Has The All-Star Weekend Lost Its Excitement??

February 15, 2009 at 10:43 pm · Filed under Basketball Training

Ok, so I was watching the 3-Point Competition, the Skills Challenge and the Dunk Competition and I began to think, has the all-star weekend become a joke or does it still have that zing and excitement in the air?

I’m not hating on them but the skills challenge was only a little better than last year’s because of the wicked dunk Derrick Rose did to finish it off. Other than that, all the point guards were chilling and going through the course like they were just in the gym as a warm up. I want to see Harris burst down the hardwood, cross over dribble all the obstacles and drive it home. That’s obviously not what happened.

The three point competition wasn’t that great either. I’m a Raptors fan and being from Toronto, I prayed and begged for Capono to be “three-pete” but he just came short. The first round, he limped in and just couldn’t find the flow in the second round. I have respect for Daequan Cook but next year, I’m hoping Ray Allen wil participate and show what a 3-point competition is supposed to be like.

The dunk competition this year was AMAZING! Dwight Howard forced everyone to step their game up a notch and shake the nature of the dunk competition up a little. The phone booth was really creative and I was just laughing But, Nate Robinson is a freak of nature and managed to jump over Dwight…..WOW! The thing tha surprised me most is how small of a margin Nate won by, 52-48%.

Overall, I think the All-Star Weekend is loosing its energy and hype because of the lost of effort but because of the creativity of dunk contest, people are still interested. The All-Star Game is on the horizon and I’m hoping its going to be a close one (cross your fingers)

PS: What did you think? You have probably watched other All-Star Weekends in the past. How did this one compare so far? Was it better or worse?

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Basketball Training - Super Bowl Madness and The Mental Muscle

February 2, 2009 at 6:02 pm · Filed under Mental Training

Super Bowl was pretty intense! This definitely wasn’t the best Super Bowl but the turnaround in the 3^rd and 4^th quarter left me GLUED to the screen. But as I was watching in awe and cringing on my nails, I realized how much pressure is put on athletes to perform. We all watch at home or at a party with excitement and anticipation but the players are the ones that need to push themselves and challenge their limits, mentally, in front of thousands of live fans as well as the millions that are watching from home. The pressure to perform is high whether you’re the quarterback for a Super Bowl match or the point guard for the NBA Finals.

Preparing for a game is an important factor to the success of the player during the game. There are many players on any level of play that simply can’t play at their optimum level because of stage fright or lack of confidence. The fact of the matter is the player must be confident and mentally picture himself to be able to shoot the ball, drive aggressively and be able to rip down the rebound. Michael Jordan said, “Obstacles don’t have to stop you. If you run into a wall, don’t turn around and give up. Figure out how to climb it, go through it, or work around it.” And I have to agree with Michael in the sense that fear can’t stop you and shouldn’t stop you.

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