How To Develop REAL High Level Confidence As A Ball Handler

Welcome to the Vision Driven Basketball Training Podcast. I appreciate you guys who tuned in today. Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Pandora, Google Podcast, and of course, everybody who's watching right now on YouTube. Shout out to all of you guys who tuned in today. So I want to talk today about a topic that I probably get asked about more than anything else. That's just having confidence. I think confidence is such a big aspect of anything you do, but in basketball, confidence is. I wouldn't say it's the most important thing, but it's one of those things where if you don't have it, it can basically negate everything else you do have. Right? You could be a great ball handler, a great shooter, great at whatever, but if you aren't confident enough, especially in the face of things not going well, if you're not able to overcome that and keep that confidence, then you're always going to be limited and you're always going to play far below what your ceiling actually is, right? So you can see a lack of confidence absolutely derail players who otherwise have the ability to be successful, right? So when we talk about confidence, it's less about, you know, developing. This is going to take your actual ability to the next level, although it does in a way, but it's more so about getting rid of something that's going to hold you back and prevent you from actually being able to play at your best. So I think just by impacting your confidence, you can become a much better player, much more effective player. That's what we're going to get into today. Before we get into that, I want you to let you guys know that my ball handling program, elite ball handling 2.0, is out and it's on sale for the next, probably about a day from when you see this. And I've talked about a little bit in the last couple episodes, and if you follow me on Instagram or, you know, you get any emails, which actually we're going to talk about in a second, then you've. You've already known that this is out. But elite ball handling 2.0 is basically a lot of you guys who are around a couple of years ago probably know of, or maybe you are a part of Elite Ball Handling the original. And, you know, that was something that helped a lot of players get great results. And that was, that was really super early on into even me just doing what I do as a trainer and, and all that. And so that was over three years ago, at this point, almost three years ago, I should say. And in that span of time, you know, I've developed so much. I've worked with so many more players. I've been around a lot of really great trainers and just had a. Developed a whole new understanding of not just ball handling, but also the science behind how we learn, the science behind skill acquisition, motor learning. And really, when you have that, that understanding of, like, the science behind improvement and getting better and performing at a high level, it's a complete game changer. And I'm actually going to make a podcast on that in a second on why you're training needs to be based on science, needs to. It needs to have its basis in science and understanding the background behind it. Because if it's not, you're not going to get better or you're not going to see results that translate. A lot of times players get tricked into thinking that, oh, okay, if I'm shooting in a workout, let's say I start off and I shoot 50 shots from the top of the key. Maybe, you know, even if you're a bad shooter, like, your first few shots are going to be bad, but as you do it more, by the time you get to shot 20, you're going to be able to, you're gonna be better at it because you've had 20 straight shots. And you know, just as a human, that's how, that's how you are. You're learning, you're adapting to each shot. But if you don't understand how to actually see results in games, you're going to think that that is actually what matters, right? Me shooting the same shot 50 times in a row, and I see improvement, therefore I got better. Well, did you, in the context of a game? Because guess what? You're never going to stand still and shoot 50 shots in a row in a game. You're going to shoot a shot from the top of the key, and then next time down, you're going to go drive and get a layup next time. Now you're going to shoot from the corner. Then the next time, you know, you're going to shoot off the dribble from the other wing. So you have to be able to deal with all of that. And if you don't know how to attack it from that perspective, then you're always going to lack and struggle when it comes to seeing game results. Right? So understanding the science behind how do we actually get results that translate to the game is really, really important. And that's what elite ball handling 2.0 is predicated on. And I'm really, really excited about it. So it's it's, it's structured as an eight week ball handling program, but inside the program we talk about how to make, make it way more than that. Doesn't have to just be that. And this obviously targets a lot of the stuff that we've been talking about. So ball control, playing with pace, height change, speed change, all of that footwork. So controlling your starts, controlling your stops and, and all the stuff that goes into that and then creating rhythm, breaking rhythm, being an unpredictable player. And then overall your movement ability, your ability to be