The Right Shot Chooses You!

The Right Shot Chooses You!

While the Movie "The Legend of Bagger Vance" centers around golf, it applies in many ways to coaching and the game of basketball. The title character is a mysterious caddie and, in many ways, the consummate coach. Bagger Vance helps a down-on-his-luck golfer become "one" with the game by setting aside his ego and need for validation. At a critical point, Bagger Vance tells him, "There's a perfect shot out there trying to find each and every one of us--and all we've got to do is get ourselves out of its way and let it choose us...Seek it with your hands. Don't think about it. Feel it." So what does all of this mean?

See the floor. Concentrate. Understand the game plan. Be yourself. Play your game. Don't force things. Do your personal best. Let the game come to you. It's all the same thing.

When faced with adversity and a lack of self-confidence, players must reconnect with their potential and trust their instincts. Practice and hard work gets players to the point where they recognize their abilities, understand their weaknesses, and can turn their habits into instincts. Then, they should be able to simply go out and play in a way such that everything just happens the way it is supposed to without much thought.

In a well-designed offense, there are shot opportunities for all players and a progression of options that players need to be able to follow. They should not try to force the ball into places, but instead should use counter-attacks to the defense's strategies to their advantage. The space on the floor should tell players where to go. The opponents' positioning tells a player what is open. Eventually, with proper execution, a shot opportunity will present itself to a player, and that is the right shot to take. The player did not choose the shot--the shot chose him.