Later tonight I will take the next step in my preparation to face Michael Jordan by attending my first training session with Kevin Sutton!! Due to the group of players participating in this session (I’ll be the only 33 year old), I’ll be giving it my all.
Will everyone else?
Truthfully, will the college guy give everything he’s got against me or just enough to attempt to accomplish his goal of winning?
Do I decide that or does he?
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I’ve been at the gym a lot lately working on my game, but since my injury I haven’t really played a lot of hoops besides my 1-on-1 match-ups with Robert Brown and Garfield Blair, a couple of times with a buddy of mine and then this past Sunday with my brother.
My brother actually came up to the gym to workout, but the weight room and cardio room were both closed so he came to the court and told me that I have to be his cardio today.
I asked him if he wanted to shoot or play, knowing that I could help him get a good workout either way. He said play, to which I confidently told him that he’s not ready for me. My brother has played hoops just twice in the last four months. He’s not in basketball shape.
I went into the game with the mindset that I’d give just enough effort to win.
Bad move on my part. I lost.
I regrouped and won the next two, but I should have won every game.
Not to take anything away from him, because he’s amazing on the court, but my focus and effort decided the outcome of those games…the wins and the loss.
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Who dictates the effort that you give? Is it you or your competition?
If you go back to how I began this post, I have a tendency of letting my competition dictate my level of effort.
That is a titanic mistake just waiting to sink my dreams.
I can no longer allow that. I Must Always Give My All!
Reminder: Be sure to check back Thursday for a recap of my first training session with Coach Kevin Sutton!
Good stuff dude!!! I kinda feel like that was the mentality the Magic had all season… just be good enough.
Colossians 3:23 whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord.
So true!!!! Very excited to read Thursdays post 😀
Thanks Dani! :-). It’s something I really need to work on and stay on top of for sure.
Yeah I’m excited about tonight! Can’t wait to report back! 🙂
Hey Kenny,
Great post. I need to remind myself of this often. Who determines the amount of effort you put in? I need to remember that I am 100% responsible for my success.
You can do this. I KNOW you will.
Rasheed! Thank you very much! I’ve come to find it’s something I struggle with and perhaps a lot of people do. I just keep trying to remind myself to compete against ME.
Thank you for the support! Really Appreciate it!
Great post and so true. I’ve done this before in my tennis playing days!!
I think a lot of people do it, but i would bet the GREAT ONES never do. Interesting for sure.
Great post Kenny. Coaches are always faced with overcoming this issue. In my coaching days, the most difficult practices for me as a coach, were the practices that took place before an opponent that was not as good as us on paper. It was a challenge to keep the players motivated. I needed to create other goals for the players to shoot for other than just winning the game. I discovered that if I did not put in the extra motivational effort as a coach, that it was too easy to play down to the level of the opponent. As a result of some seasons where we did play down to the level of the opponent, we developed the slogan – “All Out, All Game, All of the Time”.
Wow, what great insight Jim! Thanks for sharing that. I love your slogan, “All Out, All Game, All of the Time”!!! I really need to adopt that. My goal is SO LARGE, that I MUST go “All Out, All Game, All of the Time!” and yet I still struggle with it at times. Wow, thanks!