Saturday, May 1, 2010

Faith and Basketball

In Basketball, there is an elusive attribute called "confidence" that determines whether or not the player will succeed.

If two players take the same shot, the one who is sure it will go in will likely make it; the one who hopes it will go in, won't make it. Most every player experiences this confidence at some time in their life. They hit one, and then another, and then, get into "the zone," and it appears they can't miss from that point forward.

"Being in the zone" is a self-fulfilling prophecy that has more negative consequences than positive ones. For example, if a player misses his or her first shot, s/he will be more reluctant to shoot the second. If they miss their second shot, they assume they aren't in the zone, and will not be an effective shooter that night.

What is this confidence and can it be taught to a player?

The Bible contains a definition of faith as the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen. (Hebrews 11:1,2) It describes how believing (the verb form of the noun faith) takes hoped for things and materializes them. It changes an abstraction that is invisible and in the realm of hope into a concrete and substantial thing in the realm of present real life.

Some translations use the word assurance. It means being certain, being confident. When a basketball player stands at the foul line with faith, the shot will go in.

How do you teach faith? Real faith comes from doing your homework. When a student has to take a test, if he or she studies and does the homework problems, and rehearses the sample problems and teaches other students how to solve the problems, that student goes into a test with confidence.

In the same way, if a player has practiced and practiced and practiced the scenario before him or her to the point that it is a habit, he or she has confidence when the real game situation presents itself.

Faith is not a fluke of circumstance. Missing the first shot does not predestine you to be out of the zone. Sometimes, a miss is just a miss. Perhaps you didn't follow through; perhaps the defender distracted you. Just continue to do what you practiced and keep your confidence that if you do right, you will be rewarded. Keep the focus on doing everything you practiced and then, your faith will be rewarded.

You can make your own zone by having faith.

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