School Basketball and More
"I got by on talent. That was my fatal mistake." - Pete Maravich
Most public schools in
Tampa do not have a Freshman Team, where a young athlete can begin to acquire
the basic basketball skills (shooting, footwork, ball handling, passing) and
better know-ledge of the game. All this needs to be done before your young man steps
onto a high school campus. If this is not the case, he runs the risk and
disappointment of not making the team.
You might say this is
not fair: My son/daughter played on the middle school team. That may be
true, but what else did they do? How many hours per day they practice on
their own? Diligent basketball training starts at four hours per day with Sunday off to rest. (In Malcolm Gladwell's book Outliers, he states that it takes about
10,000 hours to master your craft.)
In some cases an athlete
initially gets by with just his God-given ability. But eventually he will reach
a level where everyone is as skilled. Diligent practice with a purpose will
allow a player to master the craft.
Where your athlete goes
from here is up to him, but if continued basketball involvement is part of it,
he should have a plan in place. If his goal is to make the local varsity
team, he needs to have some sense of urgency. This urgency should be focused on learning how to play basketball and mastering the fundamentals of the game at a young age. Seek instruction
and practice! Have fun, but master the skills at the same time.
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