Improve your resilience, improve your game
Resilience is the ability to recover or bounce back from setbacks or adversity that we may experience at any point day today. By improving your resilience, you will improve your ability to deal with the demands of basketball and with the challenges in your life.
Basketball has many highs and lows. Not just throughout a season but within each quarter of a game. Resilient players may have negative thoughts but they do not let their negative thoughts derail them from goals or aspirations. Similarly, resilient coaches will be able to guide their team through setbacks.
Factors that contribute to developing resilience are:
- Self-awareness
Knowing your strengths, weaknesses, motivators, values and morals. Re-aligning yourself with these at times of difficulty can allow more perspective and reassurance. Some levels of stress can highlight and develop your strengths further! - Self- support
Having strategies to support yourself or by seeking support from your family/friends/teammates/coaches/players/professionals (know your ‘go to’s’). Feeling connected to others is an important support network; who is in your tribe? - Self-care
Being mindful of what brings you peace, joy, excitement and motivation. This is helpful to tap into when you notice you need to re-balance. This may even be strategies to utilise during a game. Acknowledge and allow you emotions during difficult times to explore how you respond to experiences. If you are having a heightened day, identify what will help to settle you or re-balance. This is unique to everyone… maybe why each player has their own routine at the free-throw line. - Pinch points
Be aware of what you can find difficult. Whether it is game related or life-related, at the free-throw line, at school or at work. This can help you become more mindful of when you may struggle and know when to implement our self-support and self-care strategies before it worsens. - Get to know your ‘wise mind’
Striking a balance between our logical thoughts and our emotional thoughts can bring clarity to difficult situations. Understanding your thoughts, feelings and emotions of different situations can be helpful to choose a healthier way of managing them, even on the court mid-game.
- Self-direction
It is easy to get bogged down in the stressors of day to day life, just like it is easy to get bogged down when things aren’t going right on the court. Unexpected changes and things that are out of control can quickly make you feel unsettled. Reminding yourself of the bigger picture (goals/aims/plans) can help bring perspective and motivation to move forwards.
- Eyes on the next play!
Identify what is within your control and what is outside of it. You cannot control the missed shot, the turnover or the decision the ref made. It is helpful to let this go, as they are no longer within your control. However, you can learn from it, make changes, and adjust moving forward. You can only control the next play!
Much like building a robust body or improving a jump shot, building resilience takes time and practice. Setting a goal to improve your resilience can help improve life and your game!