What is Fastbreak Basketball?

Guest blogger: Coach Johnny Pantusso


Fastbreak basketball is an exciting and popular way of playing the game of basketball. It is an up-tempo style of play characterized by a team quickly transitioning from offense to defense and vice versa.

The teams that excel in fastbreak basketball are able to capitalize on their opponent’s mistakes to create easy scoring opportunities. The primary objective of fastbreak basketball is to score as many points as quickly as possible.

How to Fastbreak…

Teams that fastbreak accomplish it by making good use of turnovers and missed shots. If a team can capitalize on their opponent’s mistakes, they can score points quickly. If a team can defend well and force their opponent to take longer shots, they can also score quickly by getting the ball down the court in a hurry.

One of the key components of fastbreak basketball is the ability to quickly transition from offense to defense and vice versa. This means that the players must be able to quickly react to the ball and make the necessary adjustments. If the players can make these adjustments quickly, they can create easy scoring opportunities and put their opponents on their heels.

The fastbreak also requires a team to be able to move the ball up the court quickly and accurately. This requires players to make good passes, set screens, and have good timing. A good fastbreak will be able to move the ball up the court quickly while still being able to make the correct passes and find open shots.

Teamwork…

In order for a team to be successful in fastbreak basketball, they must be able to play as a cohesive unit. This means that every player must be able to read the play and anticipate the movements of their teammates.

Good communication by players is also key. Players must be able to call out plays and let their teammates know where they will be on the court. Fastbreak basketball is an exciting and dynamic style of play that requires good communication, teamwork, and quick thinking. It can be a great way to score points quickly and efficiently. That is if the team can effectively transition from offense to defense and make good passes. When utilized properly, fastbreak basketball can make a team unstoppable.

Pushing Players – Coach Cal Wisdom

Here is another excerpt from Coach John Calipari’s book, “Players First, Coaching from the inside out” that talks about what it means when a coach is “pushing players” to improve…

Players First by John Calipari

None of my players are as ready as they think they are for how we play at Kentucky – let alone ready for the pros – because they have rarely if ever been really pushed. They have gotten accustomed to dominating even while putting out three-quarters effort. In fact, they probably don’t even know they play at three-quarters speed. That’s one of the things I have to show them.

How do you push the players on your team? Are they challenged to reach their full potential?

Coach Cal’s book provides some stories about how he recruits star players by being radically truthful with them. He feels that by telling the truth, even when it might be uncomfortable, he is able to inspire trust.

Here is a link to the previous blog article about this book… click here.

How are you pushing players on your team? Please leave a note in the comments with your story!

Players First – Wisdom from Coach Cal

Players First by John CalipariBelow is an excerpt from a book that I just finished reading. The book is by Coach John Calipari and Michael Sololove and it is titled “Players First, Coaching from the Inside Out.” The excerpt explains Coach Cal’s “Players First” philosophy…

… There was a time I coached partly for myself – for status, respect, money, wins. I’m not immune to any of these things, but they’re not really the point anymore, either. … I coach for the names on the back of the jerseys – not just the front. My players. They are sent to me by their fathers, their mothers, their grandmothers and their aunts – whoever in this world raised them and loves them. Others look at their NBA bodies and consider them lucky. Future millionaires, just stopping through before they cash in. That’s not what I see. They’re kids, some of them as young as seventeen years old. They all need me in a different way. Some want my affection, others my approval. It’s a burden to be responsible for other people’s children, sometimes a heavy burden.

“Players First” sounds like a great way to think about coaching, even if you are not the head coach of the Kentucky Men’s Division 1 basketball program. Even if your players are not future NBA draft picks, it is good to think about the responsibility you, as a coach, have to them and the people who raised them.

Other Book Reviews

If you are looking for other books to help you build a winning mindset, check out these book reviews on the blog… 12 Rules For Life and The Undoing Project.

There are loads of great ideas in Coach Cal’s book and you can look forward to seeing a few more excerpts from the book on this blog. Please leave a comment below and tell us how this idea of “Players First” compares to your own coaching philosophy. I know there must be some coaches out there that coach their team to put the name on the front before the name on the back. That’s a Team-First focus and it is a good thing, right?

