Category: How-to

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Rising Above the Rim: 5 Winning Strategies to Dominate Basketball Tryouts

Photo of boys basketball tryouts- action shot

Basketball tryouts are an exciting yet nerve-wracking time for aspiring athletes. Whether you’re a seasoned player or just starting your basketball journey, making a strong impression during tryouts is crucial. To help you stand out and increase your chances of making the team, here are the top five things you can do:

1. Showcase Your Skills with Confidence:

During tryouts, coaches are looking for players who not only possess the necessary skills but also display confidence in executing them. This means dribbling, shooting, passing, and defending with poise and self-assuredness. Confidence not only makes you a more appealing player but also elevates your teammates’ performance. Remember, it’s not just about what you can do but how confidently you do it.

2. Embrace the Hustle:

Hustle and effort are two qualities that coaches highly value. Dive for loose balls, fight for rebounds, and demonstrate relentless energy on the court. Show that you’re willing to do the dirty work and put in the extra effort. Your determination and work ethic will set you apart from others who may rely solely on their talent.

3. Be Coachable:

Coaches appreciate athletes who are open to feedback and willing to adapt. Listen attentively to instructions and corrections during tryouts. Implement them immediately, and show that you can apply feedback effectively. Being coachable not only helps you improve but also demonstrates your commitment to the team’s success.

4. Display Team Chemistry:

Basketball is a team sport, and coaches want players who can seamlessly fit into the team dynamic. Be a good teammate by communicating on the court, setting screens, making unselfish passes, and celebrating your teammates’ successes. Show that you can contribute to the team’s chemistry and cohesion.

5. Exhibit a Positive Attitude:

Your attitude both on and off the court matters. Stay positive, even if you make mistakes during tryouts. Coaches appreciate players who maintain composure and a positive outlook. Demonstrating resilience in the face of challenges shows your mental toughness, a quality highly regarded in basketball.

Bonus Tip: Prepare Physically and Mentally

Before tryouts, make sure you’re physically prepared. Train, practice, and stay in shape to showcase your best performance. Additionally, mentally prepare by visualizing success, staying focused, and maintaining a strong mental attitude.

In conclusion, making a lasting impression during basketball tryouts requires more than just skills—it demands confidence, effort, coachability, teamwork, and a positive attitude. By embodying these qualities, you’ll not only stand out but also contribute positively to any team you aim to join. Good luck, and give it your all!

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Game On: 5 Tips to Prepare Youth for Late Day Basketball Games

'Game On: 5 Tips to Prepare for Late Day Basketball Games'

As a parent or coach of a young basketball player, you may find yourself faced with the challenge of preparing your child or team for a late day basketball game. These games can be tough on young athletes, as they disrupt their normal routines and can cause fatigue and low energy levels. However, with the right preparation, you can help your child or team perform their best and enjoy the game. Here are 5 tips I’ve shared with my basketball teams on how to prepare for late day basketball games:

  1. Adjust meal times: If the game is later in the evening, you may need to adjust meal times to ensure that your child or team has enough energy to perform well. Have a light and nutritious meal around 3-4 hours before the game, and provide healthy snacks, such as fruit or energy bars, 30-60 minutes before the game.
  2. Hydration: Encourage your child or team to drink plenty of water throughout the day leading up to the game. Dehydration can lead to fatigue and decreased performance, so it’s important to stay hydrated.
  3. Rest: Ensure that your child or team gets enough rest leading up to the game. Try to maintain their normal sleep schedule, and avoid scheduling any strenuous activities on the day of the game. Encourage them to take a nap in the afternoon if possible.
  4. Warm-up: Before the game, make sure your child or team has a proper warm-up session to get their blood flowing and prevent injuries. This can include stretching, light jogging, and practicing basketball skills.
  5. Mental preparation: Talk to your child or team about the game and help them get mentally prepared. Encourage positive thinking and remind them of their strengths and skills. Visualize a successful game and discuss strategies for handling different scenarios.

By following these tips, you can help prepare youth for a late day basketball game and ensure that they perform their best. Remember, the most important thing is to have fun and enjoy the game!”

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Want to Develop a Mentally Tough Young Athlete ?

One of the best compliments an athlete can receive is the label “mentally tough.” Mental toughness isn’t a quality people are born with.  Rather, it includes a set of learned attitudes and ways of viewing competitive situations in productive ways.

Coaches and parents are in an ideal position to help young athletes develop a healthy philosophy about achievement and an ability to tolerate setbacks when they occur.   Here are some specific attitudes that we communicate with our young athletes at JENKINS ELITE HOOPS, that you can use.

1. Sports should be fun.

Emphasize that sports and other activities in life are enjoyable for playing, whether you win or lose.

Athletes should be participating, first and foremost, to have fun.

Try to promote the enjoyment of many activities in and of themselves so that winning is not a condition for enjoyment.

2. Anything worth achieving is rarely easy.

It’s important to recognize that the process of achieving mastery is a long and difficult road. According to Vince Lombardi, the famous coach of the Green Bay Packers, “The dictionary is the only place that success comes before work. Hard work is the price we must pay for success.”

Becoming the best athlete one can be is not an achievement to be had merely for the asking.

Practice, practice, and still more practice is needed to master any sport.

3. Mistakes are a necessary part of learning anything well.

Very simply, if we don’t make mistakes, we probably won’t learn. John Wooden, legendary UCLA basketball coach, referred to mistakes as the “stepping stones to achievement.”

Emphasize to athletes that mistakes, rather than being things to avoid at all costs, are opportunities for performance enhancement. They give us the information we need to adjust and improve.

The only true mistake is a failure to learn from our experiences.

4. The effort is what counts.

Emphasize and praise effort as well as the outcome.

Communicate repeatedly to young athletes that all you ask is that they give total effort.

Through your actions and your words, show youngsters that they are just as important to you when trying and losing as when winning. If the maximum effort is acceptable to you, it can also become acceptable to young athletes.

Above all, don’t punish or withdraw love and approval when kids don’t perform up to expectations. Such punishment builds fear of failure.

5. Don’t confuse worth with performance.

Help youngsters to distinguish what they do from what they are. A valuable lesson for children to learn is that they should never identify their worth as people with any particular part of themselves, such as their competence in sports, their school performance, or their physical appearance.

You can further this process by demonstrating your own ability to accept kids unconditionally as people, even when you are communicating that you don’t approve of some behavior.

Show children that you can gracefully accept your own mistakes and failures. Show and tell them that as a fallible human being, you can accept the fact that, despite your best efforts, you are going to occasionally bungle things.

If children can learn to accept and like themselves, they will not unduly require the approval of others in order to feel worthwhile.

6. Pressure is something you put on yourself.

Help young athletes to see competitive situations as exciting self-challenges rather than as threats.

Emphasize that people can choose how to think about pressure situations.

The above attitudes will help to develop an outlook on the pressure that transforms it into a challenge and an opportunity to test themselves and to achieve something worthwhile.

7.   Respect Your Competition.

Some coaches and athletes think that proper motivation comes from anger or hatred for the opponent. That’s totally wrong!

Sports should promote sportsmanship and an appreciation that opponents, far from being the “enemy,” are fellow athletes who make it possible to compete.

Hatred can only breed stress and fear. In terms of emotional arousal, fear and anger are indistinguishable patterns of physiologic responses. Thus, the arousal of anger can become the arousal of fear if things begin to go badly during competition.