(Pictured: Kevin Hanson has led the UBC team to 2 straight trips to the Nationals.)
"Every basketball player should have specific short and long term goals for the basketball season. Goals will act as a guide to your season and how well you and your team are performing. Goal setting is a MUST for every basketball player because you in order to get to where you want to be, you have to know where you are trying to go."
Kevin Hanson, Head Coach, University of British Columbia.
(Pictured: Pasha Bains has been the member of several Canadian National team programs including here during the World University Games.)
"Goal-Setting is something that I played around with a lot in high school. I didn't really know the specifics of goal-setting, but I knew what I wanted to achieve and how I wanted to go about achieving it. I can remember writing out the three steps to making the U-16 Provincial team when I was in Grade 9 at R.C. Palmer on my bedroom door, 1) Make the Regional Team 2) Make the Provincial Team Tryout 3) Make the U-16 Provincial Team, every am when I woke up, I saw these goals and it motivated me to work hard and try to achieve them. As the try-out process wore on, I crossed off each goal as I attained it, eventually reaching my goal of making the U-16 Provincial Team. This was my first true experience with goal-setting, even though I didnt know much about it, writing out those specific goals made it possible to achieve them."
Pasha Bains, Guard, University of British Columbia.
(Pictured: Tony Stockman as a freshman at Clemson.)
"Ive used goal setting my whole life, I dont really know where I would be without setting specific goals and then going out everyday and working hard to achieve them. Goals direct my effort and keep me focussed on the season and my performance. Once I achieve one of my goals, I rework them to make them a little more challenging, this way I always have something to shoot for."
Tony Stockman, Guard, Ohio State Basketball.
(Pictured: Gil Cheung, Assistant Coach, Brandon University.)
"We tell our players all the time to set specific individual and team goals during the season. A lot of players today just want to go out and play the game without really thinking about long or short term goals. The thing that seperates Elite players from the rest is their ability to be well-rounded and to constantly challenge themselves to get better. Elite players dont settle once they have achieved their goals, they set new ones and try to take their game to an even higher level, goal setting is not a complex formula, if you write down what you want to achieve, you are more likely to achieve it, what good is a goal that you can't see?"
Gil Cheung, Assistant Coach, Brandon University.
(Pictured: Budd Kerfoot (front right) was the original winner of "Mr.Station 11" at DRIVE University. DRIVE University originally had 10 stations, an optional "Station 11" was put in place during Games and "Free Play" at the end of the session. Budd attended every optional "Station 11" and exhibited an unbelievable work ethic in each session. For his efforts Budd recieved a free pair of New Balance sneakers.)
Volume I : Goal Setting for Peak Performance
DRIVE is proud to announce the launch of the "Student-Athlete Life-Skills Series," a series of educational resources that will focus on specific topics that student-athlete's deal with on a daily basis. The first installment of the "Student-Athlete Life-Skills Series" will focus on something every student-athlete should have knowledge of, goal setting. Goal Setting is one of the most overlooked aspects of a basketball player's development. Every succesful basketball player needs to identify key goals that he/she would like to achieve and know how they are going to go about reaching them. In this first installment of the "Student-Athlete Life-Skills Series," goal setting will be defined and thoroughly explained.
In recent years, experts have clearly identified a number of training strategies that will assist athletes in achieving personal growth and peak performance. Goal setting is one such technique. In fact, "goal setting has not only been shown to influence the performance of athletes of varied age and ability levels but has also been liked to positive changes in important psychological states such as anxiety, confidence, and motivation." (Gould 1986).
Defining Goal Setting and Different Types of Goals
In order for the young basketball player to fully reap the benefits of goal-setting, he/she must first know exactly what goal setting is. A goal has been defined as, "attaining a specific standard of profiency on a task, usually within a specified time limit" (Locke et al., 1981). From a practical perspective then, goals, focus on achieving some sort of standard, whether it be, increasing range on your jump-shot or shooting 50% from the three-point line. In addition, it is expected that these standards be achieved within some sort of time limit.
Different types of goals:
Subjective goals:
ex. Having fun, getting into shape, trying your hardest.
General Objective goals: ex. Winning a Championship, making the Sr.Team
Specific Objective goals: ex. Increasing your scoring average, increasing your vertical leap by three inches ''.
Outcome Goals vs Performance Goals
Outcome Goals:
Standards of performance that focuses on results of a contest between two teams or opponents.
Ex.Beating someone in one on one, Scoring more points than your match-up.
erformance Goals:
Focuses on improvement relative to one's own performance.
Ex. Improving one's mid-range game, Boxing out every possesion.
How to Use Goal Setting: Guidelines for Peak Performance
Now that we have defined the different types of goals, it is important to know how to use Goal Setting. There are a few guidelines that will assist you when determining your indvidual goals.
