“By the Time You Get To Where You’re Going”, seemed to have struck an emotional chord deep in the basketball souls of many readers. Its  message resonated  and motivated those players with “time” and wrenched the hearts of those without. The good news is basketball was never intended to be the end all in our lives, but rather an important part of our personal development as individuals.

There will come a crossroad in every player’s journey between basketball life and life itself. For many basketball isn’t just a way of life, but rather, larger than life and  inextricably linked to their identity and sense of self.  As a result, far too many players get lost in the quagmire of unfulfilled dreams  when basketball is no longer a realistic priority.   As painful as the transition may be, don’t despair, I declare… if you can hoop there’s hope.

If you can hoop (especially if you’re a star), it  means you’ve put  an inordinate amount of energy into developing your skill sets.  All those long hours on the playground and in the gym were not in vain. It’s time for the payoff.  Maybe it’s not how you imagined  it would be with a college scholarship or pro contract in hand, but, what you did get is a lifetime of benefit package and it’s ready to be activated.

The adage sports can teach you a life ‘s lesson if you let it is definitely true.  So now ask yourself the question … what have been the lessons learned inside your time in basketball.  Basketball gloriously is just  a model of life.  The same keys to success in the sports realm are transferable to life situations. So again, as daunting as a direction change seems at the moment; have no fear, sports has taught you tremendous things.

You have hands on experience with quick analysis and decision-making.  You are schooled in  group dynamics and goal setting.  You know what it’s like to be disciplined and dedicated.  You’ve walked the walk  because you understand the correlation between inputs for outputs and how each component impacts the whole unit.  You know how to execute and  persevere under pressure because you’ve been pushed to the limit and found a way to survive and enjoyed success.  You’ve beat the odds before and it was  your passion and refuse to lose attitude the carried you through.

Passion is the fuel that helps you motor through the tedium of all that is required of you on your journey to where you want to go.

Trust me. Developing yourself inside any sport may be the toughest challenge you face in life.  With the right approach (bring your “A” game), any other endeavor is just as doable- at least.

Tags: belief systems, High School Basketball, nba, Passion, Player Development, positive thinking, skill acquisiton, Virtual Play, WNBA

This entry was posted on Tuesday, June 15th, 2010 at 9:00 pm and is filed under New Posts, News. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.