When I walk down the street, people will say “There goes Roy Hobbs….the best there ever was.”
Robert Redford playing Roy Hobbs in the movie The Natural
When I was thirteen years old, my mother took me to a movie called The Natural starring Robert Redford. In that movie, Redford plays Roy Hobbs who wanted to become the greatest baseball player of all time. This stuck with me. At that time, my brother was a star basketball player on his high school team. I can remember lying in bed at night and visualizing myself becoming better than my brother. I began dreaming of becoming the greatest basketball player in East Troy history. I could see myself making baskets, getting rebounds, and playing great defense. I could almost hear the crowd cheering. It was a powerful feeling. I was at the beginning of building a passionate love affair with basketball. What I did not know was how to establish a framework for making the goals to make that dream a reality.
Dream Big
Allow your kids to dream. Allow them to dream big. A child is en-capsuled in their little world. As they grow up, it is clear that, for better or worse, their view of the world and the opportunities in the world are shaped by their parents. They are one big sponge. You have the power to provide them with limitless hope or a cynical view of the world. Fill them with hope. Let them dream the biggest dream that they can.
When my youngest daughter was in 2nd grade, she had the opportunity to play in her first game with referees. I was so excited that I thought my head was going to explode. Her team ended up winning 26 to 2. She finished with 24 points. I thought to myself that I had something special. I began filling her head with huge ideas. I told her that she is going to become the greatest basketball player in the history of her high school ((I told her that she is going to be on reddit. : aww. https://www.reddit.com/r/aww/comments/gvek54/i_told_her_that_she_is_going_to_be_on_reddit/)). I told her that she would end up playing for Connecticut. I told her that the WNBA was in her future. We would shoot as the sun was going down, talking, and dreaming about the future. These nights were some of my favorite times with my daughter.
As she dreamt about the future, I would always add one big thing at the end. I would always tell her that there is a price to be paid for greatness, and that price is hard work and dedication. Nothing good in life comes for free. I told her that she was going to have to miss parties and sleepovers. I told her that she would need to miss some Brewer games or trips to the zoo. I let her know that she will need to do this for many years, but I told her that payoff for this work would be bigger than anything she could imagine. That payoff, however, comes a long way down the road. Once you build your child’s dream to the point that he or she can feel it, breathe it, and nearly taste it, you will need to create the goals that will carry them to their dream.
Goals: The Pathway to Success
Your child may want to set a dream to be the greatest of all time, or it may be to make the high school varsity squad by the time that they are a sophomore. Whatever the dream, when your child commits, this is the time to set the goals to achieve it. The thing that I love about basketball practice is that it easy to do by yourself, and the skills and drills are tailor-made for goal setting. I like to break the goal-setting into three separate categories: Shooting, Ballhandling, and Physical.
Shooting goals are great. A couple of years ago, my daughter’s school team had a 10,000 shot contest over the summer ((A Short Christmas Play for Junior School Children …. https://alexgonzalez1.blogspot.com/2011/12/short-christmas-play-for-junior-school.html)). I prefer to think in a different frame of mind. I believe that, instead of counting shots taken, the goal should be how many shots made. Here is an example of a shooting workout that I have used with my daughter.
- 35 Catch and Shoot 3 Pointers
- 35 Dribble Step Back 3 Pointers
- 35 Pump Fake to Mid-Range
- 10 Wing to Elbow Mid-Range Right Side
- 10 Elbow to Elbow Mid-Range
- 10 Elbow to Wing Mid-Range Left Side
- 20 Dribble Drive 6 to 8 Foot Pull-Ups
- 10 Post Move Drop Steps Right and Left Side
- 10 Post Move Turnaround Right and Left Side
- 10 Post Move Hook Shots Middle Right and Left Side
- 10 Post Move Hook Shots Baseline Right and Left Side
- 10 Post Move Up and Under Right and Left Side
- 100 Free Throws
This workout represents 395 makes. You would need to do this workout 26 times over the summer to achieve 10,000 makes.
From a ball-handling perspective, I have found and created three workouts that I consistently use with my daughter. As with shooting, the key is to do the drills consistently. While we may not have time to do all the ball-handling drills every day, we usually can find 15 minutes to get one in. I like to combine stationary drills with drills where she is on the move.
- Stationary Ball Handling Drills (See my article on the Top 21 Stationary Ball Handling Drills)
- Six Cone Drills
- Full Court Dribbling Drill
I will work on getting the Six Cone Drills and Full Court Drills up on my blog shortly. We try to do some type of ball handling daily.
The last area is physical conditioning. In this area, we set goals for aerobic conditioning, strength training, and a substantial amount of abdominal core work. While I am not going to share a specific routine, the importance of physical conditioning cannot be overstated.
Conclusion
The central theme is to build a dream with no limits with your child, but then hold them accountable through yearly, monthly, and daily goals designed to achieve it. If you step back and think of the big picture, this is a lesson that will serve your child for the rest of their life ((Recreational Programs | Orlando City Youth Soccer. http://www.ocyouthsoccer.com/recreation/)). The idea of building a dream and breaking out into goals is easily transferrable to your son or daughter’s future career or family goals. This is a life lesson that is perfect to be taught through athletics.
Thank you again for your patronage of my blog. I hope the article was helpful. Please subscribe below for updates on upcoming blogs and special events.