Day 29: Practice the impossible

This article is part of the series “30 days to being a better basketball player“.

I’m sure you would agree that basketball players are creative at heart. No less creative than artists painting a canvas or musicians composing a masterpiece, basketball players create art with the ball (and sometimes without it).

Today, we want you to keep this in mind.

Sure, every coach will encourage you not to take wild shots or try do impossible things out on the court. It is important to respect this and to keep the team’s best interests first, but it is still important to recognise the artist within you and to allow yourself some freedom of expression. How else can you keep the passion for the game burning hot inside!?

The best way to do this is to practice the impossible (this is just one of the things we can learn from Michael Jordan, who made the impossible happen all too often).

When you’re alone, away from everyone else, just let go and try things you wouldn’t usually. There’s only one small thing though – practice the impossible with intent.

Don’t “practice” just by throwing up random shots and hoping for the best. Whatever crazy shots and moves you try, do so with the belief that it can be done and the intent to find out how to do it over and over and over again. You might not get it right at first. You might not ever get some of them right. The idea is to enjoy trying while you’re trying it.

With lots of practice, some of this will start coming naturally to you. And one day you might be in a tough game situation that seems impossible to overcome.

Just think what might happen then.

Enjoy practicing and see if you can make the impossible possible.

Tags: 30 Days, art, artist, creative, intent, passion, practice, talent