Handles – Loose vs Tight

Every player wants to improve the ball handling skills, right? But how? The video below has some excellent examples of “Loose” versus “Tight” handles and the advantages of each. Every player probably has a preference and if you are very good at either one, you can probably overcome most of the drawbacks listed in the video.

Check out the video and let us know what you think in the comments… and look for an added “Handles Tip” from Coach Wheeler under the video.

 

What did you think? Which type of player are you?

The 3 S’s – COACH WHEELER‘s
Keys to Improved Handles

Coach Wheeler teaches that the 3 Keys to developing your ball handling, a.k.a. “handles” to the point that they are above average are Strength, Speed and Style.

Strength includes, but is not limited to hand strength, arm strength and overall core strength. Lower body strength is important as well but it is largely covered by the second key, Speed.

Speed is important because while dribbling can be impressive, if you don’t score it doesn’t matter. If you can’t move past defenders then all you are doing is wasting time with the ball. This time that could be put to better use for your team.

There are many ways to evaluate speed – long distance (full court), short distances (1/4 court) and even micro distances of one or two steps (enough to get by your defender). The last one is often referred to as “explosiveness”. There are times when you may appear more agile than you really are because you have developed moves that throw off your defenders. Which brings us to “Style”…

Style is sort of a catch-all for the skills you develop and what you can do with the basketball while moving. Most players have a small array of moves that they feel confident enough to use in games. I call these “game-capable moves” and can be almost anything. Examples are a crossover, spin, behind the back, hesitation, inside-out, pull-back and many more.

It is important to put in the practice in the off-season so that you develop all aspects of your handles… Strength, Speed & Style.

 

Rim Run NOW!

Rim Run NOWWhen is NOW a good time to Rim Run? I hope you answered “NOW!” because it is one of those HUSTLE plays that can get you easy baskets while also killing the morale of the opposition. It is also a key part of “playing without the ball” ask explained by Jayson Wells of PGC Basketball.

Check out the video below from PGC Basketball that talks about what Rim Running means (and some moves you can use) …

What did you think of the video?

Leave a comment below to tell us your feedback on this video and whether we should continue to find and post videos like this as part of the Building a Winning Mindset blog. Also let us know if you have tried the Rim Run skills mentioned in the video.

How to Win the Timeout

Brad Stevens - How to Win The Timeout
photo credit: nbawire.com

Have you ever thought about what needs to happen for your team to “win the timeout”? NCAA.com reports that “Possessions after timeouts account for 15-18 percent of possessions in a game. The worst teams score around .7 ppp. Average teams score around .85 ppp. The best score more than 1.0 ppp. And there are many teams who execute better within seconds of receiving advice from the coaching staff.”

Brad Stevens, the head coach for the Boston Celtics, is known for having his team run highly successful plays “After a Time Out” or ATO. How can you “win the timeout”? Answer: If you think about the situation that created the timeout, there are certain things you can do, as a coach, to give your team the best chance for a successful play immediately following the timeout.

Why was the timeout called?

To slow your opponent’s momentum and regroup your team? Or is it the other way around and you are on a run so the opposing coach wants to slow you down? Whatever the reason for the timeout, you can use it to your advantage.

For example, if you are on a roll and the other team is trying to slow you down… why not switch up something when you come out of the timeout? Something that is different from what you have been doing could cause enough confusion on the other team for you to get a steal or force a bad shot.

Doing something unexpected is always a good tactic… as long as it is something you have practiced and that uses your team’s strengths.

Aside from the “unexpected”,
what else can we do to “win the timeout”?

HUSTLE. It can demoralize the other team if you show them that you are not tired (even if you are) by hustling to your bench. It also gives you an extra second or two together that the other team doesn’t get (because you arrive at your bench sooner).

3 PART TIMEOUT. If you are organized as a team, you will be able to accomplish more during your timeout. For example, I like to use a 3 part timeout process which consists of (1) Feedback, (2) Tactics and (3) Motivation.

