Basketball Trainer

  • Find Trainers
  • Find Camps
  • Find Teams
  • Online Trainer
    • ONLINE BASKETBALL TRAINER
    • Drill of The Month
  • Training Aids
  • For Trainers Only
    • Basketball Trainer – Get Your Listing
    • Manage Your Basketball Trainer Account
    • Featured Trainer
  • Blog
  • Contact
  • Find Trainers
  • Find Camps
  • Find Teams
  • Online Trainer
    • ONLINE BASKETBALL TRAINER
    • Drill of The Month
  • Training Aids
  • For Trainers Only
    • Basketball Trainer – Get Your Listing
    • Manage Your Basketball Trainer Account
    • Featured Trainer
  • Blog
  • Contact

7 Steps to a Stress-Busting Attitude for Basketball Players

August 24, 2014 By basketballtrainer

Basketball Stress Busting in 7 Steps

Stress is one of the leading contributing root causes of poor health for most Americans. In fact, it is linked to all six of the leading causes of death in the United States including heart disease, cancer, liver diseases, lung diseases and even suicide.

While most basketball players are healthy enough to not have to worry about the above listed chronic conditions, stress can still have a significantly negative impact on players who feel overloaded between the demands of school, work, family, romantic relationships and performing well on the court.

Even chronically low levels of stress can lead to poor sleeping patterns, anger, irritability, anxiety, mood swings, as well as a lowered immune system.  Basketball players who feel more stressed are often likely to suffer from the cold, flu and allergies throughout the season.

Stress targets the physical, mental and emotional aspects of the human body which means that basketball players are constantly under attack from all angles of life in order to maintain balance between these three aspects of well-being.

Mental, physical and emotional well-being are all interconnected so it’s often that if a player is suffering from severe stress in one of these areas the other two will suffer. For example, final exam week is a time of great mental and emotional stress which can mean that physically players may not perform at their best during practice because of the stressful mental distractions of worrying about studying for and passing their tests.  Likewise, when a basketball player is physically exhausted or even nursing an injury, their efforts in the classroom or at work are more likely to suffer as well.

Being a part of a competitive basketball team is stressful in itself. From competing for more playing time to memorizing and executing plays perfectly, there is a lot that players have to focus on and worry about in order to develop their skills enough to become a great asset to their team.  Not to mention the stress that comes with trying to perform consistently at a level on the court and in the classroom that will get them noticed by college recruiters and land them that college basketball scholarship they’ve been dreaming of for years.

Many people believe that a person’s attitude has a lot to do with their daily levels of stress.  The mind is an incredibly powerful force and if you can conquer your thought processes and mental stress as a player than the emotional and physical sides are likely to follow suit for an overall peaceful and stable life on and off the basketball court.

I’m going to share with you 7 proven steps to help you develop a stress-busting attitude no matter what you may be facing in order to bring more balance to your life as basketball player and all the responsibilities that it entails.

Step 1: Become an Optimist

basketball optimismOptimism can take you very far in life.  The way you view and deal with challenging situations can make all the difference in how you respond and sometimes even contribute to the outcome.  Rather than always seeing the glass half empty, strive to be someone who sees the glass half full at all times.  Basketball season comes with many challenging situations personally and as a team.  Competing for positions, battling injury and sickness, dealing with tough losses and sometimes struggling to get along with difficult teammates or even a coach can leave a player feeling rather pessimistic; but, if you focus on the good things and believe that the negative will turn to positive and work towards your ultimate benefit than life will be more of a breeze than a struggle.

Step 2: Listen to Your Self-Talk

Basketball Self TalkAs you go throughout your day you will notice that you are always talking to yourself.  Sometimes what you are saying is positive and sometimes it’s negative.  By beginning to pay closer attention to the way you are talking to yourself you can gain a great idea of why you tend be more positive or negative in general.  Your self-talk should be positive, encouraging and uplifting at all times in order to make yourself feel confident, empowered and ready to deal with the everyday challenges you will face as a basketball player and student.  If you can’t be your biggest fan, than who will be?

Step 3: Ask Better Questions as You Reflect

Ask Basketball QuestionsReflecting upon the questions you are asking yourself throughout the day when you face difficult situations takes self-talk a step further.  It’s easy to fall into a negative, stress inducing pattern of beating ourselves up with self-defeating questions like, “Why do I always miss my second free throw?” or “Why do I always have to mess up that play?” Instead, ask yourself questions that are going to help you overcome the situation or circumstance like “What do I need to learn from my failed attempts to make it better the next time?” or “How can I adjust my form and visualize my shots going in so that I can improve my free throw percentage?”  These are the kinds of questions that are focused on the positive and are going to get you much better results.

