What Fishing and TikTok Trainers Have To Do With Your Struggles As A Basketball Player
I'm pretty terrible at fishing. I've only done it a couple of times but without fail, I don't catch a single thing. Except for one time.
I was on a camping trip with a couple friends and we decided in the morning to get out on the boat and go fishing in the lake. I was amazed with the process and the thought behind where the most ideal spot on the lake was for us to fish.
"No we don't want to go here, it's too shallow."
"No we don't want to go here, it's too sunny."
"No we don't want to go here, there's too many people."
There were so many little strategies involved and I tried my best to copy my more experienced friends. And even though I felt like I did pretty well to copy what they were doing, I only caught one fish that day.
Picture the smallest fish you could possibly catch, that's the one I caught. My friends called it the "dink of the day". So yeah, that's how my day went. But meanwhile, my friend caught A TON of fish. And not like the little one that I caught, these were legitimate fish.
I was frustrated because I felt like I had done the exact same things that he did. I was fishing in the same spots, I was casting my line just like he did. But yet my results were way worse than his. And it wasn't until years later when I was listening to one of my favorite podcasts that it finally clicked as to WHY that was...
"Tactics vs. Principles"
I was using tactics. Cast the line in this spot. Cast the line using this technique. Move the rod like this. And any other tactic I could pick up from my friend.
I saw the tactics he was using and tried to apply them to my situation.
But my friend on the other hand wasn't driven by tactics, he was driven by principles. He had certain principles that he understood and followed when he fished. So any tactic or strategy he might use would come from his deep understanding of the principles behind successful fishing.
Following tactics vs. following principles leads to VERY different outcomes, which I experienced first hand that day.
So how does this relate to you as a basketball player?
The age we live in when it comes to social media and (if I'm being completely honest) basketball training in general is almost 100% tactic driven.
"Try this move to destroy your defender!"
"Do this to win your next 1 on 1!"
"Try this fix to start making more threes!"
I'm sure you know what I'm talking about. And here's the thing, these types of videos and tactic driven things aren't necessarily bad! It's a good place to start. The problem is, it's typically where things stay, we rarely get deeper than surface level.
So many players out there are like me when I went fishing: trying to copy tactics but having no idea of the principles that will actually make them successful. And so they don't see the results that they want because they don't actually understand the WHY behind anything that they do.
So how can you start to become principle driven instead of just relying on tactics? Let me give you an example, specifically when it comes to basketball IQ.
A lot of players want to know when the right time to shoot, drive, pass, and cut is. Which is a legitimate question, although it's still only a tactical question.
If however, we understand the principles behind creating great shots on offense, we would know a couple of different things. First, we want to create advantages and then attack those. So as a player, you need to be able to recognize when you have an advantage:
- do you have a momentum advantage to attack (closeout situation)?
- do you have a mismatch to attack (slower defender, smaller/weaker defender)?
If you do have one of those things, what's the best way to go about attacking that advantage? Is it to attack the rim? Is it to draw the defender out to space and attack them 1 on 1? Is it to look to post them up and go to work? Is it to wait for them to get closer before using a jab or a shot fake? Is it to get them into a ball screen action?
If you don't have either of those advantages though, then that's the time to quickly move the ball and potentially cut or set an away screen.
Understanding this principle will give you the answer as to which "tactic" you should use.
So all that to say, the way most players learn the game is backwards. We should be prioritizing learning the principles of the game and then using that understanding to determine the strategies and tactics we use. But like I said, most of the information out there stops at the "tactic" level, so it's no wonder why most players struggle to truly find success on the court.
This is the number one reason why I created Basketball IQ Academy.
In order to find true success as a player-
- becoming a high level scorer, playmaker, and defender
- understanding how to play efficiently and perform consistently
- developing a high level of confidence and self-belief on the court
-it will require you to learn the principles that go into becoming a great player.
Back to my fishing story, you don't want to be me, trying to copy the tactics being used by other people. Just "hoping" that I see good results. You want to be my friend, who understood the principles behind catching fish so no matter what situation he's put in, he's going to be able to use the right strategy and the right tactics and he's going to be extremely confident that he's going to catch some big fish.
So click right here to get started and let's transform who you are as a player.
- Ethan
