In our ongoing dialogue on basketball performance entitled, “What you don’t really understand about your kid”,
We left off the last email just about to go into C. in my R.A.C.E. Formula with Tod, my game-changing 14 y/o basketball player who inspired me to create all of this.
C = Clear
Reminding you that the formula begins here: Performance = Potential – Interference
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I explained to Tod and all my athletes that you will perform to your potential when you get rid of the interference. Consequently, you’ve got to Clear the Interference.
Now, this seems simple to you, right? But not to kids and teens. Tod, and most players, have been hammered with the message that if they aren’t playing to their potential, then they just need to work harder.
Tod took this to heart and was literally at the point of overtraining and was sacrificing his academic studies to fix his basketball problems.
Yep, his grades were slipping on top of all of this which only made Tod’s shame even more unbearable. But, he kept it all bottled up inside. As a result, his parents didn’t really know what was going on, but I heard it…plain as day when he finally allowed himself to be vulnerable and he opened up to me.
Kids are loathe to open up like that to parents and coaches but they do to me because they know I’m objective and purely there to help them.
Parents- Help your Basketball Player and Their Performance
You, as a parent, have no idea what’s going on inside your kid. And I didn’t either with my own kids until doing this work so don’t feel bad. Also, adults don’t understand how painful it is to a kid who has put his or her heart and soul into a sport only to fall short of their goals… while knowing they have the skills to achieve their goals!
You need to understand that kids build their entire identity on being a basketball player.
- They get their friendships from their sport
- Kids get their praise from adults from basketball
- They label themselves as a basketball player
- Their family life revolves around being a basketball player
So, we started the C. Clearing process with Tod with my techniques for building identity on things that are NOT dependent on his performance. The irony is that when you do this, performance improves because you have eliminated interference I do this for your kid in the Basketball Mental Toughness training program.
Let’s do this,
Craig Sigl
The Mental Toughness Trainer