able to go where you want to go and then your ability to have the ball keep up with you as you do that so you have freedom of movement on the court and therefore it gives you way more options and makes you a much more difficult player to stop. And so we target that really heavily within those drills. We also have audio cue drills that give you a reactionary element and I think you guys are really going to enjoy that. And, and some of you guys who have been a part of my shooting program have experienced that a little bit. But it adds for another just reactionary element to what you're doing and it makes what you're doing translate that much better because in the game you're going to be reacting to things. So having that element inside of the program I think is really, really valuable and I think it's something that a lot of players are going to enjoy because it's just fun in general. And then on top of that we've got additional shooting drills that we add in. So it's not just ball handling, you're also getting work on your shooting and you know, being able to transfer what you're working on, handling the ball into actually being able to put the ball in the basket, which is the name of the game, right. That's why we play basketball. And so there's that involved as well. And then on top of that it's all this extra stuff. So we have videos on recovery, videos on building confidence, which again we'll talk about today. We have videos on, you know, where we take what we're actually training and we break down film showing hey, game examples of this skill. Right. Or you know, we're working on this, but how does it apply to what we're doing? So there's, there's film breakdowns on that and I think that's a really powerful thing as well. On top of that we also have the mental toughness mini course, sorry, mental training mini course where we work on your mental toughness and different techniques that you can use to turn your mind into a weapon for you. Kind of like with confidence, right? If you lack confidence, it can completely derail you as a basketball player. And if you lack the ability to use your mind in a productive way, it can completely derail you as a player as well. And I'm sure, you know players who are like that, who they just can't mentally handle themselves when things go wrong or when there's pressure, maybe you're like that. And so we have an entire mini course just built on that that comes with the program. And inside of that, we talk about different techniques that you can use to be able to turn your mind into a weapon that helps you to play better, as opposed to something that you have to constantly worry about derailing you. And I think that alone is going to not only increase the results you're going to get from the program, the drills and the workouts, but in anything that you do in life, it's going to make you better at it. So that I think is maybe the most valuable part of the program. And it's not even the drills and stuff. So that that comes with it as well. And there's even more. But if you guys check out the top link in the description of this podcast. So if you're on YouTube, it'll be there. If you're on Apple podcast, Spotify, just go to, go to the description, check the top link, and you can check out Eliteball in 2.0 and, and you guys go there on the page, it'll give you a discount code you can use to get it for 20% off. So go ahead and check that out. Obviously, it's only going to go on for about a day longer. So, you know, there's not a ton of time left with the discount code, but that'll be there for you guys. Check that out. And I want to talk today about confidence when it comes to having confidence with the ball in your hand. And I think the first thing it's important to understand is what is confidence? Confidence is a word that gets thrown around all the time. And a lot of players, I don't think truly understand what it means. And if you guys are, you guys get my emails, you guys are on my, one of my, one of my email subscribers. Then you, you probably saw the email sent out this week where I was talking about confidence and developing it, and I kind of wanted to dive deeper into it on the podcast. But the first thing is understanding what it actually is. And it's not just a buzzword. Right? A lot of players want to have confidence without understanding the process behind developing it at all. They just think that it's something you can just fake and have it right. And in a sense you can fake confidence if you're really skilled, if you have a lot of ability, you can fake it a little bit and probably see some results. The problem is at some point you're going to get exposed for that confidence being fake, right? So you can probably fake confidence for a day, for a week, for a month, but eventually it's going to crack and people are going to see through it and it's not going to be something that's going to hold up for you. So you, instead of trying to fake it and trying to tell yourself, oh, I'm confident, which is where a lot of players are, they just try and tell themselves it. Well, instead of that, which I'm also not saying that that's a bad thing. I'm not saying that, you know, speaking to yourself positively and having affirmations and being constructive with how you talk to yourself, I'm not saying it's a bad thing, you should do that. But. But also on top of that, what are the tangible things you can do to build true confidence? Right? First