Self Assurance
2 comments so far
April 1, 2008 by
Prior to a very close game against top-seeded Kansas this week, Davidson head basketball coach Bob McKillop was interviewed about his team's magical run through the NCAA tournament. He said that often you have to brainwash yourself into having confidence in your team. That you have to overlook faults. He felt that with this team, he didn't have to do that. He had total confidence in his team and every bit of it had been earned.
There's little doubt that confidence plays an important role in major athletics. Returning to basketball, how much better do you play offensively when you're feeling confident than when you're not? In fully confident mode, you release your shots without hesitation yet while also remaining relaxed. When you're not confident you're not taking shots so much as you're hurriedly throwing up "guesses". It's no surprise when it results in brick city.
Confidence easily translates to football. A running back that hits a hole with authority will do much better than one that hesitates. A quarterback that knows where he wants to go early and steps into his throw will invariably be more accurate than one who's waiting to be sure his receiver is really open. And lost confidence seemed to be the biggest difference between the Nebraska team that played a near-perfect game against a bowl opponent (Nevada) and one that let a hapless Iowa State team run 102 offensive plays.
It's also the clearest improvement to date in Nebraska football under Bo Pelini. Pelini's confidence allowed him to salvage a decent recruiting class and it's sure to do wonders for the damaged psyche of the Nebraska defense. In fact, his self assurance has been so infectious that many Husker fans are predicting 10 or 11 wins (just a year after the Huskers won only five games).
I'm sure at this point there's still some brainwashing necessary to think that this Husker team could compete for a national championship. There is no Glenn Dorsey at tackle, or Craig Steltz at safety, or even Ali Highsmith at linebacker (to cite some recent LSU examples). But there are some guys to believe in. More importantly though, is that Pelini appears able to get these players believing in themselves again. Which has to happen because the defense seemed to have lost their confidence before the nonconference schedule had finished and they were never able to get it back - and it showed.
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darren Apr 01 08
This is an important idea right now, Steve. This spring is about mentality as much as anything. I love hearing reports of high-intensity and high-effort practices.
It's also important to remember the age group we're dealing with here. 18-22 year olds often are not "fully formed" people from a personality or confidence stand point. They are very much works in progress. Confidence means a LOT to these young adults.
Bill in Iowa Apr 02 08
Although there are a lot of question marks on defense, one thing is certain, they will have to suit up (in practice) against what could be one of the better offenses in the country. They will have something to measure themselves against is my point. Hopefully, their confidence will get higher with each success in practice.