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Repeatability
For most players it is a dirty word, but I want to give you a different perspective when your coaches yells at you and shouts "repeat it"! The word repeat has for years caused players cringe following the shrills of the coach's whistle. Why? because it occurs most often following errors they have made. However, no coaches wants you to make mistakes or execute poorly. Their goal, and yours as well, is simply to be able to execute skills and decisions at critical times of games. In other words to prepare you to perform when your best performance is needed. To accomplish this you, as a player, are going to have to accept the concept of repetition. In fact, I hope following the focus of today's Playground Pointer you will learn to eat it up, and thrive on the word repeat rather than despise it. Look at it as another opportunity to demonstrate your greatness. I am going to say this only once so listen up clearly......Repeatability is the key to YOUR becoming a great player!
by Alan Lambert Is the Key To Becoming A Great Player ! Repetition in learning is the most fundamental element to growing to another level in almost anything that you do. Repetition leads you down the path toward the automation (executing something without consciously thinking about it) of your skills and it reduces the amount of time your brain needs to attend to details of a skill during it's execution. You see the brain has a limited attentional capacity. With repetition and practice your basketball skills will require much less attention freeing that space up so that you can "attend to" (be aware of) other more critical information necessary to the successful execution of that skill during the course of a game. The simplest example of this I can think of off hand is this. How can you be listening for and attending to verbal cues from your teammates on the defensive end of the court (to anticipate and prepare for surprise screens, or quick cuts), if you must focus most of your attention on pointing and moving your lead foot when you are trying to execute basic defensive footwork to stop your player from penetrating the basket. There are hundreds of examples of this on both ends of the court. Just take my word for it, the more you automate your skills the faster you will be able to react and move in executing a critically needed skill at the critical time. This is why coaches use "key phrases or labels" to describe players, call inbounds options, or set defenses. You do not have to attend to all the details of the defense, but "one" call alerts you to a change in how you must be thinking. Coaches use build up drills to teach you how to perform a skill or execute patterns as one "chunk of information". This frees up your attentional capacity making you more flexible in thinking and seeing the game on the court, and substantially quickening your decision making ability. Automation does not occur without repetition. In order to be a successful player, no even a great player, you must do two things: a) accept that repetition is necessary to become great, and b) understand that when you do not maintain repetition of your skills and team patterns you will lose it. Repetition allows you to not only reach a higher level but to sustain a level of play you cannot sustain without it. |
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