Give Me the Damn Ball!

Free throws.?

When I coached high school basketball, one of my mentors told me that the three pivotal statistics that indicated wins versus losses at any level of the game were turnovers, rebounds, and made free throws.

In the final contest in the Paris Olympics, the USA women’s basketball team secured their 8th consecutive gold medal (and an improbable 61st straight victory) on the heels of perfect free throw shooting.?

Their razor thin margin of victory by one point might have easily been a loss has it not been for stone cold clutch free throws from A’ja Wilson, Kelsey Plum, and Kahleah Copper.?

Of note, Plum went 4-4 in the last minute and Copper hit the final two that provided just enough for when France hit a 2 point shot at the buzzer (with a toe just over the three-point line.?

Plum, a graduate of my alma mater the University of Washington, intrigued me most.?

Most players approach the free throw line without much expression. They go through their process to attempt the only shot in the game that’s guaranteed to be the same every time. Plum has a different expression…a full on, give me that damn ball because I’m making these shots, smile.?

While I fully believe that the other players have confidence in their free throw shooting, the nearly 90% accuracy from Plum comes from an almost giddy sense of mastery.?

She wants the ball in that moment, to the point of glee. She already knows she’s made the shots. She’s ready to be great.?

My assumption is that none of you readers are on the hook to make gold medal securing free throws in the Olympics. However every one of you has similar activities in your career.?

We all have those factors that determine wins and losses in our own “games.” Are we spending time practicing them to the point of absolute confidence? Do we want the ball when our game is on the line? Are we ready to step up and hit the big shots with a smile on our face?

You know what the factors in your games of business and life. Are you smiling and brimming with confidence??

No matter an Olympic champion, business champion, or life champion, we all can learn a little from Kelsey Plum and her teammates.

And that’s to boldly step up with confidence earned through practice, experience, failure, and success to say, “Give me the damn ball!”

Keep chasing unleashed.

Quote of the Week:

“Don’t judge each day by the harvest you reap but by the seeds that you plant.”

~ Robert Louis Stevenson

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