When Does Your Practice Start

Something my violinist friend Clayton said
recently sparked a question for you.

When does your practice start?

Before you go thinking I'm weird, just
remember I prefer the term eccentric.

I'm serious though. The vast majority
would say practice begins when they step
out on the court. Duh.

Makes perfect sense.

But if that's your answer you're missing
something.

Before organized practice your coaching
staff leads you through warmups, right?
And if your body needs that, do you think
your mind might too?

Of course it does.

You can prime your mind to be more
alert and focused, and one of the best
ways to do that is through visualizing
what you expect to get out of your
practice (or out of a game, for that
matter.)

So before you go out and practice
shooting take a few minutes of deep,
controlled breathing, relax your body,
relax your mind, and decide what you
want to accomplish.

Then see yourself doing every bit of
that with ease. Don't be discouraged if
your visualizing isn't so well developed.
You may not see clearly at all at first,
or be able to hold it long. I couldn't, but
it got better. Like most things in life do
your best and just aim to improve
every day.

Don't forget to include as much detail
and emotion in your projection as you
can. Then when you step on the court
you'll be primed to get more out of your
practice time, and get better faster.

Shoot For The Stars,

Coach Dean - The Dean of Shooting Hoops

P.S. You can use this method to do anything
better. Mental warmup and planting the flag
of your expectation like this will help you do
better in class, on tests, in interviews, in
making a speech, and even on a big date.

P.S.S. I learned from Patrick Chylinski one
of the things you want to do to become a
dominant scorer is to start off your game
with a bang. Try to take the opening tip and
score or get a big assist. Let your defender
know he's in for a rough night.

You can spend time visualizing a start like
that before every game, and you'll find
yourself acting it out in your games.

I don't know how that works. Maybe the
neurons that create the imagination burn
some kind of a 'groove' in your brain.
Then when a similar situation arises you'll
play like it's old hat to you.

First though get Patrick's report so you'll
know what to aim for in your mental
warmups.

And you're in luck. You can have it in
minutes today at:

http://www.deandelker.com/20ppg.html

Note: This blog entry is protected by
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Copyright 2006,2007 Delker Enterprises, Inc.

Coach Dean Delker
8413 SW 4th Place
Gainesville, FL 32607
352-494-6572

dean@deandelker.com
www.deandelker.com