By: Jack Lambkin
Girls basketball is a very physically demanding sport with needing to be well conditioned and fit to be able to play and perform at your high level. But a side that is lesser talked about is the mental game and battle of this sport. What it takes to juggle school, sport and home life. How mentally focused you have to be to understand and analyze the game as a whole. Along with being in the right mental state to be able to perform at your peak ability. To handle all of that at once takes a lot and in this article we will dive into the mental strength it takes to handle this mental battle of girls basketball
When participating in basketball you need the ability to leave it all out on the court and just focus on the game at hand. This is an important part of mental strength. The ability to stop thinking about the problems or struggle with everyday life and just to focus on the game takes a strength some don’t have. But that’s not saying they can’t build this skill. When you train your mind to think “Hey these problems stressing me out I need to drop them and focus on the game.” It is a hard task to complete sometimes with struggles that affect you in big ways.
And the ability to keep calm under pressure is important to keep in mind. Being able to keep your compressor and not fold by the weight of pressure. Shooting a shot to tie the game for example. The ability to perform the same as you would just shooting around with friends. Not letting the pressure get to you with the game on your shoulders is a hard thing to do.
And on top of all of that you need to understand and analyze the game. If you don’t do this you’ll lose every game you because you don’t understand what’s going on. And then you’ll miss signs that show an obvious play.
In conclusion the mental battle of basketball is just as much as a struggle as the physical aspect of the game. And understanding that is the first step to becoming a better basketball player.