Basketball Players: This Is the One Shift That Changed Everything For Me

If you're a player and you feel like you are working really hard and you're spending a ton of time trying to get better and you're putting in all this work, but you're not seeing results or you're not seeing the amount of results that you should, the progress that you're making is really slow. This video is for you and it probably is going to be one of the most important videos that you ever watch. If you don't know who I am. My name is Ethan Koza and I help basketball players go from struggling to score to confident, high IQ playmakers. And, and I've talked about this a couple times on this channel, but if you've been following me for a while that you've noticed a shift in my content, and if you're new, I'll kind of explain this so that you understand where I'm coming from and why this video, this topic is so important. I started off this channel back in 2019, and back then I was 19 years old and I talked about what I knew, what I learned, and I talked about a lot of stuff that is typical when it comes to basketball training. So workouts, how to become a better shooter, ball handler, film breakdowns, everything that you could think of when it came to improving at basketball, I talked about and I had a training program, the Perimeter Score System, which helped players develop scoring ability. And then I have a couple other programs as well that were all focused on those, those skills and developing those abilities. And that is kind of been my focus up until about six or eight months ago. And I recognize that there was, was a big disconnect because there was stuff that I was talking about, but it felt like there was a disconnect when it came to players actually applying that stuff and then seeing consistent, long lasting results with it. And it wasn't just the stuff that I was talking about in my videos, it was players that I was around because I also do this in person. I'm a trainer for players at all different levels. I'm a varsity coach, I coach aau. So I'm around a bunch of different players and I start to, I started to recognize that there was a lot more than meets the eye when it comes to developing and becoming the player that players claim to want to be. And despite how much more popular online basketball training and the amount of channels that there are out there now talking about developing skills and the players who are, who want that, who are consuming it every single day, I decided that I wanted to shift away from talking about that. Because I recognize that there is an even more important aspect of all of this that nobody talks about. And to me, it became much more aligned with. What I wanted to accomplish was I started this channel because I wanted to help basketball players who were like me, who love the game of basketball. Spent all my time thinking about how I could get better at it. I spent all this time researching it and I, you know, had all these different programs when I was a player. And I was obsessed with it. And I wanted to become that person that that player could look to and say, okay, that person could guide me to where I want to get to. And I realized that the way that I was going about it and the way that most people go about it isn't enough. And it's not really tackling the root cause of what's holding you back from being the player that you want to be. And that's what I want to talk about in this video. So like I mentioned about six or eight months ago, I completely shifted my channel focus to where I don't really talk about the physical surface level skills like shooting and ball handling and finishing and stuff like that. Now I'm really just talking about the, the layer beneath that, the foundation that players are actually building on. Because if you don't build on a solid foundation, you can spend all the time world on those physical skills and it's not going to translate to success. And if it does, it's not going to trans. It's not going to translate to consistent, long lasting success, which is ultimately what you should want. So if you're struggling to see results, you're putting in all this work, you're doing all the things that people tell you to do in order to make progress, but you're not seeing it. And I want to help you make a mindset shift that I think is going to transform the way that you train, the way that you approach your development so that hopefully your results match that. Sometimes we get so focused on doing, and I say we because even though I'm not a player anymore, obviously I make content for basketball players. But this applies to everything, like I have to tell myself is every single day as well. Because no matter what you're doing, this principle, this concept is it should drive everything that you do. This is the idea that sometimes we get so focused on doing, we want to do more workouts, we want to do more drills, we want to do the things that everybody tells us we should be doing. And if we do those things, we're going to succeed. And if we don't do them, then we won't. And that is the mindset that most players have. And this isn't a bad mindset to have, right? I was like that. That was how I was. All I wanted to do as a player was become great, was become the best. Was become the best player in my, in my city, the best player in my high school. I wanted to go play college basketball and play professional basketball, and I wanted to be great. And so what I equated that with was if I want to be that, then I have to do more. I got to do more drills, do more work. I got to find the perfect drill, a perfect workout. And if I find that and I stick with it, then eventually I'll be that. But what I've realized, and part of the reason I made the shift in my channel, is that that's actually the wrong way to look at it. If it was as simple as just doing the right drills and the right workouts, then everybody would be great at basketball, right? Nobody would be bad because you could just pick the three best drills or the three best workouts and just do that and everybody would be great. But we know that that's not the case. Sometimes the more that you do, the harder that you try, the less progress it seems like you're making. It feels like you're doing everything