It's A Miracle

I have a friend from Charlotte, Clayton Haslop,
who is a world-class violinist. I'm sure his freakin'
violin costs more than the median home does in
Gainesville, Florida these days. Clayton has been
concertmaster on a couple of dozen big Hollywood
soundtracks ranging from 'Titanic' to 'The
Incredibles'.

And the man is as gracious and personable as he
is talented.

Yesterday Clayton emailed me about a crisis he'd
been battling for awhile, and I couldn't help notice
how concentration helped carry him through to
new uncharted waters of success.

Read it and imagine what focusing better would
do for you and your shooting.

But rather than put words in his mouth I'll let
him tell you himself:

'A couple weeks ago ... I was alarmed by a rapid
worsening of the 'focal dystonia' afflicting my left
hand.

As most of you know, I had hitherto been quite
successful managing the condition with the
techniques I teach in my instructional courses.

Suddenly, nothing I did seemed to arrest the
downward spiral.

Whereas before it was mostly a matter of
controlling the moments of the fingers, now I
was having great difficulty lifting the 2nd and
3rd fingers at all.

In any case, I managed to stay 'up and running'
to the point of finishing the DVD instructional
material. Then the slide seemed to become free-
fall as we traveled to Arizona and Washington for
[his wife] Tania's concerts.

Well, yesterday something incredible took place.

In fact, I would say it was only a cat's whisker
from being a bona fide miracle.

I'm serious.

I had come to the point of thinking my playing
career was over. An hour into a nightmare of a
practice session found me contemplating the
calls I would make to the concert presenters to
whom I'm committed by signed contract. It's not
a place I'd want anybody in this world to be.

Well, as tears literally welled in my eyes, my
resolve to 'punch through' the wall before me
suddenly became ferocious. No, I didn't just
throw myself at the violin.

I willed my brain to create razor sharp images
of how I wanted my fingers to behave.

I breathed in and out like a dragon in heat.

I barked out my counts like a Roman oar master
shouting strokes to rowing slaves in the middle
of battle.

I also bounced back and forth from Paganini to
Kreutzer to the Mendelssohn Concerto I'm
scheduled to perform soon relentlessly searching
for the key to unlock my neural pathways.

Suddenly something seemed to release. I felt
strength return to my left arm. Control rushed
into fingers of my left hand. How I played the
24th Caprice a few weeks ago at our friend's
home wouldn't have held a candle to the clarity
and velocity bursting forth from my Storioni.

Tania and [our daughter] Clara were in an
adjacent room as all of this went down. After
the session I walked in to join them.

Tania said, 'Something happened in there.'

'Yep,' I said, 'I think I just experienced the
closest thing to a miracle that I have ever felt'.

And I meant it.

I'm sharing this with you today to open your
eyes to possibilities.

Focal dystonia results in the 'smearing' of neural
maps in the brain that control movement.
Seemingly it all takes place beyond the reach of
the conscious mind - unwanted muscles fire,
wanted muscles don't fire, chaos rules the roost.
Or does it.

What I learned yesterday, and brought forward
to today's practice, is that focus, combined with
visualization, combined with energy, creates
intention. Throw your very survival behind those
three ingredients and your intention will blast
through any blockage in front of it.'

If you're in a slump or something is blocking you
from becoming the shooter you want to be try
concentration, visualization, and counting like
Clayton did and see if your firm intention doesn't
produce breakthroughs for you too.

Shoot For The Stars,

Coach Dean - The Dean of Shooting Hoops

P.S. One of the beauties of concentration is as
you learn to direct and focus your attention your
body and mind both benefit. What you do in your
mind reflects in your body, and what you do to
build up your body, affects your mind.

Train for quickness in your body, and your mind
loses it's sluggishness too. Train for flexibility, and
your mind reacts to changes better and becomes
more open to ideas and creativity, etc.

That's one reason I'm so high on Coach Tony
Alfonso's new comprehensive basketball training
guide. Apply what you're learning about focus
while you're moving your body under Tony's
expert direction, and you will be strengthening
your mental game as well.

Get started on your 2 for 1 training today at:

http://www.deandelker.com/alfonso_order.html

Note: This entry is protected by copyright with all
rights reserved, but you do have permission to
copy and use it in its entirety as long as the links
are intact and the contact information is included.

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

Quit Dancing With The Ball

There's a sign in the Boston Celtic's locker room
which says:

'No Dancing with the Ball'

Meaning don't just dribble the ball endlessly with
a defender on you when you are NOT going
anywhere. You need to have a purpose and a plan
or you're going to get in trouble and create a lot of
turnovers.

As a shooter too it's just as important to have
purpose and intent and not just be drifting through
a game winging it. Yes, you will improvise. That's
one of the beauties of the game of basketball, but
you're going to want to improvise off the basics of
your offense. You need to study your team's
offense and make sure you know how to contribute.

If you don't know what to do from there take the
advice of Coach Patrick Chylinski in his e-report
on how to average 20 points per game:

One of the best ways to become a better scorer is
to watch great players play the game, and then
copy what they do well. Pay attention to what
great college and NBA players do on the offensive
end of the court, and try to do those same things
when you play.

For example, watch how good players move
without the basketball. Watch how they set up
and use screens from their teammates. Watch
the decisions they make in terms of shot
selection and the actual types of shots they take,
and in what situations.

Study their moves on the court and parts of their
game that make them great, and you'll improve
your game. That's one great way to shoot with
more purpose and intent.

Shoot For The Stars,

Coach Dean - The Dean of Shooting Hoops

P.S. If you're ready to amp up your scoring you
want to learn from guys who have been there.
Patrick Chylinski has been a top scorer at every
level including pro ball where he averaged almost
30 ppg in Europe. His 'Average 20 Points A
Game: How To Become A Big-Time Scorer" is
chocked full of practical steps you can take to
mold yourself into an offensive juggernaut.

There's still time in your season to make a big
difference, but don't delay too long. Luckily you
can have this valuable information in your hot
little hands in minutes if you are ready.

Catch the offensive wave right now at:

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

Copyright, Delker Enterprises, Inc. 2006,2007

This blog is protected by copyright with all
rights reserved, except you have permission
to copy and use entries in their entirety as
long as the links are intact and this footer is
included.

Thanks a million.

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

http://www.deandelker.com/
dean@deandelker.com