It's true that much of the success or failure you will experience in basketball this year will have a lot to do with how hard you worked in the off-season. However, that's only part of the equation. There is something else that can have a huge impact on the success of your season and often times it is overlooked. What I'm talking about is goal setting. Players and coaches that take some quality time before each season starts to evaluate specific things they are going to try and accomplish are usually far more successful than those that just let the chips fall where they may.

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Setting Goals – The Key to a Successful Basketball Season-HoopSkills.com
Setting Goals - The Key to a Successful
Basketball Season
-by Coach Andy Louder
http://www.hoopskills.com
It's true that much of the success or failure you will
experience this year will have a lot to do with how
hard you worked in the off-season. However, that's
only part of the equation. There is something else
that can have a huge impact on the success of your
season and often times it is overlooked. What I'm
talking about is goal setting. Players and coaches
that take some quality time before each season
starts to evaluate specific things they are going to
try and accomplish are usually far more successful
than those that just let the chips fall where they
may.
When the subject of goal setting comes up, it
usually doesn't generate much excitement because people are more interested in
hearing about breathtaking statistics and seeing superstar highlights. Think about it
though, it is very rare that you will ever become what you want to become unless
you define exactly what it is that you need to achieve in order to get there. You'll
go from game to game, season to season unsatisfied and pretty soon it will all be
over and you'll be left with unpleasant feelings of regret. Isn't it about time you
started making progress? Approach this season different. Sit down as soon as
possible to specify what you are going to accomplish. If you do this every game and
every season from here on out you'll become a force to be reckoned with on the
court!
Here are some tips to keep in mind when setting your goals:
Be Specific

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Setting Goals – The Key to a Successful Basketball Season-HoopSkills.com
Don't set goals like "I'm going to improve my ball handling this year". This is a good
overall objective but, it's not nearly specific enough to be a good goal. A more
appropriate way to go about this is to say something like, "in an effort to improve
my ball handling I am going to set the following goals" and then you would spell
out specific things. You could make a goal of not getting more than a certain
number of individual turnovers each game or define a certain number of hours you
will dedicate in your personal time each week to working on dribbling with your
off-hand. When you are too vague with your goals, it's easy to forget about them
and you end up not accomplishing very much.
Make Your Goals Measurable
If you can't measure your goals you are completely wasting your time. The whole
point of setting goals is to help you accomplish more and achieve results. Let's say
you are a coach wanting to make your practices more effective. An example of a
poor goal would be something like, "I'm going to make my practices more
organized this year". It's a great thought, but because it's not measurable, that's all
it is. A thought that doesn't turn into action. A more effective approach would be
to list certain things you will do to make your practices more organized. Maybe you
make it a goal to start every practice with a 2 minute speech that introduces a
theme for that day. Maybe you specify that each practice will consist of a certain
number of drills and each one will begin and end on time. Whatever it is, whether
you are a coach or a player you have to be able to look at your goals and measure
whether or not they are being met.
Be Aggressive but Also Practical
If last year you averaged 2 rebounds a game, it doesn't make sense for you to set a
goal of averaging 12 this year. It's good to be ambitious, but if you overdo it, you'll
set yourself up for failure. You'll end up not even coming close to your goal and
then completely lose faith in the whole process. Instead, think about how hard
you've worked in the off-season, what you plan to do differently this year and then
set a goal that challenges you but at the same time, is realistic.
Set Benchmarks & Milestones

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Setting Goals – The Key to a Successful Basketball Season-HoopSkills.com
One of the biggest mistakes people make when setting goals is, they fail to monitor
their progress on a regular basis. The point isn't to set your goals and then forget
about them until the end of the season when you sit down to look at your stats. It
needs to be an ongoing process. For example, let's imagine a coach setting a goal
to win 65% of his away games during the season. The first thing that coach needs
to do is evaluate how many total road wins he will need to achieve a 65% winning
record. Let's say that number is 8. The coach should then break up the season and
write on his calendar how many road wins he needs to be at each month in order
to achieve his goal. This way, if he is falling behind, he'll get an early warning and
know that he needs to kick it into high gear before it's too late. The whole point is
to break down your goal into chunks so you can work on things on a day-to-day,
week-to-week basis. If you don't do this the odds of you achieving your goals will
diminish greatly.
Have a Reward/Punishment System in Place
Holding yourself accountable is extremely important when it comes to goal setting.
If the season ends and all you do is look at what you did or did not accomplish and
then walk away, you're cheating yourself. If you achieved your goals there is cause
for celebration and you should reward yourself. It could be as simple as you
splurging on a night out with your friends at your favorite restaurant. It could be
something bigger like a vacation to the Caribbean. The point is to understand that
you have earned it and you need to treat yourself. The same is true if you fail to
achieve your goals. Admit you fell short and try to come up with something that
discourages you from being satisfied with not meeting your goals. I know a player
that played division I college basketball who punished himself when he didn't meet
his goals by running wind sprints and ladders. If he set a goal to shoot over 50%
from the three point line during a game and didn't accomplish it, he'd be in the
gym the next day working his tail off. The kid had character and it helped him
accomplish many great things.
Make this year different by getting in the habit of setting goals. Think about
specific things you want to accomplish and make it happen!