Archive for Sports Psychology
Developing Good Chemistry
Posted by: | CommentsWe began our pre-season tonight with a win over a team in the league below us. Interestingly enough, we played before a packed house. The energy in the building was great for a preseason game, indeed, maybe for any game. The temperature was no joke either.
One of the things that always hits me at the beginning of the season is the way in which members of a particular team must learn how to best play the game together. In the basketball world, we would say that the preseason is an important time to develop good chemistry. Essentially, what it ends up meaning is that it is vital to figure each other out, to learn what each individual player likes to do and in turn, figure out how we can all fit together in such a way that we will corporately be at our best.
Apart from playing games with one another, there is really no other way to learn, to figure this out. Practice won’t even do it. You have to get out and compete, and take some mental notes. Make some mistakes. Ask some questions and keep on playing until you figure each other out.
And in the end, you never fully figure each other out. You are always learning. Always developing better chemistry (at least you hope). A Coach gives you the structure in which to work and you then go out and communicate and play the game with one another. I love the process. But I love when it really starts to come together all the more! The teams that really figure out how to best fit their respective gifts and strengths are always the most fun to play for and oftentimes, the most successful.
I am hopeful my squad this year proves to be such a team!
Discipline and Freedom
Posted by: | CommentsThis week we have our annual Crispin Basketball School. It’s always a fun time, though it makes for a busier schedule than I am used to. It’s also rather challenging as I am used to being the player, not the coach. I have enjoyed it though.
One of the realities that I have continually tried to make plain to all the kids at our camp is that it is essential to discipline yourself in order to know the joy of free play.
In the basketball context, this means, put your energies into developing great habits during controlled basketball drills, so that when the game time comes, you can simply respond, simply play, simple clear your mind and enjoy the game. Be diligent with your practice time and your game time will be all the more enjoyable and hopefully, effective.
This lesson applies to all of life. It’s one I need to remind myself of time and time again. The pathway to true and lasting freedom is through diligence and discipline. The clearest thinkers are those who have taken the time to read and think and write and read some more until they really know what they know. The best basketball players are usually those who have been diligent with their practice time. The best violinist is usually the one who has spent hours upon hours practicing by himself. And on and on it goes.
Interestingly enough as well, this truth applies to living the Christian life. Discipline is meant to bring true freedom. Many people view Bible reading and and prayer and Church going and reading theological books as a bore or a burden, but that is because they don’t realize the freedom that is found in the exercise of such disciplines. That’s a shame, for both the Christian and everyone else.
We would all be a lot happier if we embraced the simple reality that the only pathway to true freedom is through the exercise of diligence and discipline. In life, sports, work, play and whatever else.
Little Kids and Sports
Posted by: | CommentsMy little boy, Elijah, is three-years-old. He loves to play sports, any and every sport. What he sees, he seeks to imitate. Then he sees something else and moves onto that. As a professional athlete, you can imagine I love having a son like that and can’t help but hope that it continues. Yet I have to discipline myself to do one simple, but very important thing, namely, keep things light and loose and free and fun.
Yes, I know this shouldn’t even have to be said, but the reality is, it does have to be said. For I have a tendency to want to teach him how to do things. And I know I am by no means alone. But the simple reality is that Elijah doesn’t care very much how to do things. He just wants to enjoy doing them. The only way I teach is to simply show him how to do things. Then let him imitate the best he can and more than anything else, enjoy. Just enjoy. Play. Have fun. Make up a game. And yes, oftentimes, win.
Again, this probably shouldn’t have to be said about a three-year-old, but in this day and age of kid’s sports, I believe it does have to be said–about him at his age, and also for kids 6 years older than him. Learning too much too soon can easily take the fun out of the game.
At this stage of life, there is nothing more important for Elijah to learn than the simple reality that sports are fun. Sadly, it’s a lesson that not enough kids are learning, because the environments they find themselves in are so structured that they are not fun. Or at least not as fun as they ought to be because they are not free. It’s not the playground. It’s team practice. And there is a big difference between the two.
I am sure I will say more on this front in days to come, but for now, I’d just like to plead with all the Dads out there to make sure their kids have plenty of opportunities to enjoy sports in a light and loose and free and fun environment. For interestingly enough, such an environment is essential not only to general well being, but long-term learning success.
Come to think of it, many a high school, college, or professional coach would do well to take heed to such words. For I know without a doubt that the team that is light and loose and free and fun is a dangerous one to play.
