Top 5 Things Your Brain Might Say About Training for Basketball

Below are five conversations your brain might say if it could talk directly to you.

#1 - I’m Not Sure What To Do With That

A common practice coaches like is breaking a skill down to its smallest part, even before showing the athletes the entire skill, so they know what they are ultimately trying to perform. The brain would say, “Well, sure, I can do that. I’m not sure how it helps me, and I don’t know what I learned. It seems to me I am simply doing a drill for the sake of doing a drill, but I have no idea what it means”.

#2 - Why Don’t You Let Me Figure It Out?

“I don’t understand why you always stop me after every attempt to correct me. I also don’t get why you constantly tell me what to do and bark instructions all practice. If you just give me a chance to practice it more without telling me what to do, I will eventually do it pretty well. You just have to give me time to figure it out.”

#3 - But It Feels Better When I Don’t Pivot

“Why do you constantly tell me not to move my foot and either pivot or drop-step open on defense, or when dribbling to not allow my foot to reposition behind my body to accelerate? It feels so much faster and more natural. When I execute the slow drills, you have me and my teammates feel very awkward and uncoordinated. I also like the fact I don’t have to think about moving my foot into a new position when I play live and react.”

#4 - Whoa, Why Do I Have To Get So Low On Defense?

“Talk about awkward. When you tell me to bend my knees so I am low on defense, I get beat by my opponent. But, when I bend my knees enough to have a wide enough stance, but not so low, I can’t use my quickness; I am so much faster. Isn’t that what you want from me- Speed?”

#5 - I Always Want To Turn On My Shot

“I know you keep telling me to be squared to the basket and have ten toes facing the rim, but man, that feels uncomfortable. When I watch the greatest shooters in the world, none of them do that- why do I have to? Because I shoot with my right hand, it feels more natural to turn my right shoulder forward to face the rim. I also like my right foot slightly in front of my left because it tends to help me shoot straighter. It’s tough to land facing the rim squared up when my natural shooting action has me turn more to the left so my right shoulder and arm can follow through at the rim”.

“I know you mean well and are probably coaching me with what your coach told you and what his coach told him. But I wish you would look at what is most appropriate from a mechanical standpoint and how laws of the human movement work in my favor”.

Progress of Learning

It’s amazing how we learned to crawl, stand, walk, and run before we were 5-years old, and all of a sudden, you feel as though I can’t do anything by myself anymore. Coach, if you want to work with your brain, rather than against it, join us in changing how coaching basketball speed is done. Visit us at www.BasketballSpeedSpecialist.com.

Categories: : art of coaching, basketball movement, basketball speed