Confidence on the basketball court is a huge part of becoming a good basketball player. Do you know any good basketball player that has confidence issues? Look back at the greats of the game; Bird, Magic, Jordan, Kobe and now LeBron, all have high levels of confidence.
Recently I have started a counselling course with the intent that it’ll help my coaching. With this course I have had a lot of self realisation and identified some limitations I had in my basketball career. Looking back, one thing that impacted my basketball career greatly was the high basketball expectation I set for myself.
My high basketball expectations explained
About to pour my heart out here people!
When I was in my 20’s all I wanted to do was play basketball all day everyday. I just wanted to do it as a job because I loved the game so much. Money wasn’t what I was thinking about as I knew that I wouldn’t earn millions of dollars playing the game. In fact that money I got paid never really covered my lifestyle.
However, even though I loved basketball I put a lot of pressure on myself to perform. I had very high expectations of myself and constantly criticized each moment of my game. Most cases causing me to make more mistakes. When I had a bad game I’d be in a state of depression.
Looking back now I can see how the high basketball expectations I had in my life caused so much pain. Pain in the way of not performing well and pain in the way of not enjoying the game. Clearly this was a limiting factor and something I have only recently identified.
How can you identify if you have high basketball expectations
Don’t fall for this trap! It’s easy to and even harder to identify this as a problem. I will later break down to you what high expectations means deep down inside your personality. But for now let me try and help you identify if there’s a problem.
Here’s some questions to ask yourself?
- When you are playing basketball are you constantly feeling that you are under pressure? And you don’t want to make a mistake?
- Are you constantly worried about what people think of you as a basketball player?
- Are you scared to play your own game? Make a crossover or take shots.
- Do you train better than you play?
If you answered yes to most of these questions then you have an issue with confidence and or high basketball expectations.
What does it all mean internally?
There’s something internally that happens when you set high expectations. The positive is that you are focused and have a clear direction to what you want. The negative is that it is crippling you and limiting you in your life.
In this post I want to discuss the negative side and what it means internally.
High expectations is a form of pressure to achieve and in most cases achieve to be liked or gain notoriety. Notoriety then means a lack of self value which leads to the question of self esteem. Are you good enough?
In quite a lot of cases having high expectations is due to a self worth issue. A person doesn’t feel valued or important enough so they’ll attach themselves to a high standard. When these high expectations are then not met, extreme disappointment sets in. Making the person feel like a failure and worthless.
Speak to a professional
I realise that I might be generalising here but there’s a lot of basketball players I have met having problems with confidence due to self worth issues. If this articles identifies with your personality, don’t worry. There is hope! This form of thinking can be broken.
To get around confidence or self worth issues speak to a professional if you can. Sports psychologists are great at identifying these issues and giving cognitive programs to become mentally strong. If you do not have access to these professionals speak to coaches and other players. You can even jump on a basketball Facebook group and get advice. But always seek professional advice where possible.
If you’d like to book in a session with me to discuss any problems you are having, I do provide a free one time 30 minute service. I can speak on the phone, Skype, Viber or most internet based communication applications.
Please note, any advice I give is general in nature.
There’s a multitude of psychological factors that affect performance on a basketball court. In this article I addressed one that is buried deep in people’s personality so it is important to identify it and deal with it immediately.
Don’t let something internally limit you from becoming the basketball player you want to be.
Best of luck with your new positive mind!