In just about every sport , it takes great feet to compete at a high level.

Proper footwork in basketball is as vital to successful play as effective skating is to quality hockey play. After all, foot control (explosive stops and starts) is a key element of body control and controlling opponents. If you cannot skate, you will never be an effective hockey player regardless of your other skills; likewise in basketball. Therefore you must understand how your feet operate. The feet are made of two parts. The balls of the feet are the Go or Push pads and are used to power your system.  The heels are the brakes and are used primarily for stopping and stabilization. Having your energy backward on your heels or operating on the brakes means you are stuck (flat) to the floor and slower to react.  (Note: Engaging the toes to the floor in a gripping fashion shifts your energy forward and keeps you on your pads.  This promotes instant forward movement or explosion…

“Every Step You Take” addresses the power of every step on earth for everyday walking. For  sports, how you operate your feet  determines your balance, stability and ability  to locomote effectively and deceptively. If you think you  are “non-athletic” or have  slow feet in your sport, check first to see if you operating on your feet properly.  Determine if your energy is typically moving towards  your “push pads” (balls of your feet) on steps or back towards the brakes (heels) .  It’s okay to have your heels touch the floor as long as your energy (from the heel) is moving away from the ground during the stride forward .

“No homo, but Ray Allen’s sh*t looks like he’s got baseballs in his legs. Ray must walk on the balls of his feet because I can’t see any amount of training that would make his calf muscles that big and leave the rest of his leg skinny.”

http://forums.projectcovo.com/showthread.php?t=1021215

I notice players with poor foot mechanics and ones with great feet for that matter. But poor foot mechanics is a major contributor in lack of athletic prowess and simply an unnecessary handicap.  Futhermore, individuals with bad foot mechanics and/or poor structure (geometric harmony) are also prone to injury.

Notice. The vast majority of players that can jump, or those with speed or quickness generally walk the same way. It’s true for the mediocre and athletically challenged as well.  The typical step of that group is  heel first walking (touching). Notice the heel first walker usually has less calf  and hamstring definition, plus less pronounced glutes.  Hmmm… who would you rather be?

When you catch people at the gym walking up on their  toes, are you really surprised when they can jump or are explosive?  I know embouchure is a term used to describe the proper approach or positioning  of the lips on the mouthpiece of an instrument, but I like to think of the feet and their grip to  the court (or earth) in that way.  I talk extensively about this in the “Virtual Game…”, “We Can Build You”-Chapter 4. Once you understand proper foot mechanics  and subsequently foot control, you’ll be able to control opponents with  greater ease; especially in basketball (with the law of leadership) or right to be first (in movement).

You have the power in every step you take to make a difference in the symmetry of your body and your physical capacity.   A whole generation wanted to be like Mike. It should include walking like him. Be cognizant of how  you walk. Soon you’ll be better equipped to walk the walk and perhaps… talk the talk.

This is the dawn of the new  basketball vanguard. “The  Virtual Game…” will usher in a new understanding of prowess, objective and expectation.  I hope the articles to date have moved you at least closer towards the world of Virtual Play and the realm of optimization.

Welcome to the basketball matrix.  Here ultimate technique meets artistic expression. As a Virtual Player, you are bound only by perfection and emotion. Actualization as a Virtual Player occurs when you have mastered the art of allowing yourself to demonstrate the full gamut of your skill sets in the moment of exchange.

The road to virtual actualization is an arduous journey. It is truly the road less traveled. It takes incredible brainpower and discipline to deal with the rigors of programming and development: Man vs. Brain is the main event in an emotional “super fight.” So few stay the path as the stress and strain of change becomes too difficult and the process outweighs the passion and resolve of the individual. It is understandable. A Virtual Player is a rare treasure and like the most precious stone, the product of proper pressure, focus and time. Pressure to improve steadily. Focus on the right materials. And time to make it all happen.

