Follow These 4 Steps To Get A Head Start On Next Basketball Season Now!

Posted on February 17, 2017March 31, 2017 by morrisbasketballprogram

This basketball season is soon coming to a close. This is a great time for reflection and self assessment. Whether you led your team to a tournament championship or found yourself riding the pine with a losing season you are the only person that can hold yourself accountable for your performance of lack thereof.

1. Be Honest with yourself.

What does it mean to be accountable to yourself? When talking about your skills and awareness on the basketball court you MUST have a critical view of your own performance. Did you have a problem committing turnovers? Or maybe your shooting percentage wasn’t what you hoped or expected it to be.

When having the conversation with yourself about what went well and what could be better it is vital that you do not sugar coat it; that you use the season that you are coming off of as tool to identify the areas of your game that need immediate attention.

2. Don’t Procrastinate; Get Better At Something

If you look at players considered the best at any level of play from high school through the pros you will see a common theme. Players that are considered the best are CONSTANTLY working on 1 or more aspects of their game. They understand that the off season isn’t for the players- it’s for the spectators. The time to get into basketball training for dribbling, shooting, running a fast break or applying pressure defense full court is NOW. Between now and November you have the opportunity to visualize the type of player you want to be and with that in mind you can put your head down and begin to grind out the bumps and smooth the edges of your game until you become the player you see yourself capable of being. Get to it.

3. Seek Out Help

We would all love to believe that we can figure things out on our own all the time but sadly that just is not reality. We all need help at some point to push us to the higher levels we reach for. Don’t let complacency or embarrassment hold you back from achieving your goals and feeling the satisfaction of reaching and surpassing your own expectations. Search for the resources that are available to you. There might be local basketball classes or private basketball training that you can take advantage of to get you on track for next season. The internet is a great resource to get ideas for training individual skill sets if you can’t find resources that are local to your area.

4. Commit And Follow Through

This is probably toughest thing for many people to really accomplish. Sure you may have really analyzed your season and come to some tough realizations about where you need to improve. You might have begun researching the resources that are available to you and have a plan to put them to use but until you start the process, none of your preparation matters. Put a start date in your calendar and stick to that commitment. Taking the initiative and getting back in the gym to work on your game will put you a head of 75% of your competition when the next season arrives. So just showing up and beginning to work gives you and edge but in order to get ahead of the other 25%; well that’s a topic for another article but it starts where this one ends. Who knows, you might get voted as the Most Improved Player heading into next season! GET IN AND GET WORKING.

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Struggling So Far This Year? Save Your Basketball Season Before The Halfway Mark With These 4 Steps.

Posted on December 25, 2016March 31, 2017 by morrisbasketballprogram

The basketball tournaments during Christmas Break are a mile marker before the midway point of the season. There is still time to change the outcome of this season.

**1. Make Good Use Of Pre and Post Practice Time**

The time before and after practice can be crucial to your personal experience during the season. Don’t waste time heaving half court shots or playing a game of who can make a shot through the rafters. If you are lucky enough to have that time before a coach starts practice or afterwards to work on your individual skill set, DON’T WASTE IT. This time should be used for Form Shooting drills, stationary dribbling drills, working on the perfect free throw or even getting GAME TYPE shots in with a friend to increase your confidence and shooting percentage. Coaches love seeing their players focused and working on themselves outside of normal practice time. The results could be that your sheer dedication to improving puts you higher in the rotation.

2. Treat Every Practice As A Tryout

Congratulations, you’ve made the cut and aren’t sitting around wondering why you got cut from the team. Perhaps your team tryouts were a grueling 3 days filled with endless sprints and backboard touches that left your body weary for days afterward. NOW IS NOT THE TIME TO LET UP. Many players go through this every year. Tryouts were extremely tough and now that you made the cut your hoping that you can ease off the gas pedal and get down to shooting the 3 ball and jogging in for that finger roll layup you worked on over the summer. If you can obtain the mindset that you are always being evaluated to see what your value is and ultimately how much you will play, you should have no problem pushing yourself in each drill or segment of practice. REMEMBER, your competing for playing time ALWAYS.

3. Speak To Your Coach

I hesitate to encourage this to all players because some players run the risk of BEING ALL TALK. Yes, your coach wants to see that you are interested in getting better and playing better for your team. You MUST not do this in vain, if you think a quick fix to your lack of minutes on the floor is having a sit down with your coach you are likely going to be disappointed. Coaches put a lot of time in to deciding who gets what time and your most heart-felt pleas for time will likely go ignored UNLESS you have been showing that you take initiative in your skill development by taking the above mentioned steps. If you need to understand plays or defensive schemes better then ask those questions and ask them until you are sure you know the answers but be sure to match your questions with the effort needed to perform at a high level.

