Training the Mind to Overcome Stress with Derrick Rose, Tyreke Evans and OJ Mayo

The human brain is a funny thing. It controls every aspect of the human body, from the fluid movements made on the basketball court to being able to decipher whether the pitch is a fastball or a slider, all in about the same time it takes toblink an eye. With training, practice and mental preparation, the brain can go through the ins and outs of physical activity with little or no hindrance and control the body’s actions in ways that it was trained to do. Conversely, when the brain is under pressure or in times of high stress, the physiological chain of command operates differently and elite athletes are required to train their bodies to adapt to the change in stress levels that come at the end of tight games and in high-pressure situations.

With LeBron James, Dwyane Wade and a host of other free agents taking over the American media, it’s easy to forget that less than a month ago, the Lakers overcame the stress and pressure of the 4^th quarter and willed their way to their 16th championship over the Celtics. The biggest key to the Lakers victory was overcoming the stress, pressure and exhaustion and get the body to react in a normal way in spite of the circumstance. When faced with non-normative conditions, the physiological reactions to stressors do not occur in the same ways as before and players must train their bodies to react to the impending changes. To prepare the mind for the upcoming season, Derrick Rose, Tyreke Evans and OJ Mayo are already putting in work with renowned NBA trainer Rob McClanaghan in workouts designed to match explosive drills with drills designed to test a player’s cognitive limits.

Even before the Lakers completed there title defense against the Celtics, Rose, Mayo and Evans were back at work, training their mind and bodies to overcome the stressors of the long NBA season and pressure packed situations. McClanaghan runs the players through hard-hitting workouts that switch between explosion drills and either shooting drills or exercises that engage the player’s mind and makes them think. This forces the body to engage the mind at times when it is under high stress, in this case from fatigue as a result of the explosion drills.

“Some of these guys, rightfully so, are tired. If Tyreke’s tired, Derrick picks him up. If Russell Westbrook’s tired, Derrick or Tyreke can pick him up,” said McClanaghan at a private workout at Lon Angeles’ Harvard Westlake High School.

The goal of the workouts is to train to mind to handle end of game situations by replicating the physiological response to the mind being tired before the pressure is multiplied in front of thousands of fans. Training the mind to react to fatigue before pressure situations allows players to better handle tough decisions in a big moment because they already know how the body will react to stress.

“All these drills make you push yourself and make you go hard so that when you’re tired you know that you’ve been through this before and you can do it,” said Derrick Rose.

“He gives you little time to rest so when an overtime game comes and down in the clutch, you’ll be prepared for it,” said Tyreke Evans, last year’s NBA Rookie of the Year. “When you’re tired, you have to be able to think,” Evans continued. “It helps you focus in late games when you’re tired and make good decisions.”

For Rose, Evans and Mayo, the offseason is not a season to take off. The rest of the NBA should be warned.

“I’m working out every day. I’m not taking a day off,” said Rose.

Special thanks to Jack Jensen at Dime Magazine and Rob McClanaghan at Wasserman Media Group LLC.

How the pressure of greatness will affect John Wall

Last week at the NBA Draft in the World’s Most Famous Arena, Commissioner David Stern stepped to the podium and surprised exactly no one when he announced that the Wizards with the first pick took John Wall, the 19-year-old sensation from Kentucky. Wall will be following in another teenager’s footsteps when he steps on the court for the Wizards as the number one overall pick, as Kwame Brown did almost a decade ago alongside Michael Jordan during his second farewell tour.

Wall, the Wizards and basketball fans in general hope that this time is different and that Wall blossoms into the superstar that the Wizards front office at the time thought would happen with Brown. So how do players with arguably equal athletic gifts become a bust, an average professional or a star? What is it about a player’s mental make-up that allows them to strive to reach another level and become great?

Players like Wall, Evan Turner and Derrick Favors have to have the belief that they can be great but also want to put in the effort to become a great player, not just tell the media that they want to be a star. In a recent interview, John Brenkus from ESPN’s Sport Science told me that athletes all have unbelievable physical talent but it’s those that truly want to be great that are more likely to achieve it. “You have to have a certain amount of belief that you are better,” Brenkus said. “The question is do you actually buy into it or are you aspiring to be it?”

Even though Kwame Brown had the athletic tools to be a great professional, it is often difficult for a kid who has been told they were great their entire life to buy into the fact that it takes work to go beyond potential. Elite athletes realize early in their career that the mental aspect of the sport is as important as the physical aspect in terms of reaching their full potential.

“People look at Kwame Brown and they say ‘Why did Kwame Brown not turn out to be amazing?’” said Brenkus. “He was 19, he got a ton of money, he was playing with Michael Jordan. If you’re 19 years old and you have more money than everybody in your family combined will ever make in their entire lives and you haven’t really accomplished anything, it’s hard to say that you’ve done something wrong,” Brenkus continued. “You’re like, ‘wow, I’ve done something right’.”

In terms of John Wall, it was obvious over the past season at Kentucky that he could become the best point guard in the NBA but the question remains: Will his cognitive process push himself to reach his full potential or settle for being a decent NBA floor general? For many years, Wall, like those who have come before him, have had people telling them they are the best for most of their athletic lives. However, there will inevitably come a time when the pressure is on and the body doesn’t react in ways that it has in the past. The mental side of the game is much more grueling the higher a player goes in the professional ranks and a player’s ability to adapt to the stress and pressure will play a large role in how good they can become. As Brenkus stated, “It goes back to, ‘do you buy into it or do aspire to be it?’ If you hear it and are able to say, ‘I want to prove that people are correct, then it’s okay to be told that. If you just simply believe it, then you’re setting yourself up ultimately for failure.”

“It’s that balance of aspiration versus just buying into it,” Brenkus continued. “It takes an exceptional human being to be able to differentiate between the two.”

Will John Wall be the next NBA superstar? The Wizards certainly hope so.