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Saturday, September 5, 2020

Basketball: Show Dog

"You're a show dog. Get in there and perform." - Reba McEntire 



Bring energy. Bring attitude. Be your best self. "Leave an impression." In Above the Line, Urban Meyer calls it, "crossing the red line," around the field. Remember the Naomi Effect. Two minutes before tryouts started, a little girl came up to me and said, "I am really excited to be here." 

Define your mental and physical process. Write it down. Preparation might start the night before, packing your team bag with your gear, prescriptions, personal items. I had one player (now a senior at the Naval Academy), who kept her laminated copy of the "Pyramid of Success" in her gym bag for almost a decade. She will proudly represent us as a Naval Officer. 


Successful people in all fields are intentional. Have an activating or calming routine to bolster your psychology. Balance yields the highest results (figure above). 

 

Build confidence. Develop a specific stretching and warmup plan. Your routine is your success launch pad. If you can't explain your process, you don't have one. Whatever your routine, start shooting in close. Seeing the ball go in builds belief. "We make our habits and our habits make us." 

5 Extend your rangeI like a drill we call plus two, minus one. Start along a "radian." 


Expand your range and confidence. Make two and step back. Miss one, move in. Miss two in a row and start over. You must shoot over .666 to get to the three-point line. 


Our girls want to shoot the three. Earn the privilege. 

Have a presence. Your presence will follow you through life. My daughter told me that she walked onto the floor tall, head up, chest out. Body language announces that the alpha dog is in the house. Your performance backs it up. Remind yourself every day, "always do your best." Your best means not having to lead a life of regrets. 


Lagniappe: "Focus on the process of becoming champions." - Nick Saban in How Good Do You Want to Be? 

Lagniappe 2: Zak Boisvert on leaving your feet.