I just added a quote from former NBA great, Bob Pettit, to the Basketball Quotations section and I wanted to share it here as well.
Bob Pettit is an NBA Hall of Famer, 11-time all star, and the NBA’s first MVP award winner. Pettit played for the Milwaukee/St. Louis Hawks from 1954-1965
“When you go out on the court whether it be for the championship or just a scrimmage, have confidence that your abilities and what you’ve learned in your drills are better than your opponent’s. This does not mean you should disregard your opponent. Before taking the court for any game, you should do a lot of thinking about what you have to do to beat your opponent and what he must or can do to beat you.”
~Bob Pettit
Common sense, really, but you should understand that if you have been working hard at your game, you can have confidence that your work will pay off come game time!
I also like that he talks about ‘thinking the game’. Preparing for your opponent includes more than practicing to beat them — you must think about what you must do to beat them. Essentially, visualize your game.
Thinking the game is also where you can develop your basketball IQ. I believe that in order to have a high basketball IQ, you need to study the game and think the game. Learn from the drills and practice sessions. Learn when you are playing pickup games and scrimmages. Learn from your previous games. And learn from others when you are watching games live or on TV.
Questions: To say ‘have confidence’ is easy. To actually have confidence is often times more difficult. How can taking what you’ve learned and thinking the game build your confidence? How else can we build confidence; either in ourselves or in our players? You can leave a comment below.
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