Game Confidence

[a.j.ing]

hey, after losing a final yesterday i was thinking, i keep getting put in a shit grade, im always the best and im learning nothing. i know i have enough skill to play higher, but i dont ever have the confidence to play against all the guys who are state level and stuff. like at school when they can see. i play with them but i never try real hard or do any of my moves n stuff, or play D properly. i was thinking i wont improve unless ill be playing my best against the best.
so i need to improve my confidence. what do u guys do for confidence on the court? how do you improve it? what can i do? any help would be much appreciated

[Hater Aid]

When it comes to playing with confidence and not being afraid to play to hard in fear of looking stupid, Cockyness is next to godliness in my opinon.

[migie08]

I experienced that when I was 11-13 yrs old. I was the quickest and fastest player in the court when playing with my same age or few yrs older. But when I play with older players I learned that I have to train more. Do mental training or imagery, train your body, trust yourself and God an he will help you, do not be afraid to lose cause it is the factor that'll make you better. Play with your best mate!!!!!

[benjaminlibl]

I know it sounds stupid. But if you wanna have confidence, play against people that suck. For a short time only of course.

Then go play against people who are better. If that doesn't work, just play with them without confidence. That's the only way. You have to constantly play against people better than you.

[bb4II3r]

You have heard this in Better Basketball: Repetitions.
You got to practice, practice hard, learn more things, and not be afraid to lose. I think this is what differentiates Michael Jordan from the rest of us. He is never afraid to lose.

[Phantom-lancer]

i have the same problem althought i'm from the tallest players in the court i afraid to get blocked its my problem but i'm trying now for solve it just believe in urself and know u r the best don't get afraid of being blocked or missed every layer must get screwed to be better and better u won't learn without this

[Sari]

jus practice....the more u practice the more cinfidence u got....

[THE X-FACTOR 1]

It's kind of the same way with me if I don't shoot my team will lose but the way to overcome that is just bring it and focus on every play every move just focus. and do what Sari said practice put yourself in a game situation.

[A_Munk3y]

the question is, are you able to play with them?!

what i mean is this... when i was younger, i used to be the same.
i was in 14 in 9th grade, i used to play with people my age, and class, and i was easily the best. I always played my best, and did real good. but at the same time i had taken basketball class, and all the people on the varsity bball team were in that class too. They were all seniors and juniors. now granted they weren't "state" level, but its basically the same situation.
i used to think i had enough skill to play with, and when i actually played with them, i never tried, or played real D, or made my own plays and shit. because i was uncofident about doing soemthing bcause i thought i would fuck it up.
but i always thought, ok im definitely good enough to play with them tho.
truth was, i really wasnt. on ocassions when i did try to do something, i realized that i really couldnt do it against these much bigger, and better people. because compared to the people i was playing with in my own grade, these guys were much better. now the thing is, back then i was around 5'1, and they were all like 6'0 or over.

so maybe its a different situation for you.
but even if you don't really try, and you can really play with them, then there shouldn't be any reason to be un-confident.
because if you really believe that you are at their level, then you wouldn't feel unconfident about it because people really only feel unconfident when they really believe that they cant do something or that they aren't good enough.


so basically if your unconfident about playing at the higher level, you should really think about it, can you really play with them or you just think you can?!
up to you to decide

good luck bro

[rickjamesbetch]

what I try to do is visualize the game in my head before I play.

this is really important for big games. you want to close your eyes and concentrate really hard on exactly what your opponents will do and what you will do in response.

The more detail you can visualize, the better. You want to concentrate so hard that when you actually play, its like your second game of the day. I always play better and more calm when I do it.