Who Are YOU Competing With?

Kenny Eller — Thu, 13 Oct 2011 11:23:08 +0000

Most of the time, it's just me against me

A week ago, as part of my basketball workout, I set out to make 100 NBA three pointers while logging my shooting percentage, Dave Hopla style.

Shooting NBA range threes isn’t something I typically work on in my normal shooting workouts, as I have always felt until every other shot is as money as a lay-up, why move further out. Makes sense right!?!

Then I challenged former NBA sharpshooter Damon Jones and my rationale changed.

I knew if Damon had actually shown up that our shooting contest would have been from his comfort zone, the NBA three point line, not the high school line for which I usually practice.

Knowing I wasn’t truly prepared for such a challenge, I got back to Florida (see recent trip), received my NBA ball (more on this in another post) and headed to the gym to see where I currently stood from 23’9”, pro basketball land.

That day I made 100 of 164 (61%) from NBA range. My best rack was 10 of 13 and my worst happened twice, a dismal 10 of 20.

I left the court knowing that I had plenty of work to do, having seen a tweet from D. Jones earlier saying that he had shot 83% from the same distance during his workout.

Compliments and Surprise

Over the days that followed I mentioned to some coworkers, when asked if I had played any basketball over the weekend, that I had worked on shooting more than playing and shared my shooting percentage, which I wasn’t all that pleased with.

On each occasion before I could further explain, I heard, “Wow, that’s amazing!” and “That’s crazy good!”

I don’t know why, but their responses really surprised me.

Maybe the surprise has to do with the fact that I really wasn’t fishing for compliments or all that pleased with my performance. I suppose it also has to do with my scope, of late. During this journey that is mevsMJ.com, I have definitely lifted my level of expectations for myself by immersing myself amongst the pros.

Because of that, my evaluation of my performance was far below theirs.

Competing With Myself

Fairly or unfairly, I now compare my performance with pro athletes when it comes to basketball.

I must.

Being a better shooter or player than the average person will do absolutely nothing for me on this journey.

This is about being the best that I can be! Why can’t I shoot like an NBA guy or even better?

At this point, for me, it is about competing with myself!