of all, what is it? Confidence is the understanding and the self belief that you can handle the situation that you're in. If I believe that I can deal with what I'm going through, I'm going to have confidence in myself. If I don't think that I can handle what I'm going through or the situation that I'm in, or whatever I'm facing, I'm not going to be confident. It's really as simple as that. So if confidence is that understanding that you have what it takes to be successful in your situation, what a lack of confidence is just you not having that, you not thinking you can be successful, why would that be? How do you actually have that confidence that you're going to be successful? The most simple way is that you've been there and you've done it before. If you've been, let's say, for example, let's say you're learning how to drive a car, right? The first time you drive a car, you might not have a ton of confidence. If someone were to say, hey, I need you to get on this busy four lane highway and drive for 30 miles, you might not feel very confident doing that. But if you've been driving for 20 years and you drive on that highway all the time, it's going to be really easy. You're going to have very comp. You're going to have a lot of confidence that you're going to be able to get from point A to point B. But if you've never done it before, you're probably not going to feel as confident in your ability to do that. Okay, how do we get from that point where you don't have that confidence to what you do? You just do it a lot. Right. So that's the first thing is we have to find ways to prove to yourself that you can be successful, that you have what it takes. Okay. So if there's a situation, you can take in your own mind what this might be. But let's say, for example, you aren't confident in your ability to handle the basketball. Right? You're not confident your ability to handle the ball against pressure. Well, why would that be? Well, well, it's probably because you've been in a situation before and you haven't been successful. Right. Or you haven't found success with any sort of consistency. And if that's the case, well, then that's probably going to be something that's going to hold you back from being able to, you know, play with that sort of confidence. So what do you do to change that? Well, you have to put yourself in that situation a lot and you have to figure out how to be successful with that. It's as simple as that sounds. So that might be as simple as, you know, just obviously playing more and dealing with pressure, getting a friend, getting a couple friends and just having, you know, just playing a small sided game where maybe you have to deal with someone reaching for the ball or someone pressuring you. Maybe you play a one on one full court where you're getting defensive pressure or you, you know, let's say you start under the basket and you have to go from the baseline to the free throw line. You got to stay within the lane lines while someone's pressuring you. Okay. Or maybe you have a certain area, maybe you have like we'll say the half court circle and you're just handling the ball in that area and someone's playing defense and they're trying to steal the ball from. You have to survive for 10 seconds or 15 seconds without losing the ball. Once you've done that a lot and you've proven to yourself that, hey, I can, I can handle pressure. Just because someone's trying to take the ball from me doesn't mean I'm going to lose it. Once you do that a lot and you have that confidence, that's going to translate to you feeling like you can be successful because you've proven to yourself that you can be. But if you never put yourself through that, you're never going to develop that, and the best you're going to be able to do is fake confidence. Okay? So if you wonder to yourself, hey, what is a situation that I'm not confident in on the court? And then you ask yourself, how often have I been successful in that consistently, the answer is probably not a lot or probably not enough. So you've got to find ways to do that more. Okay? And that's the first thing is we have to identify those situations that you don't feel confident in, and you've got to put yourself in those situations. And then once you do it, you'll start to feel confident as you are successful. Now, what that means you have to get over the fact that you're probably not going to be successful the first few times you try something. So let's go back to that handling pressure example. If you've been handling pressure, let's say you're working on that and you're trying to get better at it because you're not confident at all the first few times you do it, you're probably not going to be successful, right? But eventually you're going to figure it out, you're going to start to get better at it, you're going to adapt, you're going to improve, and. And then eventually you start to be successful. But you have to go through the beginning of that where it's not going to be good, it's not going to be fun, you're probably not going to enjoy it. But if you don't go through that, you're never going to get to the part where you are successful. It takes failing first before you get to the part where you're going to be successful consistently. And I mean consistently, because you might have some successes at first, but string together rep after rep after rep, where you do what you want to do, that's hard. And it takes a