(1) Feedback is a quick check of the status of your team. Where is their head at? Are they confident and engaged in the game? How tired are they and does anyone need a quick rest? This should not take long, maybe a few seconds, but you want to address any problems they are experiencing on the court.

(2) Tactics. This is typical timeout actions… drawing up plays, switching defenses, whatever you need to do to gain an advantage.

From NCAA.com… Advance scouting, game observation and gut instinct help coaches make the right call in a huddle. Clemson’s Brad Brownell is in his 15th season as a head coach. Over the years, he’s learned that the less information he heaps onto his players in a timeout, the better.

“A clear, concise message is important.” he said. “In a shorter timeout of 30 seconds it might be just giving them one thought as it pertains to what they’re trying to defend, preparation for something that could happen, anticipating, a couple of different play calls or whatever it is.”

(3) Motivation is getting your team excited to execute the plan you have laid out for them after the timeout. If you are not getting a strong response, this is your opportunity to “get them on board’ or make a slight change to the plan. By this point in the timeout, you probably won’t have much time and it is good to have a chant or yell that your team executes at the end of every timeout that gets them going. Again, this should be something that has been practiced so you know how the team will react.

Bottom Line…

Coach Wheeler with the Monadnock team at the Granite State Games
Go Team!

Will this guarantee that you will “win the timeout”? No. All it will do is give you a framework so that you and your team can do their best work. You never know what the competition will do… they may have even read this article too. All you can do is prepare your team and make the best use of the time you are given. That way you at least have a good chance to “win the timeout”. Now,  1-2-3… GO TEAM!

Likely Interview Questions for Coaches

Coach Wheeler WinsIf you want to coach a varsity team or even a college team, it is inevitable that you will, at one time or another, find yourself in front of an interview committee. I have seen it become a common practice for selection committees to all sit around a conference table where they ask a prospective coach a pre-assembled list of interview questions. While there is often one or two questions that vary from school to school, there are also a number of interview questions that many schools use. Coaches who want to be hired should be prepared to answer these questions. Read them over (and the explanation that goes with each) so you are properly prepared the next time you interview for a coaching job.

(1) Describe your Strengths / Weaknesses?

This is very common for corporate jobs. It must be in an HR manual somewhere. So, how are you going to answer?Strengths should line up with the job description and be truthful. My opinion is that it is important to show the value of your strengths. This should be what separates you from the other coaches they are interviewing.

Weaknesses are a trickier subject. Presenting your “weaknesses” as a strength is probably an expected answer and, as such, is unlikely to set you apart from other candidates interviewing for the job. A better approach would be do some real soul-searching and present a real weakness… with the steps you are taking to become better.

(2)  Rules are broken … what are you going to do?

It is a common scenario for an interview question. “A player violates a rule right before “the big game”. What do you do? I’ve found that it is best to “stick to the rules”… while expressing your disappointment.

Another [often unwritten] part of this question is how would you prevent the situation from happening in the first place.  I try to emphasize the setting of clear expectations early in the season. This way players (and parents) know what will happen if rules are broken.

(3)  Describe your typical practice plan…

I have a general format that all my practices use (and it is TOP SECRET).  If you are an AD looking for a Head Basketball Coach,  contact me to schedule an interview and I will “spill my guts”. In an interview, if you can’t talk about how you plan your practices, the interview committee starts to question if you are really prepared to coach their team. It also doesn’t hurt to talk about how your practices change over the course of a season. (If you want to learn how I look at different parts of a basketball season, check out this article titled “4 Part Basketball Year”.)

(4)  X’s & O’s Questions…

This is usually posed by a former coach that is on the committee. They are looking to see what you know about the game and how you would approach certain game situations. It can also be a trap if your approach does not match what the former coach expects. As an up-and-coming coach, we know that a “non-traditional approach” can often be very effective, especially if it is unexpected by the competition. In an interview though,you need to convince the committee that you know what you are talking about. Examples where you used your approach successfully can help show that, while it might not match “traditional thinking”, it definitely can get the job done.

