Born in Toronto, Sefu is always excited about talking Xs & Os to share his passion for teaching, learning and motivating. He has studied the game internationally having travelled to Serbia, Slovakia and Spain; and instructs at various camps, clinics and schools in North America. He is also a development coach for the Canadian men’s and women’s national team programs. Sefu will direct the Advanced Concepts course and co-direct several Essentials courses on the PGC ’09 Summer Tour.
How an Elite Basketball Camp Teaches You to Choke
They say players compete in the winter but they are made in the summer.
This may be true, but HOW they are made is a topic of much debate. What is the right mix of gym time, weight time, or game time? What are the best ways to spend that time: by yourself? In a pickup game? Attending the elite basketball camps? It can all be a little overwhelming, and you only have so much time.
That said, with all the work players put in to learning how to play the game, they tend to forget that they can get an enormous edge over their competition by learning how to THINK the game as well.
One of the elite basketball camps to address this is Point Guard College (don’t let the name fool you, they’re not just for point guards). Aside from intense on court training, they spend a large amount of time working on the psychological aspects of the game through video analysis, classroom training, and leadership development as well. The goal is to develop complete players, thinkers, and leaders in the community who are equally valuable off the court as they are on. And their approach is gaining ground.
Much of Point Guard College’s philosophy comes from the man who started it all, legendary basketball thinker Dick Devenzio, who not only started one of the elite basketball camps, he wrote one of the elite basketball books: Think Like a Champion. (When John Wooden says your camp and your book are the real deal, people pay attention.)
To get an idea of the kind of approach taken by the Point Guard College, take a look at one of the chapters in Dick’s book called “Choking”, which starts like this:
“If you do fear choking, and fear that your muscles tighten and your
nerves rattle and your performance suffers at the end of big games,
here are a few things to consider:
1. Everyone gets nervous at the end of big games. No harm in
that. It happens to even big stars. Remember (see the section
on “Nervousness”) nervousness is natural. Invite it in, don’t
try to avoid it. Embrace it. You can play well in spite of some
rattling nerves. Athletes do it all the time.
2. Remind yourself what got you to where you are. If you have
a lead near the end of a big game, how did you get it? Were
you aggressive? Did you execute sharply? Whatever got you
the lead is what can get you the victory. “Dance with who
brung ya,” as the old saying goes. Stick with what got you
there. Doing what you’ve been doing doesn’t guarantee you
a victory but it certainly makes sense to concentrate on doing
what has worked.
3. Take your attention off yourself and your own performance and
concentrate on lifting and inspiring your teammates. Not only
will your encouragement help them get past their jitters, the
action and intensity of your efforts will likely have a positive
impact on your jitters as well.
4. Remind yourself that you are playing a sport, that failure and
defeat are not the worst things in the world. They happen to
everyone. And even when you’re down, you have a chance. At
least go after it. Go for it. Carpe diem, seize the day. Put yourself
in a frame of mind to seek a victory aggressively rather than to
watch the clock, hoping the time ticks away before you have a
chance to lose.“
There are all kinds of things people can learn from attending a basketball camp, but these days, the elite basketball camps out there may be the ones that tell you how to think the game, and not just play it.
Dick would’ve wanted it that way!
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