The Grind of Euro Ball

Basketball is lot more mental and metaphysical than people are lead to believe. There is a connection between the body and mind that sports psychologists have proven to be fact, not fiction-- in regards to performance, motivation, shooting %, and more. Yet, why do many coaches ignore this? Why do coaches continue to pretend like the Grind of a basketball season doesn't affect certain players more and other players less? Or worse, continue to do the same things over and over (the definition of stupidity in my book) with the same result?

How do we overcome the challenges of the basketball Grind and help players spark mental motivation, performance and enjoyment from a game?

I use a few principles that might help players or coaches. Always try to make practice a game. That's why we play basketball in the first place-- it's a game, it's competition, and it gets the blood flowing whether it's a shooting game, a passing game, a dribbling game, a relay race, or some other type of game that isn't basketball.

I always like when coaches mix it up. So as a player, I try to mix it up with my own practice routines. For one, everyone comes into the gym and starts shooting. Most players I study don't play shooting games with themselves. They just robotically shoot. Rebound. Shoot. Go in for pre-game.

Here is what I do that sometimes keeps me playing and competing against myself. Pick a shot-- whether you are a big man, a shooting guard, or a point guard-- that you will be forced to shoot a majority of the time during games. For me, it's shooting off a pick and roll. The game is this: Make pick and roll shots off the dribble in a row from top of key and wings. Week 1: 4 makes in a row from two-point territory and 3 makes in a row from three point territory (I like to use a chair as my picker). Week 2: 5 makes from inside arc and 4 makes from outside the arc (15 total inside arc, and 12 total outside). Week 3: 6 makes inside and 5 makes from outside, increasing the makes by 1 every week.

A team game I like is the team tag. The whole team is one half court and can't run outside the half court lines. There is a ball and whoever has the ball is safe, can't be tagged. There is a runner whom is trying to tag everyone. the person with the ball must try to help his teammates from getting tagged by passing strategically to players about to get touched by the runner. This creates a passing and catching game, a lot of laughing as players run from the tagger, and a lot of strategy as well.

If anyone has any other thoughts on the basketball Grind, please comment below!