VISUALIZATION ON THE COURT

Visualization - This is a term and method used by many athletes when working a new skill or particular move in their sport.  Visualization, which comes by observing an advanced athlete perform on the field or the court, can really aid you in perfecting a new skill.  For example, while trying to improve my basketball skills in high school, college and even the pro's overseas, I would watch a great deal of NBA pro players that were highly skilled in their abilities -- moves, dribbling, shooting and even their movements without the ball.  I would then practice those things for hours on the court by myself and then try to do it in a game when you can't predict what the defense is going to do against you.  Sometimes it took a great deal of practice to perfect a new skill and wouldn't work that well the first few times I tried it.  But with practice and visualization of a player who already perfected that skill, you can run that video in your mind and start doing it yourself.  Visualization helped me a great deal as a player because if I put in the time to practice that skill, when it came time for execution of that move, it came naturally. Then that new skill being a part of me in the flow of a game at full speed brought pure satisfaction as I blew past the defense to score.