Set Specific Goals in Measurable and Behavioral Terms
When setting goals, you should always be as specific as possible, and try to make the goals in measurable terms. These types of goals are far more effective than goals of "doing your best" or "trying your hardest." It has been proven that general "do my best" type of goals are less effective than setting specific, measurable goals. Specific goals like being able to touch the backboard or starting every game you play in are examples of goals you might use to increase your overall performance. Setting specific measurable goals, gives you something to aim at and foccusses your attention on achieving those goals.
Set Difficult but Realistic Goals
Famous psychologists have found a direct relationship between goal difficulty and task performance (Locke 1981). This means that the more difficult the goal, the better your performance is going to be. However, it must be remembered that this relationship is true only when the difficulty of the goal does not exceed the performer's ability. Setting unrealistic goals could lead to over-expectations which can lead to frustration and feelings of failure. Your personal goals should be difficult enough to challenge yourself, but also attainable through hard work and perserverance.
Set Short-Range as Well as Long-Range Goals
Most athletes (basketball players specifically) are well accustomed to setting long-range goals. Basketball players will often say their goals are to 'win the championship,' or 'break the scoring record.' While setting long range outcome based goals is beneficial, a number of psychologists (Bell 1983, Carron 1984, Gould 1983) have emphasized the need to set more immediate short range goals. Short range goals are important because they allow you to see daily (or weekly) improvement which can increase your motivation to achieve a higher standard. For example, a short range goal might be to make 50% of your shots in practice, once you have attained this goal of making 50% of your shots, you can re-set your goal and use it to motivate yourself for a higher standard. Short range goals are essential for the attainment of long term goals. A useful imagery technique is to imagine the stairs of a staircase with the top stair being your long range goals and the bottom stairs being your short range goals, in order to reach your long term goals, you have to succesfully climb through your short range goals first.
Set Performance Goals as Opposed to Outcome Goals
North American society places a huge importance on the outcome of athletic events. Because of this, most 'athletes are socialized to set only outcome goals (eg. winning, beating a particular opponent)'. Unfortunately, it has been proven through numerous studies and observation that outcome goals are far less effective than performance goals (Burton, 1983, 1984). Outcome goals have several inherent weaknesses that make them not as useful as performance based goals. The primary weakness in outcome goals is the fact that you the athlete do not always control the outcome of the event you are taking part in. For example, outcome goals such as winning the championship do not take external events into consideration. The referees, game conditions, etc. could all factor in when determining the success of outcome goals. Another weakness in outcome goals is the fact that athletes become less flexible in their goal adjustment practices. For example, if you set an outcome based goal of winning every game, what happens when you lose a game? Experts say that most athletes will abandon goal setting altogether because they have failed on thier intitial outcome goal. While outcome goals might possess great motivational value for performers in the short term, Roberts (1986) and others have argued that, ultimately, such goals are likely to lead performers to drop out from sport. Burton (1989) has also shown that outcome goals are associated with higher levels of competitive sport anxiety than are performance goals. Consequently, sports performers are usually encouraged to set performance, rather than, or at least in conjuction with, outcome goals (Gould 1993).
Instead of setting outcome goals, you should challenge yourself to set specific performance based goals. These goals can be anything directly related to your performance. You might set a performance goal of running the floor hard every possesion, or going to the offensive glass everytime a shot is taken, whatever the goal is, make sure it is performance based so that you establish a 'competition with yourself.' This is how elite-level athletes view goal-setting and take it upon themselves to set realistic performance based goals that direct thier focus and have them constantly competing with themselves to gain those goals. It is not useful to focus solely on the outcome of events, the process (performance) that goes along with reaching your eventual desired outcomes is far more important because without the process, those outcome goals will never be achieved.
Set Goals for Practice and Competition
It is very important to set specific goals for both practice and competition. Competition (your team's games) only occurs once or twice a week, while practice can often go five to six days a week, so it is important to always have goals that you are striving for and trying to achieve. Common practice goals could be, arriving 30 mins early to each practice, staying late for extra shooting, and taking 3 charges per practice. Whatever your practice goals might be, it is important to set clear goals that will guide your daily practice habits. It is easy to get 'psyched' up for games, but your true improvement on the basketball court will come in practice. Setting specific, manageable goals will help motivate you to practice your hardest and will keep you focussed on the 'bigger picture' and the attainment of the goals you have set for yourself.
Set Positive Goals as Opposed to Negative Goals
Goals can be either positive (eg. increase the range on your jump-shot) or negative (eg. decrease the amount of turnovers you have) in terms of outlook. Although it is sometimes neccesary for athletes to set goals in negative terms, it has been suggested that, whenever possible, goals should be stated positively (Bell 1983). Simply put, this means you should be identifying behaviors that you would like to exhibit (making eight assists in the game) instead of behaviors that should not be exhibited (missing free throws).
