Most sports require multiple skill sets, and basketball is one of those sports. As a player it is important to know yourself. This means knowing your strengths and your weaknesses. To win at basketball requires knowing your strengths and playing to those strengths in games.
An expert in this concept is NFL quarterback Tom Brady. Like him or hate him his teams win a lot of games and he’s got quite the collection of super bowl rings. He’s also very aware of his strengths. In his words:
“I’m not a big comparison thing like that and it’s because really it just depends what style you like,” Brady said. “You could say, well, you’re maybe the most accomplished. I would say, OK, yeah, I’ve won a lot of games, Super Bowls and so forth. But my style of play might not fit everybody else’s, what their view of what that position should be. I can really just be the best with the body that I was given. There’s certain things that I certainly cannot do. And I have the awareness to realize, OK, I can’t do those things.
What he’s saying in that first quote is that not everyone plays the same way. Not everyone was born with the same gifts. Not everyone has the same talents. He’s got the self awareness and humility to recognize that.
Continuing on he says the following:
“You can’t do everyone else’s job. I can’t block, tackle, run, catch. I sure as hell can’t run. But I can throw the (expletive) out of the ball. So let me just do that, and let me do that really well. And if I can do that, then the team certainly can use me for that.”
Here he changes his tune from what he can’t to what he can do. As a player he recognizes that he is way better than most at throwing the ball. And he recognizes that throwing the ball is a skill that the team needs. So maybe the team can use that strength of his to win some games!
It’s not always the case that having a single strength is enough, but sometimes it is. And in every case knowing your strengths will help you find the best ways to aide your team. It’s never bad to know your strengths and it’s always a good idea to play to them.
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