all this talk about 110%, 120% or 200%. All players’ loaf. Even great ones. Push yourself, fight yourself, and make yourself hustle more and more. There is always more you can do. Satisfied players are rarely good ones.
CONSISTENCY
The ability to be consistent is what separates a good player from a mediocre one. Good players expect to perform certain tasks over and over again routinely. Develop a ridiculous attention to detail, to doing things right, to making every practice count, and concentrating on every shot. It is not easy to be consistent. Because that’s what “good” is.
1829
It looks like a year, but it’s not. It’s a ratio, the diameter of the rim (18 inches) to the diameter of the ball (9 inches). Eighteen to nine. 18 to 9. The rim is SO much bigger. You have to wonder how anyone ever figured they missed some crucial shot by only an inch.
LOVE OF THE GAME
Sometime, especially outside when it starts to get dark and everyone has gone home and you’ve played all day and you’re there alone-- you, a ball, and the court. The feeling is a combination of meditation, a dream and love of the game.
READY, AIM…
Don’t listen to people who try to keep you from getting your hopes up. Get them way up. You can take disappointment later if things don’t work out. But for right now, aim for the stars. Go for it.
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