January 21st, 2013 | Uncategorized
There are few things that I can think of that I personally find more frustrating than any one of the players that I coach saying to me “I CANT do it.” For example, there may be times in training sessions where I will show my players a new dribbling move or crossover, that they have never done or tried before. And for the simple reason that they have never tried or seen the particular dribble move, some of them may automatically say “I cant do it!” My response to the players who tell me they cant do somethings is first, to ask them have they even attempted to try the new move? More times than not, they admit to not even attempting it. Right there I become a little disappointed in them because they are already saying they have failed before even starting. Then after asking them if they have even attempted the new dribble move, I ask them how do they know they cant do it if they haven’t even tried? The response that I got from one of the kids thisweekend was “because I just know I cant do it.”
What I came to conclude from this, was that the reason why some of the kids that I coach say they “cant do” something before they even attempt it is because they are, in my opinion, afraid of failure. And this is what I try to communicate to the kids. You cant be afraid to fail doing something that you have never tried before. It is the continuance of the failure, and retrial to attempt to perfect the new dribble move or anything new in your life, that will make you better in the end. I also tell them that I, as a coach, will never ask them try something new that I personally did not believe that they could do. Thats not my job as a coach. Its my job to show them new challenging techniques that I know, 1) they CAN do and 2) will make them better basketball players. If there is anything that I would want my players or any of the kids that I have coach here in Ireland to remember from me, is to never be afraid to try something new and don’t assume you already failed before attempting it.
Thank you for reading my blog, check in next week to see how things are going! Take care!