certain level of. Of mental toughness to be able to deal with the failure that's going to come with it, inevitably at first, as you're trying to get better at something. Okay? So that really is the first thing is just identify the situation where you lack confidence, put yourself in them more, and boom. That can be as simple too, as let's say you're not confident. We'll use that pressure example whenever you're playing. It's the offseason is June right now. Right. Right. About to be July. Whenever you're out playing pickup or you're playing two on two, three on three, you have to go in there with a purpose. Your purpose might be, hey, I'm going to use this to put myself in those situations I don't feel great in so that I can practice it. And again, that takes a little bit of mental toughness to be willing to look bad and fail because you understand, hey, this is for a greater purpose. Right now I might look bad right now, but if I. If I do this consistently in a month from now, I'm going to look a lot better. In six months from now, I'm going to look like a completely different person. Right. Can. Do you have the discipline to be able to do something like that? That's where confidence is going to come from. So think about that for yourself, and that's a great way that you can develop confidence. Now we talk about ball handling specifically. We talk about just an overview of it. And why would a player lack confidence? A lot of times when they do, it's because what they work on isn't what translates. It doesn't transfer to game success. So think about a traditional ball handling workout. You're probably doing a lot of stationary stuff. You're probably doing some stuff with some cones where you're dribbling around a cone, you're making a crossover at a cone, or you're doing this, doing that off Rip. There's two things that never happen in a game. You're. You're almost never gonna. Just dribble and pound the ball. Stationary. And you're almost never going to dribble up to a cone, make a move, dribble to another cone, make another move. How often is that happening? Right. Is there a stationary object that you're just dribbling around? Never. Never happens. Right. And I'm. I'm not against stationary dribbling completely, but I'm against it when it's the majority or a huge part of what you do, because I think that it. It doesn't transfer as well as stuff that's moving. Now. You can train certain qualities which we'll talk about through, through that. But at the end of the day, you've got to make sure that what you're working on is what actually is happening. Okay. So if you avoid training the things that are actually demanded of you in a game, if you're not training those, you're never going to have confidence handling the ball. So what does that look like? Okay, well, I have to be able to, in the context of a game, manipulate the ball and move it where I want to move it. I've got to be able to, you know, turn the ball with, with my dribble so that I can change direction or so that I can change my pace or so that I can get lateral with the ball. If I never train that, if I only train on pounding the basketball, then I'm not gonna be able to do that at a high level and I'm gonna lack a huge element of ball control. That's a game demand. And if you don't train it, you're not gonna be confident handling the ball right. If I want to be able to beat my defender, I've gotta be able to change my pace, I've gotta be able to change my height. I've got to be able to control the ball when I'm going fast. And if I don't train those things, then I'm not going to be confident when I'm required to do them. So what that's going to mean is two things. Either you're going to get to those situations and you're just, you're going to fail because you're going to try to do something that you never work on, or you're going to be in that situation, you're going to do nothing because, you know, like, I can't, I can't do that. Like, I'm not going to be able to do that thing. And that means you're either going to be someone who turns the ball over a lot or just doesn't make the right play very often, or you're going to be somebody who is irrelevant on the court because you, you can't do anything right if you don't train the right qualities right. And I've talked about the full podcast, the qualities you have to develop, and I've talked about that actually a lot. So make sure you guys go back, check out last couple podcasts. If you're on YouTube right now, go check out the last couple videos where I've really dove into those topics fully and, and into those qualities that you need to be training if you want to see game success. But it's all about making sure you work on what is required of you. And if you ignore that, you're going to lack confidence. I think that's a really important thing for players to understand. A great way you can see this is by watching the game. So watch a great football, handle the ball, watch Steph Curry dribble the basketball. Watch Kyrie Irving handle the Basketball, watch Damian Lillard and see the way these guys move, the way that they move the ball, like watch how the ball is in their hands and ask yourself, am I, am I training so that I'm prepared to do that same thing if I want to be successful in these similar situations? If not, you're going to lack that confidence for sure. And then the second thing is making sure that we work on those qualities in a way that is