May this material be a new testament for a new

millennium player

VP’s objectives for play are governed by net result and outcomes. Success is based on established default settings for optimal performance and extreme focus. VP’s mental make-up is one of emotional control. This control is rooted in the ability to withstand the toll of programming – interjecting commands to forge positive reps and acquire skill. VP’s realize they are greater than the brain and can exercise dominion through hyper-focus and a calm assertive mind. This mastery of the brain game will stand as a purposeful model of understanding advancement for whatever else in life.

As a VP you function as a viable component of any system.  You understand that it takes the right inputs for the right outputs and are machine-like in your approach. Intellectually you process the action of the game frame-by-frame, as if driving through an uncontrolled intersection: quick to assess and ready to act. This ability makes you an outstanding decision-maker even under duress. In fact, the more pressure you are subjected to, the closer you will move toward your defaults for clean play and performance. You fully embrace the law of leadership and work to preserve your offensive advantage to be first.  Your mission defensively is to “SCHOOL” your opponent and protect the “Queen” by any legal means necessary.

You are supremely confident, and your purpose and resolve is unshakable. You evoke the ire of inferior competition and the nodded respect of other true players. Purists will revel in the “basicology” of your play. However you must accept the reality and responsibility of continuously impacting others both positively and negatively. People’s perceptions of you as a player and person will be in constant flux as they attempt to balance your ability with their ego. Still, you must continue working to minimize negative impacts involving those in your environment who cannot comprehend your prowess or processes. Your sole goal is chartable growth at all times.

Technology will forever change. You must adapt to these changes or be prepared to fall short of your objectives.

Be gracious in victory and honorable in defeat. You are a Virtual artist who respects the game and others who play it. Above all, you respect yourself enough to register and accept optimization where you may find it. Grow in the game like you will play forever. Play like it is your last opportunity to perform —  “The Virtual Game of Basketball”

It’s easy to half-hear and miss critical elements that connect understanding – even when  you’re interested in the information. Program yourself to listen  intently to the “message of the moment.”

The brain is extremely clever about  creating distraction — particularly when change is involved.  Be aware of tendencies that may stop you from actually getting the most out of exchanges.  Think about when you miss a key word and get behind in a conversation. Sometimes it’s hard to catch up, but who wants to appear as if they weren’t listening?  If you are interested in a particular message, you may find these rules of engagement helpful.

1) Be aware of defensiveness to new or “different” information.  Program yourself to resist the urge to suppress, discount or disprove. Give yourself a chance to grow.  Your brain will try to use your emotions (fears, doubts) against you to derail progress.

2) Open your “Circle of Understanding.” It’s tough because  you already  have a full circle of everything you know presently.  Unfortunately, you don’t know what you don’t know.  Therefore, circles come in all sizes.  Get in the habit of allowing yourself  to think of new information as potentially  upgradable or expandable material rather than as a replacement program per se.  This will help your brain cooperate and allow you to fully engage in the exchange.  This is key in conceptualizing what is being said.  There’s usually something of value in the words. By opening your “Circle” you’ll be better  able to determine the V level or validity of the message.  If the information is verifiable and you see how you can benefit, the  crucial next step is to get past your brain to start the process of integration or expanding your circle of information and skill.

3) Don’t allow yourself to feel overwhelmed.  Ask as many questions as necessary to move forward.

4) Incorporate “Mental Repetition.” (see: “Mind Matters… Over and Over”)  Take time out (30 minutes) to revisit the new information in your head.  It’s amazing how much it impacts retention and performance.

The ear hears, the brain receives  and your job is to make sense of the information and put it to use.

Education = Acquisition          Application = Performance

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Slow down man,  please…you’re going absolutely too fast. Don’t you see  these people out here? Where are you trying to go…huh? C’mon now … you really need to slow your roll before you run over somebody.  I know you know how to “drive.”  I’m just saying,  it’s  much easier  to negotiate “traffic” moving more   s  l  o  w  l  y.

