The Mental Game

I was at an overnight basketball tounament in calgary on Fri.-Sat. It was a really fun and successful weekend. We won our first game Friday night as well as our second saturday morning. We found ourselves playing in the finals for gold. We were confident going into the game with two gold medals in other tournaments and a 16-1 record on the season, however after the first two quarters we found ourselves down by ten points. During the break at half our coach brought us out of the gym to talk to us in an attempt to get us back on track. He gave us a very motivational speech and of course helped us with some stategic plays. We proceeded into the gym for the third quarter with a completely new attitude. We ended up winning the game 50-26, only allowing the other team to score 4 points in the last two quarters. This made me think: nothing physical changed in any of us in those last two quarters-if anything we were more tired than in the first two. Non of us were any taller, or faster, or stronger than in the first half, but we still came out to play a way better game, just because of a simple mind change.

It truly amazes me how much your attitude and perspective have such a large impact on your life. What you think and say can have a huge impact on your physical self, just like it did in my basketball game. A simple two minute speech was enough to win us a gold medal. It makes me excited to imagine what my mind can do for me outside of basketball. What we can achieve by just adjusting our perspective for the more positive.

Chad Chessall