Rebuilding a Basketball Players Confidence with EFT

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In school sports athletes are sometimes put in positions which are new to them. They have been playing among peers for a long time, become comfortable, and then they move up to a new level of play. Some athletes love change and the challenges associated with it. Other athletes, however, have a comfort zone and would rather stay with something more familiar.

I’ve been working with a 14y/o basketball player, Jamie, on rebuilding her confidence. While at a small private middle school she was the star player. She knew she was better than her teammates. She gained a lot of confidence, leadership skills, and popularity among her friends.

Transitioning into high school, and freshman basketball, caught her off guard. Suddenly she wasn’t the star anymore. There were other players better than her. Young naturally talented athletes experience this phenomenon, losing confidence as they start competing against other talented athletes. The skill set for dealing with adversity hadn’t developed because it has always been relatively effortless up until now.

Jamie was unprepared for having to earn her spot on the junior varsity team.  Making the B team surprised her since she had always been a star player.  Her shaken confidence began to affect her game. Instead of shooting well, Jamie started to hesitate wondering whether she ought to take the shot. Her momentary doubt slowed her down contributing to missed opportunities. Basketball stopped being fun.  

Jamie was motivated to regain her confidence, get her head back in the game and have fun again. So our work focused on the blocks she was having, clearing the clutter and reclaiming her “old self.”

Using EFT we focused on her fears. Fear of disappointing her teammates, her coach and her parents. Fear of making a mistake. To be really effective meant narrowing the focus. A couple more questions led to fear of having someone steal the ball from her when dribbling. We got even more specific. Jamie recognized it was primarily dribbling with her left hand since she was right handed.

When Jamie imagined dribbling the ball with her left hand she reported a fear of losing the ball. On a scale of 0 to 10, with 10 being the most intense, she rated the intensity of her fear as an 8. When asked where she felt it in her body, Jamie stated her brain was giving her flashing warning signals to get the ball to her right hand.

A specific area of focus centered on her thoughts of losing the ball.

• I am not a left hand dribbler
• Dribbling with my left hand feels weird
• My left hand doesn’t have a good touch with the ball
• Someone can easily steal the ball from me.

Since I like to turn a negative into a positive we reframed her fearful thoughts to “I can dribble with ease and confidence.”

• I easily dribble with my left hand
• Dribbling with my left hand is a skill I am ready to master
• I am becoming more familiar with the touch of the ball in my left hand
• I’m really good dribbling with my right and my left hand
• I am guarding the ball with ease.

Jamie’s intensity had reduced from an 8 to a 2.

Next Jamie was instructed to think about a basketball player she admires who is an excellent dribbler. With this round of tapping Jamie visualized her favorite player giving her a private lesson on dribbling the basketball with her left hand. She was instructed to keep her eyes on the court, and to avoid looking down. While we continued tapping she observed this player showing her how to dribble the ball left handed up and down the court. Next Jamie “saw” herself dribbling on the court. During the visualization process, and while still tapping, she got some pointers from her mentor, made some corrections and practiced her dribbling once more on the court. Her mentor gave her some high fives, said she looked really good. Then I had Jamie stop tapping, take in a deep breath and reassess her level of intensity.

Jamie was at a “0” reporting she felt more confident about her left handed dribbling. We tested to make sure she was truly at a 0 with no remaining fear about left handed dribbling.

The approach of visualizing herself working with a mentor is an important step for Jamie. Although she is only 14y/o she is learning to self-coach. In any sport there are times when the coach is unable to give an athlete direction. The ability to self coach at these moments is critical. Learning this skill has helped Jamie to gain confidence, and respond quickly on the court.

More importantly, playing basketball has become fun once again.

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