The other part of the X’s & O’s interview questions is to find out what you are bringing to the team. If your approach relies on a full stable of high quality athletes and the “pipeline is empty” for these types of athletes at this school, you may be hurting your chances of being hired. On the other hand, if you can show them how you make better players out of the ones already there, you have a chance.

(5) Why do you want this job?

Everyone has their own reason for applying. The key is that your answer needs to make sense in the context of your background.  If you have been an assistant for a while, it makes sense that you want to move up to the head coaching position and run your own program. Unless you are going for a college level coaching opening, you aren’t applying to coach for the money. I have my own reasons for applying for each job… and this is something that each coach has to think about for themselves. Be as truthful as possible. This is not the time to set of the B.S detectors for the interview committee because they want to know what motivates you. (And that it matches what they want to see from their new coach.)

Bottom Line…

Be prepared for all of these standard interview questions when you apply for a coaching position. Is this a complete list of interview questions? Of course not. What this list will do is get you thinking so that you can take your preparation one step higher. If you want to be good at coaching, you need to be good at interviews. Oh yeah, one more thing…

HERE IS A BONUS FOR EVERYONE WHO HAS READ ALL THE WAY DOWN TO HERE…
Questions for the interviewers…

At the end of almost every interview I’ve ever had, I have been given the opportunity to ask my own question(s). If you don’t have any questions, you were either not paying attention to the discussion during the interview or you have not put much thought into the information you need to evaluate whether or not this job is right for you. Here are some questions to get you started. Feel free to customize them to make them “your own”.

“Who will I be working with?”

This might be obvious based on who set up the interview and who is running it (e.g. the AD & Principal) but if there are any question about it, now is the time to ask. Another aspect of this is how they expect the communication process to be handled with parents of players. For a new coach who the parents are not comfortable approaching, they may take their complaints directly to the AD, Principal or even the school’s superintendent. As a coach, you want to head this off and address concerns before they become major issues.

“What are the key things that need to change [from the previous coach]?”  “What are their expectations for the new coach?”

The previous coach left for a reason. Was their job not re-offered? Or did they see the writing on the wall (few quality players in the pipeline) and figured it was a good time to “retire”.  As the new incoming coach, you might not get the full story (or they may decline to talk about it due to confidentiality reasons) but if you phrase it discreetly you may get some insights into what they want to see from their new coach. This gives you a chance to shine a light on how you are the best choice for the position.

“Since I, as the new coach, plan to raise the standards both on the court and off, how will this be supported by the school and parents?”

Some schools are happy just fielding a team and winning is not a priority. Maybe they are a “baseball school” or a “soccer school” and a winning basketball program is not a top priority. It is important that you, as the new coach, understand what support you will receive. It is likely that higher standards will not be appreciated, especially by the parents of players who do not meet those standards. Again, it is important to communicate with parents so they understand what you are trying to accomplish.

Are you looking for a coach that will build a competitive team? Or would you prefer someone who “keeps everyone [sort of] happy”? 

This is another form of the question above. It will help you gauge where the school sees it’s basketball program. In my experience, the idea of “keeping everyone happy” is a fool’s errand and unlikely to happen. Another way to look at it is this… players earn their playing time based on what the coaches see in practice. If they want more time, they should talk to their coaches and put in more effort.

Fundraising is an important part of many athletic programs. Can you describe what is done at your school in terms of fundraising for the basketball program?

The amount budgeted for the team compared to what will need to be picked up by parents or outside sponsors is also good to know. If you can bring some fundraising ideas or, better yet, can involve parents in the process, you will be one step ahead of some candidates.

The end of the interview…

Always try to leave on a high note. SMILE. Sometimes something as simple as a smile and a good handshake is enough. The last question and the last thing you say is what will stick in the memory of the interview committee. (Assuming you did not mess up big time in the rest of the interview.) Stay positive and, as much as possible, leave on an up-note… and they followup after an appropriate amount of time.

Will this list of interview questions guarantee success?

