Ballers – What Can We Learn From Other Sports?

Football
There is an inherent toughness build into this sport. You can’t be effective playing this sport if you do not like contact. Although there is not near the same amount of contact in basketball, ask anyone that has played in the post or driven to the hoop, there is plenty of contact to be dealt with. The physical toughness of football translates into a mental toughness that is required to play both sports. Football players have long trained for speed, strength, agility and quickness. In the game of basketball you are falling behind these days if you are not following suite and working on your body. Not only will it make you a more explosive athlete, but it will help ward off injuries.
Golf
Is there a sport that requires more concentration? Not only is there a huge mental factor to the game of sports, but a golf swing and the technique required to perform properly certainly rivals the technique required to shoot a basketball effectively. Golfers are looking to improve by honing their golf swing, looking to perfect it. Basketball players should be looking for those types of nuances in their shooting mechanics. Basketball players should also actively work on their mental game, to become more focused and more confident.
Volleyball
The two biggest parts of volleyball that I have observed: 1) teammates really rely on each other to get the job done. Each player’s roles can be specific but there are certain skills that all must be able to do. If you can’t receive a serve, you will be centered out and it will have a bad outcome for your team. Good teams are skilled and trust each other, and they spend considerable time in their rituals between points cementing that culture. 2) Volleyball player’s ability to shuttle their focus between plays. Point ends, they group together, cheer or encourage, then right back to being focused on the next point. Basketball players could do well to learn to trust each other as teammates and to shuttle their focus. Clear their head on bad plays and get focused on the next task. We have all seen players celebrating too much on a good offensive play only to get burned at the other end, because their minds were not focused on the next task of getting a stop.
Body Building
Introspective, self-assessing and self motivated. You have to possess these qualities to be successful in this sport. Basketball players need to take stalk of where they are, where they want to go, and how to get there. Moreover they need to have the self motivation to do it on their own. Basketball players are built in the off-season. Teams are built during the season. It’s not uncommon depending on how your practices are run, to actually become less skilled during the season. If your team does not shoot much in practices or run ball-handling drills, then you can see those skills can diminish over the course of a season. Can you be honest with yourself, take a hard look at where you are, and be motivated to work constructively on getting better? That’s what body builders are constantly doing. Looking at their symmetry, their size and making a plan to change what needs to be changed.
Rowing
Communication is essential in rowing. So much so, that the sport has gone high tech with microphones and speakers built right into the cox box. The cox box gives specifics for stroke rate, stroke count and time. It is the responsibility of the coxswain to guide the crew in the perfect execution of a race plan. In basketball the single most effective thing you can teach your players how to execute team defensive principles is to get them to talk on defense. Communication between the 5 players on the floor can elevate the teams effectiveness.