ICEBOX

Have you ever seen the player who is a "clutch" performer?

How about the player who makes a mistake, shrugs her shoulders, and stops playing?

These scenarios reflect the level of one's mental toughness.

Our staff and team had a company called Icebox talk to us this spring regarding mental training. It's a lot harder to teach mental toughness than it is a layup, but it's also the most important tool in the game.

If you are the one who is a "clutch" performer, you don't get rattled in a tough environment, and are able to keep playing through error, I want to recruit you! You have a gift.

For the rest, here are a few points to work on this summer that I took from this presentation.

"The 4 C's: composure, concentration, commitment, and confidence." I also added competitiveness.

Composure: Put yourself in a challenging environment. Ex. Trash talking open gym player that is physical to guard you. If you can't remember what they said to you at the end you probably improved on your composure.

Concentration: Ex. Shoot your free throws exactly the same way, same thought every time. Now step to the line and have someone wave arms in front of you or put pressure on yourself for a miss. If you are able to keep it the same, knock them in, then you have improved concentration.

Commitment: Whatever workouts you have planned or set for the summer, do 1% more every day. Always make sure NO ONE has done more than you have.

Confidence: If you fully commit to all of these areas, train hard, get a ton of reps, you will find confidence comes a lot easier. If you haven't put in the time and effort, this may be a challenge.

Why is compete so important? Everyone can play hard, but only one team wins!

Coach Bin