I hope these interview questions will help make you more successful. Of course, they won’t magically move you to the top of the list if the committee has already made up their mind. In that case, the interviews are often just a formality so the committee can check off a box that says they held interviews. What does that mean for you as the “odd man out”? It means you got a chance to practice your interviewing skills and will do even better at the next interview.  In basketball you don’t expect your players to hit 100% of their shots. Interviewing is a percentage game too. Hang in there and keep working to make your resume more attractive to potential employers. Do your preparation for every interview … and eventually the numbers will be in your favor! Good luck… unless I am interviewing for the same job. In that case, disregard everything in this article.  😉

 

Things I Know – Coach Wheeler’s Basketball edition

This post is about the “Things I Know” when it comes playing basketball “the correct way”, i.e. the way that I like my teams to play. Each of these short “Things I Know” is followed by an action that players should carry out in the described situation.

Are these statements true in every situation? Probably not, but they are true in enough game situations that they should be worth building into your game plan. I should add that as you progress to higher and higher levels of basketball, e.g. college or the pros, the best players know these “things” and make sure they are the “exception to the rule”. In any case, my hope is that these “Things I know” will give you something to think about. (I also look forward to your ideas / feedback in the comments section below!)

1)  Players go slower when dribbling with their weak hand.
—-> Force them to their weak hand.

2)  Players dribbling with their weak hand will look for opportunities to switch back to their strong hand.
—-> Steal the ball when it is “presented”.

3)  Many players (especially in high school) won’t shoot with their weak hand (when they should).
—-> Block the shot.

4)  Offensive players who are trapped will often throw poor passes.
—-> Trap with hands up (don’t foul).
—-> Non-trap defenders must be ready and steal the pass.

5)  Tired players make mistakes.
—-> We want to tire out the other team, especially their primary ball handler(s), so that we can force them into mistakes later in the game.

6)  There is such a thing as a “good foul”.
—-> Non-shooting foul preferred
—-> A good foul prevents the other team from getting an easy shot.
—-> A good foul is also the result of hustle and aggressive defense.

7)  Defenders can U based on these three “Things I know”, if they are studying their opponent…
a) patterns / what the offense has done before
b) what appears to be the offense’s best option
c) where the offensive player is looking.
—-> Steal the ball.

8)  Help Defenders must put their body in the path of the [driving] offensive player.
—-> Concentrate on the ball… and take it away.
—-> Remember where your man was… anticipate the pass and steal it.

9)  On almost every play, a pass goes by a defender at shoulder or waist height but it is not deflected because the defender didn’t have their hands up (or wasn’t paying attention to the ball).
—-> Keep your hands up and in the passing lanes [at “pass height”].
—-> It is OK to stop a pass with your foot. Defense will be called for a “kick” but the other team’s offense will be disrupted and they will have to take the ball out of bounds (OOB).

10)  More fast breaks are killed by the player who rebounds the ball and then holds onto it.
—-> Pass the ball immediately. Know where your team mate will be.

11) Passing is faster than dribbling.
—-> Pass the ball to the open man ahead of you.

12)  RUN. Don’t slow down on a fastbreak. [this is most often done at, or near, the 3 point line].
—-> Break TO the basket first and then create space for a kickout pass.
—-> Don’t forget the 4th or 5th man down the court. Hit the trailer for a layup.
—-> Move the ball! Don’t let the defense set up.

13)  Offensive players must GET OPEN. Standing in place lets the defense to jump the pass when it is thrown to you.
—-> Use contact with your defender to create an opening for the pass.
—-> Put your hand out as a target to show your team mate where to pass the ball.

14)  Don’t run diagonally to get open. [This applies most often to guards being pressured in the backcourt.] Defenders can beat you to the ball when you cut diagonally.
—-> Use contact to get open.

15)  Call out picks. [No Excuses]

16)  When an offensive player picks up their dribble, they are locked to that location on the floor and their passing options are limited.
—-> Scream BALL, BALL, BALL when you see the offensive player pull up their dribble. It will increase their stress level and make it more likely that they will throw a bad pass.
—-> If you are covering the player who pulls up their dribble, get up close and extend your arms. Do not reach. Mirror the ball and try to tip any pass they might try to throw.