4. As You Ascend Brings Others With You

Hard work undoubtedly pays off over time. I hope reading this encourages you to takes the steps to put in that work and get better. A very important aspect of being a part of a team is your ability to make those around you better. By working hard and giving all your effort at the practice or game at hand you will inevitably have an impact on those around you. It’s important to be sure you are making a POSITIVE IMPACT on your team. In fact, being a bad teammate is 1 of the Signs Of Being A Bad Basketball Player. It could be encouraging your teammates during sprints to push themselves harder or giving out high 5’s for any and every small accomplishment you see your teammates completing. Your teams season can be drastically different by injecting your positive attitude and working hard. The Great thing is that by putting together a great work ethic and positive attitude it becomes contagious and you may see yourself and your team accomplish the seemingly impossible.

Wrap up: Follow these tips and you can expect improvement in yourself and likely figure out How To Earn More Playing Time On The Basketball Court. Always pursue new ways of working on your skills and when possible take advantage of playing and practicing with advanced players and coaches. If you are unsure of how your situation on your current team is going, or if it is already going bad, signing up for a free workout with the Morris Basketball Program can be the first step in saving your season and career!

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4 Reasons You May Have Been Cut From Your Basketball Team This Year

Posted on September 29, 2016December 25, 2016 by morrisbasketballprogram

If you wasted your preseason you are already one step behind in the game.

Sports in general (but more specifically basketball) are one of the things that are nothing like riding a bike. If you don’t use your abilities and try to constantly fine tune and improve your basketball skills you will most definitely lose them. You can’t take the entire off-season off, and step back on the basketball court and expect your game to be the same. A lot of time, effort, and sweat must be given in order to see real improvements in your game.

The preseason is considered to be the period of time from the beginning of the new school year up until basketball tryouts beginning during the end of the Fall. So we can consider the basketball preseason to last about three months. Three months is a lot of time in terms of basketball conditioning, but it is not when it comes to basketball skill training.. It takes many many hours to master a skill. It only takes a few weeks of heavy dedication to get into basketball shape.

Here are 4 things that can ruin your basketball season before it even starts:

1. Not Taking Training Seriously

In today’s basketball world, intense training is a given. Back in the day, you could probably get away with not training as hard as you could and still see some kind of success as a basketball player. But those days are over. There is way too much competition (who are probably in the gym training right now) to think you will be fine if you are not constantly pushing your game to new heights. The majority of players these days are in the gym consistently on their own, playing on multiple teams, and seeking out PRIVATE BASKETBALL TRAINING twice per week in an attempt to get an edge on the competition. So if you are in the gym training on your own regularly, you are doing just enough to stay one step behind your competitors.

2. Not Being In Basketball Shape

A lot of players underestimate the significance of being a well-conditioned basketball player. Players tend to understand why they need to improve their actual skills, but don’t see how being in tip-top shape can make basketball skill training easier. The better shape you are in, the more likely you are to perform your drills at game speed. The more you train at game speed, the better chance you have at translating your improved skills into the real game. A prime example of this is the ability to constantly MOVE WITHOUT THE BALL to tire out your defender and find open shots you normally wouldn’t be able to shoot.

3. Not Building Team Chemistry

A big mistake players (especially new players to a program, such as high school freshman) make is not taking the time to build chemistry with their teammates. Although this may seem small and insignificant, it can make or break your chances to make the team for the year. This is especially true if you are a newcomer to a team with a returning core group of players. You want to show you can fit in with the current system while also showcasing your skills! This goes hand in hand with #4.

4. Not Knowing Your Role For The Upcoming Season

Knowing your role on your basketball team for the new season is just as important as being skillfully prepared. If you are not aware of what your role might be, how could you properly prepare for it? Although everyone wants to be the star player of course, everyone has to start somewhere. Your role could be anything from being a top scorer to being a glorified practice player. Whatever your role is, you should take pride in the fact that you may have a spot on the team and have a chance to contribute. As long as you have a role, you have a chance at climbing the totem pole on your team and also you can know how to prepare in the off-season.

If you didn’t make the cut but still think you have what it takes, the Morris Basketball Program can help you to secure your spot on your team’s roster!

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