S
SHAQUILLE O’NEAL was one of the great pro
basketball players of his generation, a giant force
in the middle, a powerful scorer and rebounder.
But he could barely hit half of his free throw
attempts.
Greg Norman, generally regarded as the No.
1 golfer in the world in the 1980s and ’90s, had
a maddening string of Sunday collapses after
leading major tournaments through the first three
rounds – most famously blowing a six-stroke lead
in the final round of the 1996 Masters.
Jim Thorpe, a century ago acknowledged as
“the world’s greatest athlete,” saw his professional
baseball career scuttled by his inability to hit
the curveball.
Often, these odd blips in an athlete’s
performance are written off as “he just can’t .
. .” Maybe the athlete himself accepts that “I’m
just not good at it.” And, if the athlete is otherwise
good enough at most other aspects of his game,
this one particular weakness is acknowledged,
almost in acceptance mode, as “well, nobody’s
perfect.”
But why could Tim Duncan, another big man
of similar stature to O’Neal, hit his free throws
at a much higher percentage?
Why could Jack Nicklaus gobble up the fourth
rounds of major tournaments when Norman so
often failed?
TOO OFTEN, WE EXPECT
IMMEDIATE SUCCESS,
WITHOUT PREPARATION,
PRACTICE OR TRAINING.
VANESSA SHANNON,
DIRECTOR OF MENTAL
PERFORMANCE AT NORTON
SPORTS HEALTH, SUGGESTS
AN ALTERNATE ROUTE TO
ASSURING ACHIEVEMENT.
Why could Honus Wagner, on the surface a far
less athletic-looking contemporary, hit curveballs
with the success that eluded Thorpe?
“The inability to perform, even among
otherwise-gifted individuals, is an insidious
problem,” said Dr. Vanessa Shannon, director
of mental performance at Norton Sports Health.
“But it’s largely misunderstood, especially by the
individuals themselves.”
Norton Sports Health is a department of
specialists within Norton Healthcare who are
trained and certified in dealing with sports-
related injuries and conditions. Shannon (who
also holds the same title with the University of
Louisville athletics department) has a Ph.D. in
sport psychology. The athletes she works with,
both at Norton and at UofL, are not dealing with
fractures of bones. They’re dealing with fractures
of confidence.
Most athletes, she said, take exactly the wrong
approach to poor performance. (The same could
be said for most anyone in any walk of life.)
“On a basic level, the way that we think affects
the way that we feel and act,” Shannon said. “My
job is to help athletes determine what things to
think about, and how they need to feel in order
to perform their best.”
Take the case of O’Neal, so futile a free throw
shooter that other teams adopted the “Hack-a-
Shaq” defense to foul him before he could get his
shots up. He hit his field goal attempts – when
he was contested, jostled, pushed, blocked
and obstructed – at better than 58 percent. But
standing alone at the free throw line, taking his
time with nobody’s hand in his face, he shot
under 53 percent. How much bigger a force he
could have been if he’d made opposing teams
pay for fouling him.
“A player struggling with his free throw shots
– or any other aspect of his game – will start to
think, ‘I’m just not good at it. I don’t do it well,’ ”
said Shannon. “That’s a fixed way of thinking that
will likely make him feel anxious and nervous,
and therefore even less effective.
“Whereas, if he were able to say to himself,
‘I’m not a great free throw shooter yet, I still
need to work on my free throws,’ it will give him
the perception of feeling in control, of feeling
autonomous and competent.”
Shannon points out that free throw shooting
is not a genetic trait nor an inherent skill, it’s
something you learn and develop over time.
“So, I would argue that people who say they’re
not good free throw shooters haven’t worked
at it enough. Technique can be changed and
performance can be improved.”
She said that other people passing it all off as
“he’s just not a good free throw shooter” allows
the athlete himself to have the mindset that gets
him out of an uncomfortable situation. “People
play into stereotypes about themselves: ‘I’m not
a good free throw shooter, I’m uncomfortable
shooting them, but I’m super good at other things.’
It’s way more comfortable for people to focus
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