No list of “Things I Know” would be complete without mentioning OOB…

17)  When defending an Out of Bounds (OOB) situation, there are 5 defenders and only 4 offensive players on the court. (The inbounding player cannot move, unless it is immediately after a basket.) This gives an advantage to the defense (which many teams do not leverage until, maybe, the last play of the game).
—-> Double team someone, ideally the offensive team’s best player. Prevent the inbound pass to all other players.
—-> If the OOB is under the basket, protect the basket at all costs. “Nothing Inside!”
—-> Switch on picks. Call them out.
—-> Another option is to put your biggest defender (with longest arms) on the guy taking the ball out of bounds and try to tip the inbounds pass. The defender should mirror the ball so they can get a hand on the pass.
—-> If the OOB is after the basket, some of this does not apply…

Those are 17 “Things I know” – Basketball edition. They might also be called Coach Wheeler’s Pet Peeves since they are simple ways that a team can improve their advantage versus the competition. None of these things are very difficult but they do require some effort and even practice so that can be done automatically at a fast pace in a game.

What would you add to this list of Things I know? Please leave a comment below and tell us your ideas.

Your Basketball Summer Development plan

sunrise basketball clubI have started to think about how I might help MOTIVATED basketball players with their summer development plan. In an ideal world, I would gather a group of 8-10 players who would meet at an outside court every morning at sunrise (5am? 6am?) to get a thousand shots up and work on their conditioning, moves and defensive skills.

Clearly this is a bit of a dream because who knows of players who are THAT motivated and dedicated to improving their basketball game? With such a group, imagine the amazing AAU team we could field! Or we could play in some of the most competitive summer leagues on the east coast! Even if we only worked out once or twice a week, it could still have an amazing impact on their next season.

Do you know any players that would be interested in a summer development plan like this?

“Depends on how much it costs.”

That’s a fair response… I would probably need to charge each player (or their parents) $1000-1500 plus fees for tournaments, travel & uniforms. Compared to an AAU season this might seem a little high but keep in mind that the investment could be easily recouped if your son gets even a partial college scholarship. Imagine if someone did this for the last 3 summers of high school (Fr-So, So-Jr, Jr-Sr)? Maybe they would even come back after high school and serve as coaches as they prepare for college.

Will it happen?

Right now this vision is just in my imagination… unless I can find 12-15 players to try out for the 10 spots. We would need to start in May or June and go through most of the summer. Most likely there would be days or even a week or two off along the way. It would not be easy but you would get into the best shape of your life and your skills would improve by an order of magnitude, i.e. noticeably better!

Do you know a player dedicated enough to get themselves out of bed for the opportunity to greatly improve their basketball game this summer? Leave a comment below this post and I will follow up as more info becomes available.

Next step…

In a future post I will outline a basketball summer development plan with variations based on what a player needs to improve.

Even if you won’t have a personal coach training you over the summer, you should definitely put together a plan and schedule. You will make more progress with a plan than you will by “winging it”. A summer development plan will get you working when you would rather not. Don’t miss the opportunity to improve.

 

Mental Management – Marksmanship, Basketball and Coaching

Below is an excerpt from The Red Circle, My Life in the navy seal sniper corps and how I trained America’s deadliest marksmen, by Brandon Webb. In this excerpt, Brandon Webb talks about Lanny Bassham’s Mental Management concept and how it relates to performance under pressure. After the excerpt are some ideas for applying the ideas to basketball.

The Red Circle by Brandon Webb
“Earlier I said that intellectual capacity was the first trait we look for in a sniper, that physical ability, as important as it is, is only 10 percent of the game. Of all the changes we made in the course, the one that felt most significant to me and that I was proudest of was our system for mental management.

