Piece by: Juan Dimagiba
What is psychological warfare? Psychological warfare is chess, it’s one way to get ahead on an opponent. You have to break your opponent psychically and mentally. Mentally breaking down comes first because when they break mentally, they are off their game. You have to kill their confidence, you have to show that their best is not good enough and that you are just plain better than them. How would that make somebody feel? In a sport, when players involved are going for the same goal and working for the same thing, only one can come out on top and be the best of the best, the greatest as we say. How do you think an opponent would feel? Hours upon hours of hard work, making sacrifices just for a single goal of greatness, only to find out that their best isn’t good enough. They feel like they wasted time and they start questioning their abilities and their self worth. That’s one way to gain an advantage.
Cooler heads always prevail. If you act out of emotion you automatically lose. You’re chasing something that you probably can’t catch. Once you keep chasing and chasing without catching anything, you can get frustrated. However, you were thrown off your game the moment you put one foot forward and started chasing. Control your emotions like you control the game. Dictate your pace, throw the other team off by showing that whatever they throw at you won’t work. Show that no matter what, you will be cool, calm, and collected, and that you will take over no matter what.
If an opponent continues to taunt you, keep playing your game. Once you commit a frustration foul you’re at a disadvantage. You could foul them at a wrong time and another team could get a bonus in a time game with one minute to go. Like I said in my first book, The All Around Basketball Book, basketball is chess. Both teams are trying to figure out ways on how to outsmart each other. To gain the ultimate advantage you have to attack the mind. You have to throw them off their game so that they don’t think rationally. If they can’t think, they can’t function. Mistakes are bound to happen because their mind isn’t only on the game now, they’re thinking about this opponent that’s trying to throw them off their game.
When it comes to psychological warfare, you have to think about why certain people use this tactic. Are they bad people? Most likely not. Are they crazy? Probably. What I am 100% certain is that they are obsessed with winning. They have the will to win and want to win at any cost. The desire to win is strong, no matter what you do in life, whether it’s business, sports, etc. the desire to win and succeed is there and they will do whatever is necessary to win. Guys like Mike and Kobe had very strong desires to win. To them it was kill or be killed, and they wanted to destroy you because you are in their way. In their minds they have already decided that they were going to win, the numbers speak for themselves. Kobe and MJ have 11 championships combined.
In the NBA, every player is good at basketball. What I mean by that is whoever made it to the NBA was good enough to play professional basketball. So by all means, every pro player is capable of playing the game. Some players are just on different levels when it comes to skill and mentality. What do you think sets them apart? How many players are practicing on a day to day basis working on their skills, but some players are just levels ahead? It’s their mentality! They want to win so bad, they want to be the best. Building up skill helps build confidence but you need the confidence to start or else you won’t elevate.
Self belief is very important in life. You have to love yourself and you have to think very highly of yourself. When your mind is strong and your self belief is strong, psychological warfare will have zero effect on you. You understand the game and you know what’s needed to win. You’re steps ahead when it comes to thinking so you know what an opponent will do to try and win the game and beat you.
When you have control of your mind, it won’t affect you. When you don’t have control of your mind, you will get caught up in the moment and lose track of everything, your game plan is basically out the window. Mike Tyson punched you in the mouth and now you don’t have a plan B.
To people who don’t understand the concept, it’s all fair when it comes to sports and life. We live in a dog eat dog world. In sports, it’s highly competitive, there’s a respect factor there but there’s also an understanding that when we’re in battle/competition, we are opponents. All is fair in competition, respect comes later. Competition is where the respect comes from, it’s where it builds. There will be a time to be friends or show respect, but during competition, absolutely not.
Think wisely before you act, act wisely on what you think. You can’t just show up anywhere and expect things to go well. You have to be prepared. You have to prime your mind, body, and spirit for the grind. Boxers go to camp for 8 weeks, athletes practice on off days, and work hard in the offseason. They’re preparing for the grind that they’re about to go through. Why is it recommended that we workout, meditate, and eat healthy? So that we can prepare for the daily grind of life. In basketball, you need to exercise and practice so that your mind, body, and spirit will get used to the grind of basketball.
Think of the Barcelona dream team in 1992. Every player on that team were enemies on the court. They had fierce battles in competition, intense trash talk, etc. for the Olympics, they came together for a singular purpose and that was to win a gold medal for the USA. There were fierce rivals on the team like Magic Johnson and Larry Bird, Magic and Michael Jordan, Charles Barkley and Karl Malone, etc. that team was full of Alpha’s.
At the time, they were the best of the best in the NBA. Magic and Michael competed for the title of who ran the NBA. Magic and Bird had many battles in the NBA finals during the 1980’s, then there were battles between players who thought they were the best at their position.
Through all of those battles in their careers, there’s one thing that stands out, Respect. All those guys respected each other, they all understood battle. They all knew it was a competition to be the best and have bragging rights about who was the man? Who could walk around with swagger and say that they were the best?
Check out my ebook on Amazon: The All Around Basketball Book