Chasing The Ring with Coach Middlebrooks

YOU WILL MISS 100% OF THE SHOTS YOU DO NOT TAKE

You Will Miss Most Of The Shots If You Do Not Practice

Opportunity...A chance for progress or advancement. When opportunity comes, you can not fear it nor shy away from it. You must embrace it and attempt to take full advantage. Will you fail? You might. But failure is guaranteed if you never try. Many people never try simply because they succumb to fear. Opportunities come and go because they do not take chance to embrace the moment. Basketball players do this all the time. They have a wide open shot but because of a lack of confidence they pass up on the shot and look to give the ball to another teammate who generally does not have as wide open a shot. I always tell my players, if you are open you MUST take the shot. If you don't, that guarantees you missed but if you shoot it, the chances of you making the shot are always greater than 0%.

Now a major reason for fear in opportunistic situations is a person knows in their heart that they failed to be prepared. "If you prepare yourself . . . you will be able to grasp opportunity for broader experience when it appears" (Eleanor Roosevelt). Preparation puts you in a strategic position to capitalize when opportunities arise. A lot of people want to take the shot but have a low percentage chance to convert because they did not practice. They never did the things necessary to put themselves in a position to be fully prepared to take advantage of opportunity when it presents itself. I tell my reserve players all the time, you never know when I will call your number to play in a game but will you be ready to seize the moment when I give you the chance. Did you get stronger in the weightroom, become a better shooter with lots of practice, become a better defender with a commitment to working on defensive drills outside of normal practice? I ask players a lot of questions all the time simply to reinforce in their minds that they need to train and practice hard so that they have answers when I ask the questions. Generally I already know the answer because you can see improvement in player through daily practice. But the ultimate point is to encourage them to always remain committed and focused on daily preparation, so that when opportunity presents itself, they can seize the moment; on and off the court!