When we first encountered the concept of mental management it was being taught exclusively to instructors as a way to help us coach and teach more effectively. In essense, it was all about where we as instructors focused a student’s attention

Say you’re doing batting practice with a kid and you notice he’s standing with his knees buckled in, shoulders misaligned, hands spread wide apart on the bat. Your impulse might be to start telling the kid everything he is doing wrong. If you focus his attention on all these wrong things, though, what you’re really doing is imprinting them  into the poor kid’s mind, with the result that they start becoming ingrained habits. If you say, “Hey, you’re flinching. Every time the ball comes at you, you’re flinching! Stop Flinching!” then what the hell’s that little kid thinking about? He’s thinking about flinching.

If instead you say, “Hey, put your hands closer together, like this, and look: feet apart.” Then you’re showing him what to do rather than focusing his attention on what not to do.

A beginner typically starts out very focused on everything that’s going on. He’ll tend to absorb whatever is thrown at him. He is, in other words, highly programmable. The question is, as an instructor, what are you going to feed that rapt attention: bad habits or good habits?

This translated directly to instruction on the sniper course. In the old days instructors would bark at us for everything we did wrong. “Stop! You’re putting your finger on the trigger wrong! When you pull the trigger, you’re flinching! You’re jerking the barrel! You’re fucking up!” Suddenly we’d be thinking, Holy shit, there’re twenty things I’m doing wrong! Instead, we learned we could give a student three positive commands, three things he could do to correct those errors, and now he’d be developing good habits from day 1.

I have to admit, I was not completely on board with the whole concept of mental management when I first bumped into it, and I had to overcome my own skepticism. Shortly after Eric and I checked into NSWC to start working with the basic sniper course, we and a handful of other instructors were brought out to Scottsdale, AZ for a one week course taught by a champion marksman named Lanny Bassham, one of the pioneers of mental management. I was pretty dubious. Mental Management? What, like some positive-thinking guru? Oh boy. “Great,” I said to Eric, “when is Tony Robbins gonna come in and blow smoke up our asses?”

My attitude didn’t last long. Bassham is such an amazing, down-to-earth guy – and what he taught us was nothing short of incredible.

“I wasn’t good at sports,” Lanny told us. “I was of this weak, goofy kid. My dad said, ‘Hang in there, we’re going to find something for you. Everyone has a talent.’ ”

Lanny found his talent when he got into competitive shooting. After college he joined the army and was assigned to their marksmanship unit, which is comprised  of the best match shooters in the world. By the time he went to shoot in the 1972 Olympics in Munich at the age of twenty-five, Lanny was famous the youngest world champion in the sport, and everyone expected him to shoot gold.

“I was on the bus with a bunch of competitors from different countries,” he said. “I heard some Russians in the seat behind me talking about how much pressure I must be under, with the entire reputation of the United States on my shoulders, and how they were glad they weren’t me – and they started getting in my head.”

By the time he stepped off the bus, Lanny was completely rattled. “I shot the worst match of my life,” he said. This being Lanny, the worst match of his life meant he came in second – but he was devastated. He came back to the States and visited with a handful of sports psychologists to see if he could understand what had happened to him, and they all said the same thing: “Hey it’s okay to be number two. Olympic silver is a great achievement, Lanny. You should be satisfied with that.”

Lanny said, “Screw that. I don’t think so!”

He spent the next few years interviewing dozens of gold-medal champions and recording all the specific traits he could identify in his interviews. They gave him an earful; you don’t get to be a gold medalist without doing an awful lot of self-examination and studying the best practices and key practice/performance tactics and strategies. Out of everything he heard, he found there were two specific traits they all shared in common.

First was complete and total confidence. Not arrogance or cockiness, but an absolute, unshakable confidence in their ability to perform regardless of adversity. Here’ how Lanny described this trait:

If I’m a champion tennis player, playing a championship game, it doesn’t matter if the strings start popping off, or my favorite racket breaks in the middle of the game. I’ll pick up a piece of plywood, tape it to a stick, and I’ll still beat you on the tennis court.

It’s an attitude that says, I will win no matter what. These people didn’t just want to win, they expected to win. When they went out to compete, they had already won in their minds.

