10 Proven Ways To Make the Most of Your Off-Season

10 Proven Ways to Make the Most of Your Off-Season

 

1. Start with your end-game

 “Setting goals is the first step in turning the invisible into the visible.”                       -Tony Robbins

What are your aspirations and dreams?  What type of player do you want to be?  What is it going to take to get there.  These are the questions to ask yourself when formulating your plan for improvement.  Most players have big dreams and high aspirations for their career.  The problem is that they do not do the work required to reach those dreams.

There are two reasons players come up short:

• They do not fully understand what it takes.
• They do understand, but they are looking for a shortcut.

To become great at anything you have to fall in love with the process of                                     getting better.

So let me ask you two questions:

• Have you developed a love for the process?
• Are you training according to your aspirations?

 

2. Nurture your growth mindset

 “As you think so shall you be.”  -William James

 Players, pick up a copy of the book Mindset by Carol Dweck.  If you care about being successful in life, you must invest in yourself.  I believe this book is one of the best investments that you can make.

Her concept of the “growth mindset vs. fixed mindset” has become well-known to sports psychologists all over the nation.  In her book, she describes the difference between these two mindsets and how they can impact your performance.

She states… “In a fixed mindset students believe their basic abilities, their intelligence, their talents, are just fixed traits.  They have a certain amount and that’s that, and then their goal becomes to look smart all the time and never look dumb.  In a growth mindset students understand that their talents and abilities can be developed through effort, good teaching, and persistence.”

You must have a growth mindset to become the best player you can be.

Players who have a growth mindset have are more likely to:

• Have a higher basketball I.Q.
• Work harder
• Objectively evaluate their strengths and weaknesses
• Turn their mistakes into future successes
• Be the best teammates

I urge you to pick up this book and embrace a growth mindset.  It is a habit of thought that will set you up for success in life.

 

3. Seek out a mentor

 “Each person holds so much power within themselves that needs to be let out. Sometimes they just need a little nudge, a little direction, a little support, a little coaching, and the greatest things can happen.” – Pete Carroll

 There are many great trainers out there, but there are many scammers who are only trying to make money as well.  Do your research when looking for a mentor.

Here are 6 pieces of advice on finding the right trainer/mentor for you:

• Find someone who has been where you want to go and understands what it takes to be the best you can be.
• Find someone who has technical expertise (Skills, moves, footwork, shooting, etc.).
• Find someone who will enhance your mental game.
• Find someone who is honest. They don’t just tell you what you want to hear.  They are not afraid to hurt your feelings.
• Find someone who will develop your basketball I.Q. They will teach you how to coach yourself.
• Find someone who will help you excel in your team environment. They will not just focus on the acquisition of a few skills.  They will be focused on the development of the total player, the total teammate, and the total person.

The right mentor may be hard to find at first, but they are out there somewhere waiting to help you take your game to another level.   Before you pay a dime for training, do your research.  Ask the right questions.  Gather all of the information you can.  Your mentor may be your coach.  If so, good for you.   You just saved your parents some money.

 

4. Get uncomfortable in your workouts

 “I’m uncomfortable being comfortable.”  -Steve Nash

Basketball is a game of speed and skill.  In my experience the best skill level played at the highest speed wins.  When you are working on a skill, are you working at an uncomfortable speed?  If not, start today.  Maximum improvement happens when you push yourself out of your comfort zone.

Why?

• Basketball is a high speed game
• You improve your conditioning
• The speed of the game slows down for you. You become a like a chess player- always thinking 3 moves ahead.
• You simulate a game-like experience

 

5. Develop the skill of coaching yourself

“Give a man a fish and you feed him for a day; Teach a man to fish and he’ll feed himself for a lifetime.”  -Author Unknown

This concept is an absolute necessity.  You have to take charge of your own development.  Nobody knows you better than you know yourself.  You know what makes you uncomfortable when you are on the court.  You should think about these things and try to come up with a solution.  This will develop your basketball I.Q.  So often I see players who have a problem such as shooting footwork, beating a bigger defender, guarding a bigger player, etc.  They just wait for a coach to tell them how to fix it.  How much better could you be if you started to think the game for yourself?  A coach can give you direction, but only you can solve the problem.  I challenge you to put this into practice.  Take out a pen and paper and write down something that is a weakness in your game.  Then write down ways that you could turn your weakness into a strength.  Here is an example.

