To succeed in putting the ball through the hoop you have to be solid in your mechanics. Your guide hand needs to support, but not influence, the weight of the ball on your shooting hand. The ball should be positioned in your shooting hand in front of your head and not above it. When you release the ball you need to have a proper follow-through that directs and puts the proper amount of spin on it. The amount of weight you put into your shot is also influenced by the usage of your legs and the proportion of force you exert with your arms. When you break it all down from a mechanics point of view there are lots of things going on in a shot. Add in other variables like juking defenders, shooting from the triple-threat position, jump-shots and you can see how the number of points of failure in the mechanics of a shot can grow exponentially. In order to combine all the elements of a successful shot you require an understanding of all these mechanics; more importantly you need to have focus.

Focus is like the glue that holds all the pieces together. When I was learning to shoot in high school we would do many drills that broke down each of the components of a shot into the basic parts. It's necessary to break things down when you are working with complex processes because people, by nature, develop bad habits. I haven't played ball competitively since the end of grade 12 and it was surprising to me how bad my shot had become when I first picked it up again almost 6 weeks ago. Luckily I had a solid foundation of skills and the knowledge of how to do "corrective surgery" on my shot techniques that I was able to improve significantly and bring my shooting percentage up. (It remains to be seen if I can still perform under the pressures of defense and actually shoot well when playing against other players). However, even if I was perfect in all of the mechanics I would fail to make my shots count if I didn't have a focus on what I was doing. It's hard to describe it accurately so I'll attempt to convey a brain dump in words of what goes on inside my head during a shot when I'm attempting to focus.

"Ok, setting up for a shot, feet are planted, I know what I'm going to do."

"The ball is going to go in the hoop, I'm aiming for the back of the rim because historically that's where I hit a higher percentage of my shots"

"Good leg extension, I need to followthrough with my hand and point to the rim. Don't forget to reach for the cookies".

"The ball is going to go in, I aimed for the back of the rim."

"Release felt good, that shot is going in."

I don't know if that accurately conveys what happens in nearly a microsecond, but it's roughly what goes on in my head during a successful shot. The things I've bolded are what I believe to be the most important parts of making that shot. Here's the breakdown as I can categorize it:

1. Have a plan.
2. Reiterate the plan.
3. Reinforce good habits I know.
4. Express confidence in the plan. Reiterate again.
5. Celebrate victory upon execution.

"Swish. The ball went into the net. I knew it would. That was a great shot!"

Once execution is complete and I can see the results of all my hard work I find it helps to reflect on what went well and give myself a pat on the back. Positive reinforcement of this kind works much better than beating myself up over the few mistakes I may have made in the process of taking the shot.

I'm sure there are many parallels that can be drawn between what I've talked about here and other facets of life, but I'll leave that up to you the reader to do. 

All I know is that it feels good to play ball again. It feels good to focus :)

When I was in elementary school there was a certain hierarchy in place: the bullies intimidated the people who were weaker minded or easily influenced into supporting them in their cause. They would surround themselves with these people, the "yes men", and form what appeared to be an invincible force of fear and intimidation. Bullies do this for many reasons but the most fundamental is that they want to get their way. I was involved with many altercations with the bullies because I refused to align myself with what they wanted. I chose to stand up for what I believed in and didn't feel like having someone else dictate how I could or couldn't act. I'll be honest, standing up for what I believed in caused me a lot of pain and grief. I got into fights, was picked on and made fun of, and generally seen as one of the unpopular kids as a result. But I didn't compromise what I believed in; I didn't stand for someone influencing what I believed or what I could do. I wasn't a yes man then.

During the transition period between elementary and high school (grade 8 - grade 9) I noticed some interesting things about the relationship between the bullies and the yes men; they broke down. Part of it may be because of the size difference in our elementary schools (a few hundred) and the high school (almost 2000) but I think it was also due to the summer when most kids are on vacation or go out of town. The bullies didn't have their yes men around to back them, nor did they have a steady stream of kids to pick on so I think they had to find other things to do to scratch the "bully" itch, whatever that is. High school was also a change for me, it afforded me the opportunity to not be on the bottom of the pecking order, so to speak. The bullies weren't in my classes and the circle of yes men they had built up in elementary was disbursed throughout various course selections, timetables and schedules. Without the bullies and their yes men around I developed self confidence, I wasn't afraid to voice opinions in class and contribute to the discussion around me. I developed my own sense of direction in life, the things I felt were important, what I valued and what I wanted to do with my future. I wasn't a yes man then either.

Fast forward 20 years or so later and I've got a house, a beautiful wife, two amazing children, a dog who wears a tie ( ask me later :), a job and responsibilities. Those all sound like pretty great things; you might even say after reading this far that the relative level of success I've achieved has been because I wasn't a yes man. The thing is, I've been a part time yes man for a while. Sometimes I stand up for what I think is right and sometimes I just keep my mouth shut. The bullies aren't around anymore like they were in school, they don't beat me up or call me names or get their friends to throw rocks at me, however there are new bullies and they aren't always people. Ideas can be bullies, things you read on the internet, things you listen to on the radio, books you read... they all call you to make some sort of choice when they engage you. Money can be a bully, we always want more of it yet often getting more truly never satisfies us; being a yes man to the money bully ends up in nothing but grouchiness in my experience. We can also be bullies. We try and surround ourselves with yes men who will make us feel validated about our decisions and justify the things we do. 

The thing I've realized is that whether you're the bully or the yes man either way it sucks. The people in life who are the most successful are those who don't compromise what they believe to conform to a certain standard. They stand up for what's true and good and noble and what drives them to be the kind of people they are. They stay true to their convictions.

I'm done being a yes man.