Step 4: Use Daily Positive Affirmations

Basketball AffirmationsPositive affirmations are one of the most powerful tools that you can equip yourself with as a competitor to overcome adversity and stress.  Affirmations are things that we believe and they become imprinted on our subconscious mind, so regardless of whether you are consciously thinking a positive or negative thought at the time, what your subconscious believes is typically how you will behave when you are faced with stress. For example, if you believe that you are not a good defender in your mind, than your emotions and physical body will limit themselves to your affirmative belief.  Employing daily positive affirmations can take you to the next level as a competitor.  A good way to start using them is to make a list of 3-5 statements that are going to begin changing your subconscious mind for the better.  Try powerful statements like, “I am blessed with an athletic body and gift that I use daily to the best of my abilities!” or “Every day in every way I am getting better and better as a basketball player.” You can see how these positive affirmations will you help you bust any stress you have and take you on to success.  

Step 5: Set Positive, Realistic Goals

Realistic Basketball GoalsLearning to set positive goals is a great way to build your self-esteem and confidence throughout the basketball seasons.  Remember to use positive words, be realistic and to keep everything in the present tense. Whether you want to increase your shooting percentage, decrease your turnovers or up your assists – keeping these things at the forefront of your mind will keep you motivated, focused and less likely to be stressing out about all the outside factors in life that can cause worry and tension.

Step 6: Practice Positive Visualizations

Positive VisualizationWhile thinking positive thoughts is incredibly powerful, putting energy into positive visualizations can bring success as well. How about picturing yourself hitting the game winning shot before you even take it, or how about seeing yourself shutting down the other teams’ best player?  If you can create visualization in your mind then technically you already are experiencing the emotions that come with the success of the moment. It won’t be a surprise or simply a chance of luck, instead you will succeed out on the court because you expect to!  Your mind is an incredibly powerful tool, so get creative and put it to work—your imagination is your friend during times of stress.

Step 7: Laugh Longer and More Often

Laughter As Basketball MedicineLightening up for more laughter and humor throughout your day no matter how hectic it may seem may be just what you need to take off that stressful edge. In fact, making time to laugh often is the most powerful stress-buster around.  Research and studies are also now showing that laughing has the potential to boost the immune system as well considering that stress levels and immunity do go hand-in-hand.

Life is always going to be a challenge regardless of whether you are playing basketball or not. The important thing to remember is that you have more power over the outcome of each day and your attitude than you might think!  By following the seven steps above to busting stress as a basketball player you will be happy to find that your days will flow with more ease and you won’t force yourself to spend so much time being pessimistic, focusing on the negative and beating lf or others up over small mistakes.  The less stressed and happier you are on a daily basis, the closer you are to reaching your basketball dreams and goals in life.

Don’t let challenges, obstacles, difficult people and situations get in your way of living a low-stress and peaceful life – it’s simply not worth it!

Let’s review:

Basketball Stress - 7 Steps To Busting Your Stress

 

Share this Image On Your Site

Filed Under: Basketball Trainer Blog, Training Tagged With: basketball psychology, basketball stress

Welcome to Basketball Trainer -

your connection to expert & passionate basketball trainers in both your city and online. We are committed to your basketball success.

Basketball Trainer Swag and Tshirts

ONLINE BASKETBALL TRAINER

The ultimate gift of basketball training sessions and camps are takeaways. Takeaways facilitate growth in your skills long after the camp ends. Austin Youth Basketball endorses and is one of the owners of Basketball HQ because it has 1000's of video drills online and mobile ready. Fresh content daily, demonstrated by college players and pros, by their coaches and trainers. Start today by clicking below:
The Basketball Home Gym For The Quarantined

The Basketball Home Gym for Strength – All Budget Levels

The Basketball Home Gym for both basketball strength and basketball conditioning gains is becoming an important option as we navigate the tough realities of Coronavirus quarantine, Shelter in Place orders and the challenges in our world.  Challenges and suffering not withstanding, we do have a rare gift of time to make our bodies the athletic […]