transferable as well. Okay, so what I mean by that is specifically the, the game is, and we break it down really, really simply, the game is played against defense. At the end of the day, the game that matters is five on five, right? There are five defenders on the floor. So anybody can look good in a workout that they're by themselves, anybody can. Not everybody does. And I tell players all the time, especially when, you know, I'm working like just a player out by themselves. And maybe they're already really good at something or maybe they're not. My goal is to make them look bad because that means that they're struggling. They're going to have to find a way to improve. And that's where growth happens. So it doesn't always, it's not always that you're going to look good when you're practicing by yourself, but it's a lot easier to when there's not somebody trying to stop you. Okay, so do you work on your ball handling against defense? If you only ever work on your ball handling by yourself, you're going to really struggle to make that translate to game success because you're not going to know how to do it. When you get to a game and someone's trying to take the ball from you, or they're forcing you left, they're forcing you right, they're being really physical with you or they have a lot of lengths they can get test a lot easier, whatever. Maybe they're stronger than you. Like you're not going to know how to deal with that if you've never put yourself in a position to have to face defense in games. So there's a couple ways to do this. Obviously there's my example of having, you know, working on somebody just pressuring you. And there's a way you can kind of work one on one with somebody and then just, hey, we can get better because there's a defender that I'm working against to work on handling pressure. Super simple. You can do the same thing in a two on two, three on three context. But like I said as well, that means that when you're playing, you're playing pickup, whatever. Be purposeful. Can I put myself in situations that I know I'm not comfortable in, that I know I'm not confident in, so that I have to try it, I have to work on it? And again, it's going to be difficult to do that. It absolutely will be. And it's going to be difficult for you to want to do that. But if you are disciplined enough to try it, you're going to get better at it. But you have to find ways to see defense. You have to do it. And again, that doesn't mean that you have to work out with somebody every single day. But when you're, when you go out and you play, are you, again, are you purposeful with what you're doing? Right? Are you, are you just going out and just playing? You have to have a purpose behind what you do if you want to see that success translate, right? And then when you combine the drills that you're doing, the qualities that you're training with your ball handling, and you combine that with also working on that against defense and, and playing against, even learning how to be successful with that, you are going to be able to develop that ability to a point where now you're confident doing it, right? So we talk about building really, really high level confidence. Really what it comes down to is first of all understanding what matters, okay? What qualities are important, training them effectively and making sure that that's what the focus is on, and then playing against defense and, and learning how to be able to do those things when there's a context of a defender that is trying to take the ball from you. So that is really where confidence comes from. And again, we don't want to just be okay with faking it. We want to build true confidence. So we have to put ourselves in these situations, prove to ourselves that we can be successful and that we have what it takes. And then once you see that consistently, you're going to have this, just this intrinsic confidence that no one can take from you because they can't take away your experiences. You've experienced what you have and you know what you're capable of doing. So if you want to build true confidence, this is the way to do it. And hopefully that speaks to you guys and, and you can take this and you can build confidence in whatever area that it is. If ball handling is specifically where you need to build confidence or where you need to get better, again, check out elite ball handling 2.0. We touch even more on this inside the program. And obviously the stuff that we work on is that those are the qualities that matter for ball handling. So if that's where you struggle is okay. Is my work. Is it. Is it effective? Is it something that I should be doing? Is it a good use of my time? Go check that out again. That top. The. That is the top link in my description below. And I'm really, really excited to see just the transformation players are going to make through this program. And it is one of the, one of the best things that I think I've ever put out. And I'm really, really excited again for you guys to be able to, to experience that and go through it and, and just to get to see what, what happens and just the huge confidence shifts that I think are going to happen through this program. So go ahead and check that out if that is interest, if that interests you at all. I appreciate you guys who are tuned in, obviously when listening right now, who's watching on YouTube. You guys are great. I appreciate you. I'll talk to you guys soon. Peace.