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Jasmine,

To help you talented players you need to:

- Reduce their fear of failure.
Listen to this interview that discusses the subject:
http://www.breakthroughbasketball.com/audio/news7kelbick.html

- Set them up for success and build confidence.

Confidence comes from experience, practice, and success. Continually praise good play and effort. Don''t get mad if she makes poor decisions. She can tell by the look on your face. So train yourself to let go.

Continue to work in practice to improve confidence.

I don't know if she worries about making shots or not. But you can start having your players groove close shots every day. Then chart those shots. They will start to build confidence from this simple tactic. Many players will shoot 80% and seeing the ball go through the basket over and over improves confidence.

- Don''t overcoach. Just let her play.

You ask a tough question and I almost feel like I need to write a book. I think the best thing is to listen to that interview and keep learning more about coaching. You can never stop learning.

Good luck!

Jeff

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I have a 11th grade player who is very talented, and has yet to scratch the surface of her potential...she works very hard in practice and very coachable..the problem is in games she mentally takes her self out of the game because of mistakes and confusion..how can i help her to become stronger mentally and not take herself out of the game mentally??

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Jim,

Experienced players of that age can certainly benefit from some of the mental aspects you mentioned.

In fact, I think the mental aspects are VERY important and neglected by most coaches. I believe this is because most coaches don't understand the mental aspects or how to teach them.

I suggest that you teach things like:

- Visualizing what you want to happen (and many times it will happen!)

- Thinking positive.

- Believing and KNOWING that you can do something. It helps to clear the mind and don't yourself that you can do it. Don't let those little demons sneak in the back of your mind. don't think about excuses.

- Mental compression. This simply means that you imagine doing something under extreme conditions. For example, if you're running a 1 mile race. Imagine that you have to run the race with a 100 pound back pack strapped to you and it's raining and you have a broken leg. Then imagine winning under those conditions!! Once you actually run the race it will seem easy and you'll run faster than ever. Mental compression works!

- Tell yourself that you have to succeed no matter what. Imagine that a bear was chasing you and your life would end if you did not run the 400 in under 55 seconds but you've never run it under 60 seconds. You would just get focused and do it not matter what, wouldn't you? So get focuses and tell yourself you have to succeed no matter what!

- Practice. Confidence will be improved just by practicing.

- Teach your players how to CLEAR their mind and get focused before games and practices. This can be done various ways like meditation and breathing, yoga, and various mental exercises.

These are just a couple ideas. There are lots of mental exercises that help sports. Find and learn those mental exercises and teach them.

If you find some good ones, come back and share.

Good luck!

Jeff Haefner
http://www.breakthroughbasketball.com

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