Basketball Nutrition: 25 Best Foods For Performance

Basketball Nutrition – 25 Winning Foods For Performance Gains

Basketball Nutrition Overview Nutrition is one of the most important, yet overlooked issues related to success on the basketball court. Many people regularly choose momentary cost and convenience over health and basketball performance. These decisions make an immediate difference and have a long term effect, whether positively or negatively. Making the right decisions today will […]

Basketball Injuries And Questions To Ask Your Doctor

Basketball Injuries: 12 Most Common and What to Ask Your Doctor

Basketball injuries are something you have experienced if you have played basketball long enough. The contact nature and ballistic movements of the game lend themselves to an array of potential setbacks. Proper rest, a healthy diet, efficient pre-practice and pre-game warm-up, and strength training, stretching and prehab exercises will go a long way in helping […]

basketball bodyweight strength training

Basketball Strength with Bodyweight Exercises for Middle Schoolers and Novices

  Are you a one sport middle schooler, basketball? If so, you are at a higher risk of injury due to physiological disparities created by playing basketball and/or burnout. A resistance training program will help counter muscular imbalances created by playing only one sport, break up the monotony of playing basketball “all of the time,” […]

Build Immunity for Basketball

Basketball & Infectious Disease: 107 Ways To Build Immunity

Much has been said, written, tweeted, and flashed across hundreds of millions of computer screens and television sets regarding the pandemic effect of the coronavirus over the last several weeks. However, not much has been said about leveraging our coronavirus fear to become more mindful regarding other diseases. The obvious questions of contagiousness, mortality rate, […]

Playing Time

Looking to get more playing time?   Try EARNING more playing time!  A college coach tells you how to earn more playing time by helping your team.  Learn ten ways you can begin to inspire others to be more confident in your ability to contribute.  You deserve more playing time if you truly love this game.  […]

Do basketball players need dairy

Do Basketball Players Need Dairy Products?

What Role Should Dairy Play In Your Basketball Nutrition Plan? Much has been said about the controversy over whether or not dairy is good for you. Actually, you could form your own opinion by perusing the internet but, buyers beware… you may not get the entire story with your research. It is common for writers, […]

Basketball Speed and Agility Course

Basketball Trainer Interview With Rich Stoner

Basketball Speed and Agility – 9 Questions For An Expert Trainer   I had a chance to interview Rich Stoner of Elite Basketball Training.  Rich is known as one of the best basketball trainers in New Jersey and is highly respected by trainers all over the nation.  I personally rely on Rich for solid advice […]

Basketball Trainer Mark Adams

Mark Adams – Basketball Trainer Interview

Who Is Mark Adams? If you have not already heard…Mark Adams is an Elite Basketball Trainer who helps several NBA clients, college teams and the training and camp community.  His portfolio of experience allows him to share a very unique perspective.  He has served as a collegiate assistant at Syracuse, a highly successful high school […]

New Haven Basketball Trainer Rich Walton

New Haven Basketball Trainer Rich Walton Interview

Basketball Trainer Rich Walton At Work We had a chance to connect with  New Haven Basketball Trainer and Creator of Skill Development Coach, Rich Walton.  New Jersey basketball trainer Rich Stoner had shared what a  thought leader Rich Walton was and we were not disappointed after our conversations and follow up emails. Basketball Trainer:  Rich, […]

WELCOME TO BASKETBALL TRAINER…

your connection to expert & passionate basketball trainers, basketball teams, basketball camps and all basketball products and apps designed to improve your game.  We are committed to your basketball success.

Meet our team and learn more about our mission.  Click here…

Featured Course

basketball course of the week

There are many basketball courses for all skills, ages, budgets and goals.   We help you sift thru all the garbage to find the goals for each of … Learn more...

Featured Drill

 We Hope You Enjoyed The Basketball Trainer Drill of The Month Special Thanks To Friend USC Coach Chris Capko for his excellent teaching and my … Learn more...

Featured Product / App

The BasketballTrainer.com team is comprised of former college &  pro players and coaches focused on the needs of American youth basketball … Learn more...

Have A Basketball Biz?

Our team gathers basketball training resources from basketball trainers and in some cases for basketball trainers and their students.  Stay tuned for … Learn More

AustinYouthBasketball.com
BasketballHQ.com
CoachTube.com
CoachingBasketball.com
BasketballCoach.org
BuzzworthyBasketballMarketing.com

© Copyright 2023 Basketball Trainer

Design by BuzzworthyBasketballMarketing.com

Privacy Policy