A DEPOSIT or WITHDRAWAL: What are you making?...
If you were the president of a Fortune 100 company would you feel confident in your company's financial stability if your staff went a whole summer making withdrawals as opposed to deposits? I, as a company CEO, would assume this way of accounting could lead to financial hardship if continued over a long period of time.
If you are a professional or high school basketball player this is form of accounting seems to be the norm! Far too many times, players who base their careers on their skills fail to properly prepare in the offseason resulting in players rarely adding anything NEW to their "tool box".
Many professionals players, particularly in the NYC area, use the summer to play in many basketball leagues (tournaments) as opposed to using the "off season" to enhance their abilities. This counter productive mindset is not solely reserved for the "pros", it has trickled down to the secondary level in which today's AAU mentality has mirrored the professional scene. Players that play on several AAU teams criss cross the country playing in multiple games DO NOT have the opportunity to "work on their games". Furthermore, due to their game schedules - players do not have the opportunity for their bodies to properly recover which ultimately can lead to injuries.
In short, basketball, like all sports require a great deal of attention to detail especially in the area of skill development. Players should consider the gym as their bank and the work they put in as deposits as opposed to constantly withdrawing from their skill set.
"Key thought for the off-season: “Spectacular achievement is always preceded by unspectacular preparation.” - Alan Stein
3 comments:
Agreed, but it's hard to have the discipline to not want to play in summer tournaments when all of your peers on playing in this tournament and that tournament, putting up points, etc, etc. Coaches have to explain the measurable benefits of working on skills, conditioning in the off season, rather than just playing. Adding a mid-range jumpshot, three point percetnage or upping the free throw shooting percentage might be the difference between 8ppg or 15ppg. Improving conditioning might add 1-2+ steals per game and result in better performance in the 4th quarter, second half as applicable. Every year, Jordan came back with a new dimension to his game because he selected a few discreet things to work on. Same for Kobe, Karl Marlone, etc.
Great post. The problem is that even in the world of sports, kids feel peer pressure. Well just like life, the people that go in the opposite direction of the pack are generally the more successful people. So stop playing, recover and add a new dimension to your game.
Great post. The problem is that even in the world of sports, kids feel peer pressure. Well just like life, the people that go in the opposite direction of the pack are generally the more successful people. So stop playing, recover and add a new dimension to your game.
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