We’ve all seen people who have the talent and skill to win, but at the last minute something goes wrong; their favorite bat breaks, or a golf swing misses, or something in their environment distracts them – the way Lanny was psyched out by the Russian taunts – and their game unravels. It didn’t unravel because the bat broke, Lanny was saying, or because the pitch went wild, or because of the other team’s taunt. It unraveled because it was vulnerable.

For champions that doesn’t happen. Their game is invulnerable. That’s the kind of confidence Lanny was talking about – and that was the kind of confidence we wanted to instill in our sniper course graduates.

The other trait was that they all did some kind of mental rehearsal- closing their eyes and practicing their winning game in their heads, over and over again.

Lanny told us about a navy pilot he met in the seventies name Captain Jack Sands. Captain Sands was shot down while serving in Vietnam and spent seven years in a prison camp in Hanoi, confined in isolation with no phyical activity. In order to preserve his sanity, he decided to practice his golf game. Of course, he couldn’t physically play golf – but the 5′ x 5′ cage he was in couldn’t prevent him from creating a course in his mind. In his imagination he evoked an image of a beautiful country club course, placed himself there, and let himself experience it all in great detail. He saw himself dressed in golfing clothes, smelled the trees and grass, and felt himself making each stroke as he played. Every day, for seven years, Captain Sands played a full eighteen holes in his mind while his body sat in his cage. He played it perfectly, never hooking slicing, or missing a single shot or putt. Hey, he was making it all up, right? Why not make it perfect?

Here was the amazing part. Before joining the navy, Captain Sands was an average weekend golfer, barely breaking 100. After he was finally released from his captivity and made his way home, he eventually got out onto a real grass-and-air golf course, and his first day out on the green he shot a stunning score of 74. He had taken more than 20 strokes off his game – without one laying a hand on a club. (By the way, some have claimed this story is an urban legen and there was no such person. It’s no urban legend: Lanny sat next to the guy on a seven-hour flight to a world championship match they attended together.)

The point, said Lanny, was that your reality is defined by your mind, not your external enironment. Jack Sand’s golf game changed so dramatically because that was how he had programmed his brain to see it.

Lanny went on to tell us about a national shooting championship he participated in. As part of his preparation, he had spent time mentally rehearsing the moment when he would be kneeling  there and suddenly realize, Holy shit, I’m about to shoot a perfect score.  What so often happens in a high-stakes situation like this? The realization that you are on a roll knocks you off balance. It’s that Uh oh, I’m so close, what if I screw up now? moment that can come with asking someone out on a first date, taking your driver’s test, asking for a raise, or doing anything risky and important in life. We’re not ready for this place of victory and don’t know how to react now that we are here – so we choke. Not Lanny. He’d rehearsed that moment so many times that it was now as familiar to him as coming home.

“When I hit that moment in that championship,” he said, “I recognized it like an old friend. Just like I’d done every time I’d rehearsed it. I took two deep breaths, said to myself, I’m shooting the next three shots perfectly, then took  my time. Boom. Boom. Boom.

He shot a perfect score.

Lanny returned to the Olympics in 1976, and this time, using his mental management system, he took the Olympic gold. Over the following years he dominate the field, winning twenty-two world individual and team titles and setting four world records on top of the gold medal he took in Montreal.

With Winning In MindLanny incorporated what he’d learned into a whole mental management program, which he wrote about in his book, With Winning In Mind. His system became so popular that other coaches and athletes started having him come train them.

Mental Management to basketball

The obvious application is visualizing free throws but it could be used for nearly any part of the game. Late in the season, when the body gets worn out, how about taking some time to relax and visualize actions instead of running up and down the court?

As the state playoffs approach, wouldn’t the concept of Mental Management help your team perform better? Imagine what it will be like when you have a lead in the game and realize that you could actually win the championship? Or you face a challenge from the other team, maybe they make a couple of 3 point shots in a row… how are you going to respond? With confidence that you will overcome the challenge and emerge victorious? Why not?

Please post your thoughts on Mental Management for Basketball in the comments below. We would love to hear what you think or how you have applied these ideas!