A Little Big Thing

This “Tip of the Week” is a bit overdue, but as you can tell from my last few updates, I have been a bit busy. I just wanted to offer the first of two thoughts in response to the National Championship Game played last Monday night.

As most of you will recall (b/c anyone reading this was probably watching the game), Memphis was more or less in control of the game throughout the contest. I watched the last 10 minutes of the game live (from Turkey) and definitely felt that Memphis looked like the better team that day. They were more confident, more decisive, more aggressive. At least that last part of the game, they were more dominant.

However, they lost. And a big reason for that loss was the inability to finish the game with free throws.

Now, as one who plays this game for a living, I can relate to those young men on the free throw line. Though I have not shot free throws with a National Championship on the line, I have shot them with my childhood dream of a State Championship on the line. And in countless other situations throughout the globe (some of which I may have felt threatened for my life if I missed!). So I can understand. There was a great deal of pressure on these young guys.

And you have to realize that unlike a fast break situation, two shots at the free throw line give you plenty of time to think. Then factor in the 3-minute time outs that CBS has during the NCAA Tournament (and they are ridiculous….I mean, you honestly could probably get away with playing 5 guys during these games without having to give them a rest. But I’ll save all that for another post.) Anyhow, factor those timeouts in there and your mind is racing. And you know their minds were racing. You could see it in their eyes. They knew what was on the line during those moments. And they feared that they might miss.

So with all that being said, I offer one thing that those young men could have done to make those free throws. Sure, I could add other things, but this is one simple thing that they could easily have done to finish that game off and go home the champions. Simply put: practice.

Now, I have no doubt that they have practiced thousands of free throws throughout their lifetime. But I do doubt that they practiced them with the diligence required to make them at the end of the game. I say this not because practice always translates into made free throws under pressure. That isn’t true. I have missed a few in my day during those tense situations (and actually missed one the other day). But more times than not, I made those free throws. And one of the primary reasons why was not mental toughness or because I didn’t feel the pressure. No way. Though I often put on a pretty good act, I struggled with confidence and I certainly felt the pressure.

No. The reason why I made those pressure free throws more times than not is because I practiced my free throws so much that I had trained my mind and body to know nothing but success. I had gone through my routine hundreds of thousands of times…maybe millions, so my body knew how to respond. It had been trained well. And my mind, in turn, knew that. It had something to fall back on when the pressure started coming in. Did I fear missing the free throw? Many times, yes. Sometimes I still do. But then I tell myself, “You have done this millions of times. What’s one more?” And oftentimes, that makes all the difference.

John Wooden once said, “Little things make big things happen.” Free throws are one of those little things. And as the National Championship game showed, they can make championships happen. Or not happen. Depending upon how much you are willing to invest into those little things.

So what are your little things? Ask yourself that question. Then draw up a plan to make big things happen. Be diligent to control what you can control. Train your mind and body to know nothing but success. Will you still fail? Yes. Of course. But you won’t fail nearly as much as if you didn’t put in the work.

Embrace the little big things of basketball…like free throws. And put in the work to become an expert, so that when those pressures moments come, you might perform your best.