I have a hard time scoring against a bigger defender

• Become a better shooter- it will keep them off balance
• Play lower/stronger
• Make more violent ball fakes to get them off balance
• Work on playing through contact- Use contact against them

 

6. Decide what you are willing to sacrifice to become a special player

“Success is no accident. It is hard work, perseverance, learning, studying, sacrifice and most of all, love of what you are doing or learning to do.”        –Pele

There is only so much time in the day.  There are some things that you will have to sacrifice if you want to achieve greatness in sports.  Stop reading right now and make a list of what is most important in your life.  Your list may look something like this:

God

Family

Friends

School

Basketball

Baseball

Football

 

Now under that list I want you to write down a list of your activities last Saturday.   For example:

Woke up

Spent 15 minutes looking at my phone

Ate Breakfast

Spent another 30 minutes on my phone

Played Call of Duty

Ate lunch

Went to work out

Showered

Spent another 30 minutes on my phone

And so on…

I’m sure you get the idea.  For your generation (and any generation for that matter), the most healthy sacrifice you can make is the amount of time you spend buried in your phone.  Just think of how much time you will have on your hands.  It may not be your phone.  It may be something else that is not on your list of what is important to you that is taking up so much of your time.  I’m not saying you can’t be on Instagram and twitter.  I am saying to sacrifice some of time that you are on it.  It will take work to change, but all good habits take some work.  When it comes to sacrifice, Make cuts in the areas that are not on your list of what’s most important.

 

7. Be Consistent

“When you look at people who are successful, you will find that they aren’t the people who are motivated, but have consistency in their motivation.”     -Arsene Wenger

 

This is the big separator.  Consistency of work ethic is what makes special players out of average athletes.  Set a schedule.  Have a routine.  Stick to it.

Turn your work outs from occasional random events into daily habits.

 

8. Outwork everyone

 “Talent is cheaper than table salt. What separates the talented individual from the successful one is a lot of hard work.”  -Stephen King

 Think of the best player you will face next year.  Someone that you love to compete against.  Now picture them in the gym working on their game.  One of my college coaches used to tell me, “I bet Chuckie (the point guard from our conference rival) is in the weight room right now too.  Is he working harder than you?”  Don’t let anyone outwork you.  Not only will you be on the right path toward your best self, your teammates and coaches will take notice.  They will respect you and be inspired to work harder themselves.  Inspiring people with your actions is one of the most noble works of human existence.

 

9. Watch ball with a different approach

 “A smart man learns from his mistakes, but a wise takes it a step further.  He learns from the mistakes of others.”  -Author Unknown

 Stop watching the game as a fan, and start watching as a student.  Start tonight in the NBA Western Conference Finals.  Don’t just watch the ball.  Watch off the ball.  Don’t focus on the results.  Focus on how and why a team got that result.  A fan of the game says “Ooooh. What a shot.”  A student of the game sees what happened before Steph Curry made that three, and they are taking notes in their mind.  They are actively learning tricks of the trade from the best players in the world.

 

10. Add something to your game every summer

 “There is nothing noble in being superior to your fellow man; true nobility is being superior to your former self.”  -Earnest Hemingway

 This is where the ability to coach yourself gets put into practice.  Before every off season, think about what you can add to your game to make yourself a different player next year.

Examples:

• Adding strength and putting on some weight
• Raising the release point of your jump shot
• Becoming more explosive
• Extending your range
• Developing a strong mid-range game
• Becoming a great ball handler

Ask your coach what you should add to your game to make the team better next year.  He/she will be more than happy to tell you what they think.  Be an updated, better version of yourself every year.

You 2.0