My Passion for Basketball and How It Shaped Me

This is basketball personal essay where I want share how I play this sport game using psychological tips and what is the most important for me during the game. So, when I’m playing basketball, I need to have a good free throw shot for when I get fouled. A free throw could really help the team at any given point and by doing so require a good form that I can always count on. If you ever have watched a basketball game, you will notice that most players get into a certain position when shooting considering they have a couple of seconds before time is up. When a player continues the same routine for shooting, it is called muscle memory because doing the same movement pattern becomes engraved into the brain. Muscle memory starts by performing the movement pattern multiple times in order for it to be stored in my cerebral cortex. Once it is stored in my cerebral cortex, it is then transferred to the ganglia. When I need to retrieve that information stored in my cerebral cortex, it is sent through the pons, which connect cerebral cortex with medulla, and transfers the information. The transferred information is released from basal ganglia, to the spinal cord, & then to the ventral nerves which results in muscle response.

I need to hear when playing basketball, so I’m aware of when a teammate is calling a play. If a team member doesn’t do what they are supposed to, then the play wouldn’t work. To do this, the frequency has to be high enough so that the ear canal can catch the wave in order to amplify the sound. When the sound is in the ear canal, the Pinna produce differences in the frequency response. Once that takes place, the brain learns to associate certain patterns of spectral peaks with certain locations. Lastly, the cochlea breaks down frequencies (sound I hear) and places them in certain spots, allowing us to hear more than one sound at a time. That last step is important because during a basketball game there are multiple frequencies around me. For example, the basketball hitting the ground, people cheering, coaches yelling, and teammates shouting around too. It’s important that I’m able to focus on my teammate’s voice when s/he calls a play into action instead of the surrounding noises.

I need to memorize the different plays that are being called so that the team is able to follow through with the play, one wrong move and it won’t work. To memorize the plays requires learning the play first. When learning the play it is important to create a drawing, or have the coach draw a picture of the play and what the different positions are supposed to be executing during the process of setting up. It’s important to draw a picture because when a memory pops up in my head, the brain is actually retrieving an image matched with a name. Doing that will allow me to use the drawing as a retrieval cue when I hear the play being called. Also, repeating the same play over and over, along with practicing it will help encode more effectively because I will be able to have the repeated pattern in my brain more vividly. Once the brain is done encoding, I will need to store the information. The brain biochemically alters itself in order to leave engrams, or memory traces. Engrams are created through consolidation, which are neural changes occurring. Lastly, the brain retrieves the cell that contains the information on the play. This is where the drawing comes to help because it is something distinct that I can link to the play, it stands out making it easier to retrieve. Retrieval cues are stimuli that help in retrieving memories stored in long-term memory, they make recalling memories easier.

Another important factor to playing basketball is being confident, along with taking criticism. Every good basketball player knows to be confident when they go out on the court because it helps them not be “afraid”. I need to be confident when shooting and driving to the hoop because if I’m afraid to grab the ball and shoot means I’m less likely to shoot at all due to fear of messing up. Also, if I take too long to shoot, the opponent could come up and steal the ball from me. With that, being confident stems from my cognitive development. Cognitive development has to do with how I was raised a child, and as a child most people are influenced by a lot of factors, especially treatment from others. Another factor would be genetically inherited through my DNA, so I have these characteristics because someone in my family had them. Say, for example, I was uplifted and encouraged by many that I will achieve big things and I’m a very smart person, those words will build up my confidence because I will grow to think I am those words people expressed about me. In the long run, it will affect my cognitive development positively because I will feel as if I can achieve anything. Also, if I’m around people who are more sensitive and affectionate towards me will help my cognitive development in a positive way. So how does this relate to confidence? If I’m constantly being reminded of what a good person I am, then that will lead to me accepting those words as something good. I will walk and act with confidence, but if someone were to say otherwise there is potential that it could bring me down. Being confident also ties in with being able to take criticism. While playing basketball, the coach will criticize me in a helpful way, letting me know that I need to work on those issues if I want to do better. Someone who is confident will take that gesture as being helpful & wanting me to improve my skills. Low confident people will tend to take criticism as a hurtful gesture. That person might think, “The coach doesn’t think I’m worthy of playing well because s/he just said that my form is off.” In addition to how people treat me as a child, I can also affect my own cognitive development. This can mostly be seen when I’m older because I have the choice to do certain things such as going to a movie or staying home to do homework.

I need to be able to pick myself back up. During basketball, I may miss a few shots or not block a shot, but I can’t fall to the ground and dwell on that. In order to do this, I need to control my emotions. Emotions are rapid information-processing systems that help us act to the current situation, which stem from the mind. To experience emotions, physical changes and conscious mental processing has to occur. Physical changes could include increasing heart rate or sweating. When the physical changes happen, the brain senses and acts by labeling the changes, then the brain acts based on mental process physical information. When having those emotions, I have to be able to control them. Controlling those emotions is what allows me to not have a mental breakdown or be a sore loser at the end of the game, if my team were to lose. In order to control the emotions I have to create a strategy that is most efficient for emotion regulation. As stated in Noba, “.. remain open to a wide range of emotions, recognize the value of certain emotions, and understand which short or long term strategies are most efficient for emotion regulation.”

Overall, there are numerous amounts of ways you can apply psychology to play basketball, these are just a few. Psychology is constantly surrounding us because majority of the population operates in similar ways.