Change These 2 Things And Say Goodbye To Your Athlete’s Lack of Aggressiveness

Every parent who’s sat in the stands knows the feeling: your kid is talented, works hard in practice, but when the game tips off… they play timid. Shots they’d normally take in the driveway? Passed up. Defenders they could easily attack? Avoided. The difference between practice and performance often comes down to one thing: an aggressive mindset.

But aggression in sports isn’t about being reckless or out of control. True aggression is about confidence, purpose, and energy — qualities that can be trained just like shooting or dribbling. If you want to help your athlete maximize their potential, here are two keys to developing and maintaining an aggressive mindset on the court.

1. Importance of Aggression

Aggression isn’t some pie in the sky ideal that it would be nice to have. Aggression is literally a hardwired trait, necessary for optional human performance.  Let’s go back to prehistoric times to take a look at a day in the life of a caveman, we will call him Argh! When Argh goes out looking for food he does so with the knowledge that if he fails, his family may starve (or at least his wife and kids will complain, a lot!).

To have the greatest chance at success in his hunting, Argh must go out on his journey with both focus and force. Focus or determination means he has a goal or desired outcome, he can’t simply wander for hours.  Force means he has a sense of urgency or when he finds an animal, he can just hug it, he has to subdue it.

Focus and force are the definition of aggressiveness. Try doing anything without both attributes and failure is sure to follow. When athlete’s have focus and force they are ahead of 90% of the competition. This is because most athletes are just running up and down the court.

Let’s find out how to lock in our formula for on-court aggression.

2. Identity & Intention

Aggressiveness can’t be learned in the game, it is a product of who the athlete is.  To build an aggressive identity, athletes need to practice aggressive affirmations daily.  The mind has between 6,000-70,000 thoughts daily (hopefully you are on the 70,000 end of the scale!). Researchers say 80% of those thoughts are negative. So if you aren’t practicing positive mindset practices, rest assured that you are practicing negative ones by default.

‘I am always aggressive.’ I play with force and not fear.’’ I dominate with my determination.’ These are affirmations athletes should be repeating daily while doing something routine like brushing teeth, making up bed, eating breakfast or getting ready for bed.

These practices enable athletes to show up as the most aggressive version of themselves.

Once athletes have built up their Identity, they must also include their Intention, aka, plan for success.  You see Argh could not just wander around aimlessly, he had to develop a plan on where to hunt, how to catch the animal and what to do after the kill.

Athletes also should not be aimlessly wandering throughout the game, hoping for the best.  Instead, athletes should develop a game plan that aligns with their identity and role on the team.  This plan must be based around an area that is in complete control (or nearly complete control of the athlete.)

Areas of Control: Warmups, Energy Plays, Attacks

Warmups are the kickoff of game play, too many athletes warmup like wallflowers and fail to use this time to establish intention.  Athletes should warm up with the same energy that they want to play with. Also, athletes should be recreating the shots, attacks and looks they plan to see in the game.  

Energy plays are opportunities to affect the game with pure heart and hustle, without even needing to shoot.  Deflections, rebounds, steals, getting to loose balls, and playing with physicality, are all different types of energy plays that can upgrade any athlete’s aggressiveness.

Attacks are aggression with the ball in the athlete’s hands.  Shooting the ball automatically comes to mind, however, shooting is far from the only way to attack.  Probing (prolonging dribble to explore possible gaps in defense) Paint Touches (making a move past defender to get at least one foot in the paint) Passing for scores (downhill attacks to get shots for others) and Panning (stopping to look at the rim on whenever the ball is received) are all great methods to increase attacking and aggressiveness.

Develop specific metrics based on your athlete’s role, that will create accountability and urgency.  A plan for a good rebounder may be gathering 3 rebounds in the first 3 minutes of the game.  For a small point guard it may be 2 paint touches or probes and 2 rim looks in the first quarter. A plan for a three and D wing player may be to make 5 energy plays in the first half. 

Having an intentional game plan gives athletes an individualized grading system that identifies their individual score card and teaches them to play the game within the game.  Parents should sit down with their player every few weeks to perfect their in-game intention and track results.  Once players comfortably execute their plan, be sure to ratchet them up, to increase aggressiveness over time.

These plans will allow players to feel comfortable attacking in areas familiar to them and prevent them from standing and watching but rather being an active participant in the game in ways that align with their identity.

We specialize in helping basketball players grades 6-12 in increasing their on-court confidence.  Parents of players lacking confidence should book a consultation call or go to our website and check out our Youtube Channel for more helpful mindset mentorship. 

Dr. Jason Parker

JP3 Basketball Performance Training