Tips to Make You a Better Player
Jerome Green
November 18, 2008
To be a better player you don’t have to be the most athletic, the quickest or the tallest. What you do have to have is what I call basketball V.E.R.V.E: Vision, Energy, Resiliency, Velocity of Learning and Encouragement). All the great players, like Michael Jordan, Lisa Leslie, Kobe Bryant, and Lebron James have it. Without V.E.R.V.E you will always have limitations to your game.
Vision
When you are on the court what do you do? Do you see a play ahead, see the next pass or communicate with your teammates? When you are on the bench what do you do? Do you just sit on the bench day dreaming or do you pay attention to the game by watching the flow of the game, looking for weaknesses in the other team and specifically watching to see what the strengths and weaknesses are of the player(s) you might be guarding? Some of things you should be looking for are:
∆ Are the players left handed or right handed? Can they dribble or shoot with their off hand?
∆ What habits do the players on the other team have? Do they get back quickly on defense or walk back?
∆ What do they like to do the most? Attack the basket or shoot the jumper?
Energy
When you are in the game or on the bench do you supply energy to your team? Are you vocal and encouraging? Can your teammates hear you on the floor or from the bench? Does your coach know you are on the team or are you real quiet and withdrawn? Let your coach feel and know your presence and passion through your energy.
Resiliency
What do you do after a bad play or bad game? Do you sulk, go home and blame someone else (or yourself), or do you actually go back to the drawing board and work on your game? I can recall when Magic Johnson had a horrible NBA final against Boston in 1983. He had a ton of turnovers and just a sub-par playoff series. The fans were also a little down on him because they felt he got Paul Westhead fired. What Magic did do was go back to Michigan that summer and work on his game. When he came back the next season, he had a better outside shot, and was a stronger all around player. If a player of Magic’s caliber can do back to the drawing board and do his homework, what do YOU need to do?
Velocity
You have to have powerful spirit to play the game of basketball. It’s not a game for the meek. What you lack in foot speed needs to be made up in learning speed and skill development. The more proficient you can become at managing the ball, the more valuable you become to your team, no matter what your size or athletic ability. Do you play defense and get after it? There is always room for players who play hard and smart.
Encouragement
Encouragement may be one of the most overused words in the English language. Many players are always looking for external encouragement, but very few rarely look inside. Courage is a component to the word encouragement. Life itself requires a great deal of courage and focus to achieve anything you want. Without courage, it’s hard to encourage. You have to have the courage to make mistakes, learn from them and start over again. Luvv is another ingredient to en-courage-ment, without luvv it is very difficult to have the courage to face your next obstacle and you will find yourself becoming discouraged.
“Short memories lead to good defense after mistakes”-.
--Mark Adams
ESPN, Color commentator
Mark Adams, ESPN color commentator, in commenting on a Hawaii player who made an offense turnover and then got in the proper deny defense, got the steal and went down and scored. To play any game, you have to have a short memory and great bounce back abilities.
Do you have the nerve to develop your V. E. R. V. E.? Start building it today.