Pivot

01/04/24

Pivot is a movement in basketball that indicates when a player who has the ball steps once or more in any direction with one foot, while the other foot is kept at the point of contact on the floor.

In sports the term pivot is referenced in basketball; however, there is a lesson that can applied to all athletes in sports and life when thinking about pivoting.

When a basketball player pivots in a game it is generally caused by an athlete being stopped towards advancing towards the goal that requires them to stop and move around to find another way to score. Pivoting is required when the initial plan to drive down the court and score got interrupted by the opponent.

Every athlete regardless of the sport has an experience where their performance does not go as planned. In those challenging moments when an athlete is underperforming, you can either mentally pivot or remain stuck.

Choosing to mentally pivot in the face of adversity is often a subconscious process that happens in the height of a game, but if addressed has the power to positively impact the outcome.

The mental pivot is when athletes pause and redirect their energy in a new direction to achieve a successful outcome. It’s when an athlete recognizes what is not working and they make adjustments to course correct. Sometimes the adjustments are big and other times they are small. Sometimes the adjustments are physical, mental, or both.

 Learning to mentally pivot is only possible when athletes first intentionally pause and take an honest assessment of what I like to call their “game presence.” An athlete’s game presence is assessing the state of his/her physical and mental performance. It’s important to note that in game assessment is much different than assessing performance afterwards. However, knowing how to do a version of an assessment in both contexts is key to an athlete achieving peak performance.

In a follow-up post, I will address the “how to mentally pivot”, but first it’s important for athletes to take inventory of what their mental habits are in challenging game time situations.

Here are some questions to help foster self-awareness around your game presence that’s indicative of your ability to mentally pivot:

1. How does underperforming impact your thoughts, feelings and behaviors during a game?

2. How easily are you able to pivot into a new way of thinking, feeling, or behaving when underperforming (Scale from 1-10; 1=Never 10=Always)?

3. What thoughts, feelings, or behaviors are keeping you stuck, and interfering with your ability to mentally pivot when underperforming?

4. What strategies have you tried implementing that have successfully enabled you to mentally pivot when underperforming?