Defense is the most important part of any basketball game. Good defense reduces the team from scoring points. It also helps increase the chances of you and your team scoring points. How? Well, there will be more time spent on your side of the court, they will be tired from your good defense, and there will be less factors distracting you from making more buckets.
These limited distracting factors can increase if you end up playing defense more in the same compared to offense. The less we have these distractions, the better. Distractions happen whenever you aren’t in the zone, not playing your best performance, and letting outside factors get in the way of your focus. When you are playing your best, it is easy to eliminate them since they do not occur as frequently. When you let the other team score on you, you end up hearing parents and coaches yelling more, cheering or booing from the crowd, the announcers are extra loud, can’t stop looking at the time remaining, referee calls, etc. The more this happens, the less you will be able to concentrate. Think of some distractions that occur to you, how you will block it out, and new thoughts going forward. Here are some examples:
1. The ref is calling everything!
- Wipe shoes
- “The ref is just doing their job.”
2. Why even bother shooting. I’m not good.
- Shakes head
- “I will keep moving forward.”
3. Coach is being extra hard on us today.
- Fix uniform
- “He just wants the team to be successful.”
Written by:
Sarah Grippi
Basketball Mindset