MENTAL TOUGHNESS

 

That MENTAL TOUGHNESS

Unprecedented ever in NBA history, for the very first time next month, the current NBA competitions will go for a restart in a ‘bubble city’ environment in Orlando, Florida. What bothers the legions of basketball-crazy communities are the players themselves. How can they play with same zest and vigor when it was the fans who pushed them to the lights. How can the players not miss the pulsating roars of the home court crowds ?

Let’s take a sampling of the NBA’s best two teams in terms of home records. At home, the league-leading Milwaukee Bucks carry a 28-3 Win-Loss Record whereas the Miami Heat carries a 27-5 W-L Record. In their road games, the Milwaukee Bucks tout a disgusting 25-9 W-L Card whereas the Miami Heats are equally down with a much more atrocious 14-19 W-L Record.

What does this huge disparity mean ? Simply put, this tells us that a lot of energy is fed into these NBA players when they are in their homecourts alongside their hometown crowds. Devoid them of their homecourt and move them away from their hometown crowds, their performance could just end up upside down.

This is were the famous American mental coach, Graham Betchart kept harping all along. To quote him, "IF YOU’VE BEEN DOING THE MENTAL TRAINING FOR A LONG TIME, YOU HAVE A MASSIVE ADVANTAGE". As Graham pointedly highlights, the upcoming NBA restart the Orlando ‘bubble city’ will be more than just a fight against COVID-19 as, to quote him, “it will also be a petri dish for determination, with the advantage [going] to the strongest of the mind”.

Now let’s roll up our sleeves. Here’s the 4 C’s of MENTAL TOUGHNESS:

CONTROL

First and foremost, you got to take a full control of what’s going on in your life. You got to be at the driver’s seat, right on the steering wheel, right in there at every pit stop. And never give any room for you to lose control, else you’ll simply lose your way, lose your direction and lose your purpose.

COMMITMENT

But since we’re all driving for the long-haul, what goes side by side with CONTROL is once’s COMMITMENT. Never waiver. Never wither. Never weaken your fervor because that will keep you going even if the going gets rough.

CHALLENGE

Have that appetite for challenges, that thirst to face challenges. If you are the first to chicken out in the face of challenges, you can never run the full court even in one round. You need to welcome challenges with no alacrity or hesitation because every step of your way, there will be cliffs and ravines so deep even as you will be traversing a rough and tumble road.

CONFIDENCE

Oh, this is the ultimate medicine you need, the booster shot you need every step of the way because when you stumble, when you get those bruises, when you suffer shattering failures, no one else can you push you and carry on except your confidence to reach your ultimate goal in life.

To quote Dr Seuss, BE WHO YOU ARE AND SAY WHAT YOU FEEL BECAUSE THOSE WHO MIND DON’T MATTER AND THOSE WHO MATTER DON’T MIND.

To cap it all, with a right mind, you'll be in a game tight.