Expert: David Kenward - 11/29/2007

Question
Hi David, When I play a game or before I play I get nervous and my stomach starts to hurt. For some reason I get scared that I'm going to mess up. Can you help me?

Answer
Hello Alex,

The first thing I want you to do is do a little research on the Internet.  Look up who are, to you, the five best basketball players, active or retired.  What I want you to find out is this:

- did they make all of their shots?
- did players ever get past them?
- did they ever make mistakes?
- did they ever mess up?

Now these are the best of the best, and you'll discover that they weren't perfect.  You HAVE to actually do this research to really understand it.  When you've found this information, these best players successes and when things didn't go right, print it out and put it in a binder.  And on the cover of the binder, write "Alex's Reality Check."

You see, their secret was believing in their ability, and understanding that things don't always go right, but when they don't, the key is to learn from it, let it go and move on.  You can do this, too.  Using your binder as a tool to help you understand this can help you a lot.

Now here is your bonus, a mental tool for helping smooth your nerves (and stomach).  Sit down, relax, close your eyes and take five slow deep breaths.  Picture or imagine a game, when you played great.  Your imagination is powerful, really get into it so you feel as confident and SMOOTH as you did on the court.  Now, picture or imagine your best game, playing well, shooting great, being so SMOOTH on the court.  Now take in a nice deep breath, and as you exhale, say SMOOTH to yourself, and really bring those confident feelings stronger into you as you imagine playing your best game.  This tools helps your mind make a link between the word SMOOTH and a feeling of confidence (and calm stomach).  This is a skill, and you need to practice it a lot, but the more you practice the better you get.

I've taught this tool to many basketball players, it WORKS.  

Good luck and let me know how it goes.

David

David Kenward, The Mental Coach
Sacramento, California
http://www.thementalcoach.com