Don’t feel like the Lone Ranger.  It’s not  just  you, everybody seems to be in a hurry? I don’t quite get it. Yeh, yeh speed kills… in football maybe. In basketball going fast usually just kills your  ability to be in control.  Speed may be necessary sometimes, but mostly makes negotiating the terrain more difficult. Besides, going fast may not even get you there more quickly.

Let’s just say that speed is about how fast you can go. Quickness on the other hand is how efficiently you can get there. You don’t have to go fast to be quick. In fact , speed and quickness many times is based on the ability to stop fast, which makes you fastest in your shortest steps– relative to any opposition.

Basketball is one of the few sports in which the offense has the advantage. Unfortunately, many players and teams give theirs away with poor technique and a flawed offensive approach. One of the keys to offensive manipulation is the right to move first. This gives the offensive player the ability to deceive or control opponents with intentions or false intentions to go places or do things. If all of our movements are in frames – as in motion pictures – and we can learn to control our movement in each frame, then we should then be able to mislead and manipulate opponents with our intentions in early frames of movement. It is extremely difficult to predict anyone’s start, stoppage or change of movement. Furthermore, the defender must match the rate of the proposed movement in those early frames or risk being moved past. Therefore, we can control our opponents by proposing an action and being continuously contrary to their responses. Given the typical controlled rate of a Virtual Player’s movement, it becomes easy to make necessary changes to exploit or maintain advantage.

-The Virtual Game of Basketball-

It’s no coincidence that the best players not only play slow, but seem to slow the game down as well.

TBL: You don’t need speed to succeed. Act  like you know and go slow…er!

Skill acquisition is a matter of the mind… over and over again.  It requires extreme focus and an intentional act of exercising dominion over the brain. As a human being you have the capacity to do unbelievable things. What you need to do is convince your brain that what you want to achieve is possible. In order to believe , you have to envision it or experience it …  You must continually interject commands to your brain to make it perform in a particular manner until it is fully automated.

You can train your brain for gain in the direction you choose. It is a struggle at first. The brain fights hard to hold on to the established function (old program)… I tell players all the time not to be discouraged by the discomfort of change – particularly if it is a change for the better… You can expedite change by doing both physical and mental reps. Mental-repetition is the process of visualizing performance without physically doing the function…  However you slice it, it still equates to a lot of hard work on the right materials. Every rep you perform counts. You are either moving in a positive direction toward perfection or a negative one towards a world of higher degree of difficulty.

When you are called to action – to shoot a basketball or execute a dribble maneuver – your brain spins and it lands on one of the programmed slots for performance.  In this case you would typically shoot exactly according to your existing script. With enough positive repetition your technical wheel for shooting can be filled with slots of the optimal way to perform .

It is a tough task to make changes to your system.  But once change is programmed in, however the struggle, it will be just as difficult for your brain to operate outside of the “new” programmed material… Still, you must believe that you will be able to perform regardless of the environment or pressure of the moment.

This level of confidence and “swag” does not come cheap. It will cost you literally thousands of positive repetitions to create the proper defaults and emotional resolve for consistent quality performances.

Many of us have seen the movie the Matrix… this film will help you understand programming (skill acquisition) as it relates to Virtual Play.

In the movie, acquisition was a matter of plugging into the chair and having information downloaded directly into the brain. The information downloaded was designed for optimal performance. Programming in Virtual Play is very similar, only there is no chair and you are required to download the information manually – repetition by repetition. The television game show “The Wheel of Fortune” outlines the principles of programming.

On the show, the slots on the wheel are full of dollar amounts and prizes. The contestants spin the wheel and it lands on a certain slot. It rarely lands on the same slot more than once, but it always lands on a slot. Your brain, similarly, is “The Wheel of Function” (Diagram 2A) with slots full of programmed information of how you perform or do certain things. 

 

The bottom line:  you must pay to play in a special way. Everyone wants to, but who actually gets to?

-The Virtual Game of Basketball-