Identify Target Dates for Attaining Goals
Not only should you describe your goals in terms of being specific and measurable, but you should also set out a timeline to acheiving these goals. A goal of being able to dunk the basketball is not neccesarily good enough. You must set out target dates that will allow you to stay foccussed and motivated on acheiving the goal that you set out, otherwise you will be less likely to achieve it.
Identify Goal Achievement Strategies
Very often, athletes set proper goals but fail to acheive them because they have not incorporated successful goal achievement strategies to assist the attainment of their goals. For example, a basketball player who wants to increase his foul shooting by 5% might set a goal achieving strategy of shooting 25 extra foul shots at the end of each practice. With this goal achievement strategy firmly in place, the athlete now nows what he/she has to do in order to achieve his/her goal.
Record Goals Once They Have Been Identified
It is often easy to think and ponder goals that you have for yourself and your team during the season. However, actually sitting down and writing out these goals is a more difficult task. Writing out your goals will not only give you a visual reference that you can look back on during the season, but it will also provide you with proof that you have thought about your season and the goals that you want to achieve. Having your goal sheet readily availiable can act as a guide for your season planning. Harris and Harris (1984) reccommended that athletes keep notebooks, recording goals, goal achievement strategies, and goal progress on a daily or weekly basis so they can have a visual guide that monitors their performance throughout the competition season.
Provide for Goal Evaluation
Athletes must also provide neccessary goal evaluation to fully realize the potential of goal-setting on performance. Goal evaluation can come in many forms, from statistics to coaches and parents but must provide some sort of evaluation of the goals that you have set out for yourself. For example, your basketball coach might evaluate your goal of becoming a better team defender, or your parents could evaluate your goal of practicing every am for a full month. Whatever your evaluation criteria might be, keep in mind that without evaluation of goals, there is no real goal to begin with.
Provide Support For Goals
'A goal-setting program will not succeed unless it is supported by those individuals who are paramount in the athlete's life. This typically includes the coach, the athlete's family, and teammates. Therefore, it is important that you educate those around you about your specific goals and recieve neccesary support for your goals. It is very important that your 'support staff' be knowledgable about what kind of goals you have set and how you are going to go about achieving them. Social support is one of the highest influences on performance, and without an adequate amount of support for your goals you will find them hard to achieve.
SMART Strategy in Goal Setting
The acronym SMART has been applied to Goal Setting as a tool to guide the process and keep key concepts readily available. Using the SMART technique, you can begin to formulate the goals you might set for yourself for the rest of this basketball season. Remember to keep the goals specific and set short and long range goals. A goal is not a goal unless you have written it down and are constantly revising it to match your current performance. Challenge yourself to set specific goals and then go practice hard in order to achieve them.
S = Specific - Goals that are specific and measurable, ie// Being able to Dunk, Taking 3 Charges a game, Making 50% of your 3-pt. Shots.
M = Measurable - Goals that are measurable and can be evaluated, ie// Statistics, Coaches input, Parents Support.
A = Attainable - Goals that are attainable.
R = Realistic - Goals must be realistic in order for them to have any benefit to the basketball player. Unrealistic goals will set up failure and may decrease motivation.
T = Timely - Goals should have some sort of timeline attached to them, set your goals with a timeline in mind, you might set out a goal to increase your free throw percentage by 10% before the end of the season.
What do the experts say?
Whitney Sedgwick is an experienced Phd. and Sports Psychologist who has worked with many National level athletes.
She is currently working with the provincial snow board team as they prepare for the 2010 Olympics. She has recently co-authored a mental training book called Sport Psychology Library: The Triathlon and also co-authored a Sport Psychology textbook chapter for an upcoming Canadian Sports Psychology book. DRIVE recently had a chance to talk to Whitney, an excellent sports psychology resource for young basketball players in B.C.
DRIVE: Why would it be beneficial for young basketball
players to set goals?
WS: The benefits to goal-setting include: focusing
attention on relevant cues, enhanced motivation to
complete tasks, increased confidence and overall
potential to improve sport performance.
DRIVE: How important is goal-setting?
WS: Goal setting is an important skill in athletics and
life. It is a mental skill used by the vast majority
of committed athletes worldwide. It's worth
consideration for both the short and long term, in
training and competition.
DRIVE: Is it proven that goal-setting is effective?
(Academically)
WS: Goal setting has been proven effective, particularly
that setting specific (vs. vague, general) goals can
lead to improved performance. Feedback on your
progress toward your goals has been shown to be
important. It appears that across individual and team
sports, gender and level of experience, goal setting
is an important mental skill.
Summary
Now that you have the knowledge and application strategies of goal setting it is time to write out your specific goals for the rest of the season and off-season planning. Remember to keep your goals specific and measurable and to provide goal evaluation and support throughout the goal setting process. Keep in mind that goals are meant to be difficult, but should be attainable through hard work and practice. Outline specific goals that you want to achieve and then use them to guide you through your workout and games.
