TAP THE ROCK

“Tap the rock” is a line from a story told by an old stonecutter. In his story the stonecutter says that those watching him work recall the strike that finally breaks the rock apart, yet nobody remembers the many blows that came before but didn’t seem to make a difference. Of course a large stone is never broken with one strike. It takes many, maybe hundreds of strikes to break the stone. Each strike is as important as any other strike and contributes to the final outcome.

Becoming a basketball player is like tapping on the rock. You have to trust that all the tedious work you put in, day by day, will help you to eventually become the player you want to be. You will often wonder if your work made any difference at all. You have to stay focused on your plan and work every day – keep tapping the rock - even when you can’t be sure when, and if, it will all come together and that rock will break.

The kids that become players are those who tap the rock a little every day, believing in themselves and the process of improvement. They are open to instruction and feedback and learn over time to self-correct. They don’t settle in to “good enough” mode. They are energized by the opportunity to address the next challenge in their development.

If you’re a player who thinks that you’ll see the most improvement from November to March each year you might be disappointed with the results. The significant improvements occur from April to October when the only spectators are your teammates and coaches – or when you’re working alone when the only affirmation comes from knowing that you are tapping the rock and getting better.

Basketball skills evolve through lots of repetitions. It’s important that those repetitions are done correctly – so you don’t reinforce poor habits. We can help you learn the proper techniques and get in some reps but it’s not enough to change your skill set. If you truly want to be a skilled player you have to find a way to get in additional repetitions. That part is up to you.

Warmer weather is finally here to stay (I think). Get your reps in. Dribble a ball, shoot using good fundamentals. Play pickup games whenever you can. Tap the rock a little each day. In time you’ll see improvement. That improvement will motivate you to keep working and you’ll see more improvement which will motivate you to work some more – and so on.

We could see the benefit of tapping the rock this week. Following their skills station work the middle school players have been playing 3 on 3 with an emphasis of dribble skills, recognizing the help defender and passing to an open teammate. We use very basic dribble drive principles – not because we necessarily endorse that offensive philosophy but because we want every player to develop confidence in their ball handling abilities. We want them to understand that when you have the ball in your hands your job is to attack the defense and create the best scoring opportunity option for your team. That means scoring if you have a good shot opportunity or passing to a teammate who has a better scoring opportunity. It’s not always pretty but you can see the potential.

High school players worked on change of speed / change of direction skills, pick and roll (angles and reads) and shooting accuracy. Several older middle school players joined the high school players in 3 on 3 play and, with lots of support from the older girls, held their own against the bigger, faster and more experienced competition.

Get outside. Keep working!

Bob Peterman