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Visualization is an often-taught mental rehearsal technique in sports. It is an extremely powerful tool and numerous studies have been done to test this. You may have heard of this basketball study or a different one with similar results.

A study conducted by Dr. Blaslotto at the University of Chicago was done where he split people into three groups and tested each group on how many free throws they could make. After this, he had the first group practice free throws every day for an hour. The second group just visualized themselves making free throws. The third group did nothing. After 30 days, he tested them again. The first group improved by 24%. The second group improved by 23% without touching a basketball!!!! The third group did not improve which was expected.

Picture by Hape Gera

We're not condoning being lazy and not practicing. What we're trying to drive home is imagine what you could do if you implemented both practice and the mental rehearsal technique of visualization. The sky is the limit. You can apply this to all sports and if you do, it can do wonders for you and your team.

Tips on How to Use Visualization..

You need to involve Sight, Sound, and Feeling to really gain from the benefits of visualization.

Now, there are some important things to consider when visualizing. If you just picture yourself shooting free throws in third person as if it was a movie, you probably won't improve as much as you could.

You need to visualize everything out of your eyes (in the 1st person). You have to be there at the free throw line feeling the basketball. Seeing the goal. Hearing the noise.

As you shoot, you should FEEL the ball roll off your fingers. You should SEE the ball traveling through the air with perfect backspin. You should SEE your hands out in front of you with the perfect follow through. You should SEE your hands out in front of you holding the follow through as you HEAR & SEE the ball swish through the net.

Once, you do this, you're guaranteed to see results.

On a personal note...

We had decided to discuss the concept of visualization and the importance in doing so at practice one day. We told the players to go home and visualize themselves shooting 10 free throws before they go to bed. We had to forgot to mention to everybody to visualize every shot going through the hoop. The next day some of the players were telling us about it. Jokingly, we asked a few of the players, "So, how many did you make?" assuming of course that everybody made 10. A couple of the kids said I made 10. Then one of our players sheepishly raised his hand and said, "But coach… I only made 7." The funny thing about it is that he wasn't joking.

So, don't assume anything with your players. Explain everything.