MATURATION PROCESS AND THE POWER OF THE MIND
Each day we are more and more aware how important is to know player’s mindset before we bring him into our team. By not diminishing importance of all other components, as player’s individual defensive and offensive abilities, anthropometric values, motor and athletic abilities, we must admit that all our information about player’s mind abilities, are very modest without much chance to get any conclusion concerning these values, based on already gathered data. This has led us to make additional effort in searching for valid information which would enrich and complete general picture about a player we are interested in. After engaged effort in that direction, we have made suggestion of how we consider we should approach to this problem in the future. A suggestion by itself is not final and is subsequent to changes which could lead to further improvements.
The process of acquiring mental abilities, maturing and building up the power of the mind is most intense in the period U14 through U20. Therefore, the entire process of player – building can only be completed once mental maturation is completed.
Characteristics what makes one player a great basketball player are the such as exceptional defensive or offensive capabilities, or both. It could also be anthropometric characteristics or athletic capabilities. They are almost inexhaustible resources through which we can provide a detailed description of one player’s qualities.
We can use a modern slang and ask ourselves, can hardware work without software? Or vice versa. There is one characteristic which is different from all the others. It can give the answer to almost all questions. It gives the answer about overall toughness, determination and all other details necessary to describe the player’s abilities. This characteristic is the power of mind. The power of mind is the most lethal weapon one player can possess. And, it is not even just to possess the power of mind. A player should have a capability to demonstrate his power of mind all the time. It should be manifested through behavior whenever there is an opportunity. Basketball player who aspires to play at the highest level there is, to play like a champion and to become a champion, needs to know how to act as a champion.
Data regarding player’s mind abilities were carefully gathered from coaching personnel, teammates, opponents, referees and journalists who knew a player directly or indirectly. With all of them, we have performed spontaneous interviews which were then analyzed by sports psychologist Almir Tuce. Almir has analyzed interviews and aligned them in way that we can obtain reliable picture of player’s overall mind abilities.
Achieved picture is then compared with picture of best international NBA players. Some of these players are at the end of their careers, and some are on the very beginning. Anyway, these players are the best what rest of the world has within NBA at this moment.
Whole POWER OF THE MIND ABILITIES EVALUATION is consisted of four categories. Each category is consisted of five factors which make it as it is.
- MORAL VALUES
- CHARACTER VALUES
- WORK ETHIC
- WINNING SPIRIT
We particularly emphasize that moral values, character values and work ethic should finally be formed by the age of 20. Their values will be closely linked to the player’s overall performance.
This way we do not diminish the importance of other aspects of the game. With this we want to equate the importance of the power of mind. The best players, who have played, play now and will play like a champions, are different from the other players because through whole career, they were guided by their power of mind. These players have become more skilled in imposing their power of the mind, through time. They did it so discreetly, without too much hint. They were patient enough to use that power in order to gain control primarily over themselves, then over their teammates and finally over their opponents.
The power of mind is limitless. Players, who possess power of mind, break their opponent by the power of mind and finally finish them by using basketball skills. The power of mind is demonstration of invisible force which need daily trainings in order to become a habit. It is certain, that, if it is not trained on daily basis, the power of mind will fade by time.
The power of the mind sometimes cannot be measurable or visible as a statistical value because there is no specific unit that would define its strength. But, it is visible and manifested through the players’ behavior and actions in every game and everyday life. How a player faces obstacles, roadblocks, and challenging situations, what strategies and actions does he use, tells us about player’s moral values, character values, work ethic and winning spirit as his power of the mind.