Basketball is a tough sport for anybody to play. For many, it is their escape to relax. With many levels of basketball such as AAU, school basketball, and rec basketball there are extremely high standards for players at such a young age.  Basketball is physically demanding at all levels. Basketball requires you to have good endurance to run up and down the court. The sport also requires you to be strong while also being agile and quick on your feet. Trine University states, “While genetics has shown to play a role in athletic ability, psychological factors should not be discounted. Grit, optimism, resilience, and perseverance are just a few factors that separate elite athletes from non-elite athletes” (Trine University). This shows that although there are many physical aspects to basketball, this is not the only thing that contributes to success. Mental stability and being mentally tough are just as important as being physically prepared. The mental aspect of basketball and other sports is often overlooked and forgotten about. Many believe that the only route to success is by training your body physically to be ready. Being mentally tough is extremely important in succeeding in sports. By being mentally tough you can excel in your sport. In basketball, there is never a 100% success rate. Every person misses shots, turns the ball over, and gets scored on. But when these events happen, you can learn to be mentally tough and you can flush it and move forward to the next play. A mentally weak person will dwell on the last play which will then affect the next couple of plays or even the whole game. 

Everyone can stand here and say you have to be mentally tough and mentally stable. But how is being mentally tough and stable occur? Continuously being put outside of your comfort zone helps to create mental stability and toughness. When you are pushed outside of your limits it forces you to get used to adjusting to it. Mistakes will be made when limits are tested. But without these mistakes, progress can not be made. Mistakes are meant to be made so when mistakes hit find a way to push through. To become mentally tough, when struggles come you keep pushing through determined to find a way to be the best. Own the mistake and try to find other ways to make this mistake better. When playing basketball, mistakes are bound to happen so own up to the mistake and not blame somebody else then bounce right back and make a positive play. 

  Developing a stable routine and keeping true to your plan will create a mentally tough and stable person. Becoming mentally tough and stable does not just happen overnight. This is achieved over time. Just because a person worked out one day does not immediately make them the strongest person on the planet. True Sport stated that you have to work to be better to become better when they state, “Nothing great is achieved without hard work. Regardless of your natural gifts and abilities, the work that athletes complete in the gym and in the classroom is paramount to success both in sports and life.” (True Sport). This shows that mental toughness is achieved by staying consistent with the plan and working every day. Staying consistent creates habits for yourself. Once the body repeatedly does the same thing multiple times over multiple days, it will become used to it. As a basketball player, running, shooting, dribbling, and passing do not come in a blink of an eye. Going to the gym every day and grinding in the ups and downs will make you more confident in yourself and more mentally stable. 

Taking a minute to meditate and collecting yourself will also help you to become mentally stable. All that is needed is around 3-5 minutes a day. This helps to center yourself. Use this time to reflect on the day and think about what choices you made during the day. During this time embrace your mistakes and think about how you can make the next day better. Lebron James has said many times that he meditates and it helps with his performance and feeling better. 

As a basketball player, there are many physical aspects that are important for success in basketball. The physical aspects include running, jumping, shooting, passing, and dribbling well. These are all extremely important for basketball but also being mentally strong and stable are important too. The mental aspect of basketball is just as important as the physical aspects. Being mentally tough will help you propel in sports. This is shown when the article, Mental toughness in sport: motivational antecedents and associations with performance and psychological health states, “We also expected that mental toughness would be associated with higher levels of positive affect and performance and lower levels of negative affect… Our findings supported our hypotheses.” (John W. Mahoney, Daniel F Gucciardi, Nikos Ntoumanis, and Cliff J Mallet). This proves that being mentally tough is just as important as the physical aspects of basketball and all sports.