right, but yet there's no progress to show for it. And I think it's because you have to make a shift from doing to being. So instead of asking yourself, what do I need to do to become the player that I want to be? You have to flip that. You say, who do I need to become in order to see the results that I want? We got to stop thinking about the doing. We got to think about who do I want to be. So what are the qualities that the best players that you know have or the players that you look up to? What are the qualities that they have? Maybe it's confidence, maybe it's leadership, maybe it's an unwavering level of self belief. Maybe it's basketball iq, maybe it's consistency, maybe it's fearlessness. Who are they and what about them? Allows them to see the success and the results that they, that they've seen. So you want to think about that and pick like three or four qualities that stand out for you. Like if you could develop those three or four qualities, if you could be a person that has those three or four things that you know that you would be successful. So for example, we take that quality of fearlessness how do we develop that? We can work backwards. I want that quality. I want to be that person. I want to be fearless. And I know if I have that, it's going to translate to me being a better basketball player and seeing better results. So how do I develop fearlessness? Well, chances are the player who has that has probably put themselves in a lot of positions where it was an uphill battle. Maybe they're playing as better players, maybe they're playing. It's older players. A situation where if you're new to it, it's probably going to be a little bit scary, it's probably going to make you a little bit afraid or nervous or anxious. And they subjected themselves to being in that environment as much as possible until that fear went away and they figured out how to succeed despite it. So now when they see those situations that most players feel that fear in or fear anxious in that player, it doesn't faze them at all. But that's how they developed it. So if we can identify the quality, we can ask, okay, what did they do to develop that quality? How can I develop that quality? Become that person, and then you gain all the benefits of being a player who has that. I use this example of LaMelo Ball with my younger brother the other week because we. We were in a workout and he's the youngest in the group. And so, you know, he was struggling. And I mentioned to him, like, LaMelo Ball has two older brothers who both were great basketball players. Obviously Lonzo is, you know, a top three pick and, you know, LiAngelo, division one player, professional player. And, you know, Lamelo was the youngest of the three. So he grew up just getting beat on by his younger brothers as a little kid. Like that was how he grew up. So what did that turn him into? Turn him into somebody who has an unbelievable level of confidence and self belief, an unbelievable level of fearlessness because there's never been a challenge that he's faced that he couldn't find a way through, that he couldn't find a way to succeed because of. And those things developed him into the person that he is now that is deserving of the success that he has. It isn't a specific drill he did, it's not a specific workout that he did. It's because he developed a quality that leads to being successful. Now, for any of those qualities that you can think of, that's kind of the process you have to follow. You have to ask yourself, all right, I want to become the person who has this. What do I need to do? To develop that. And that's going to tell you what you should be doing. So instead of thinking to ourselves, all right, what should I do? What drill should I do to become a player who's good at that? Ask yourself, what, who do I want to be? And then what do I need to do to become that? And that's going to tell you, all right, I need to be doing this, I need to be playing here. I need to be doing these sorts of workouts, these sorts of drills. I got to be focusing on that. That's how you actually put in work that you'll see results from that'll push you closer to your goal of becoming the player that you want to be. Everything in the game is driven by who you are and not what you do, because everybody in the world can do the same drill, same workout. Some players are going to see great results because of it, and some will see none at all. And all of that has to do with the type of person that you are. Because basketball is a game, and in that game, it exposes who you are. You get exposed very quickly if you can't handle adversity. You, if you crumble when it's a tense or anxious situation. So focus on developing those qualities, and that's going to help you become the player that you want to be. This entire mindset shift, like I mentioned, is why I shifted the entire goal of my channel. Because without this stuff, without understanding this, all of the surface level drills and workouts are essentially meaningless. And you might get better because of it, and you might not. It might translate to game results, it might not. We want to ensure that all that stuff works in your favor, that you do see results, that your work does translate, that you do achieve the goals that you set for yourself. And that all starts with asking yourself, who do I want to become? And then working backwards to determine how you can become that player. That is the way to achieve success as a player. And like I mentioned, I tell myself this every single day because it applies to every, every area of life. This mindset shift can be career changing for you as a player and life changing for you overall if you adopt it. If basketball IQ is one of those things that you want to develop. I have a free masterclass that's linked down below. It's over an hour long. It's going to help you to become the person who is deserving of success in the basketball court. Highly recommend that you check that out. Drop a comment to let me know what you're thinking. You got any value from this if any of these qualities jumped out to you. Maybe there are certain qualities that I didn't mention that that popped into your mind. Let me know down in the comments. I appreciate you for watching. Talk soon. Peace.