Changing the Language of the Game with Graham Betchart

3.5 Minute read

By: Andrea Aruino 

In the early 2000s, basketball success was often defined by points scored, games won, and physical ability, a mindset Mental Skills Coach, Graham Betchart, experienced firsthand while playing at the University of California Santa Cruz from 1999–2001. Recognizing the missing link in performance, he committed himself to sports psychology and teaching athletes how to control their mindset long before mental skills training became mainstream. Betchart began working with players as young as ten, emphasizing mental control both on and off the court, which led him to found Palms Down Basketball for 6th-12th grade athletes. 

Today, he brings decades of mental performance expertise to UPBasketball and serves as the Mental Performance Coach for the UConn Huskies Men’s Basketball Team. He also has experience working with organizations and athletes such as the Sacramento Kings, Utah Jazz, and NBA Champions Aaron Gordon and Jalen Brown. These success stories began not months before championships, but over a decade earlier through early mental training.

“Donald Foyle, who played ten years in the NBA, introduced me to sports psychology. He told me to treat every single person I met as if they were an NBA player. I treat all kids as if they’re the ones. I didn’t know Aaron Gordon or Jalen Brown would become as big as they are, they were just little kids who were curious about this stuff so I kept training them,” Betchart said. 

UPB’s Coach Packie Turner was later enthralled into the world of mental skills after their work together began. Turner was just as interested in Betchart’s work as his younger athletes which is what pushed the two to create a clinic at UPBasketball solely based on mental skills. This clinic will send players off with a PDF of Graham Betchart’s book, Play Present, and a free trial at Betchart’s Online Mental Training Gym as a way to maintain and practice what is taught after completing the clinic. What separates a mental skills clinic from one focused on dribbling and shooting is not the drills, it is the language players are surrounded by.

“It's regular basketball. You get a great workout, but we'll be incorporating mindset into it. That's what makes this unique. We’re not doing mindset performance training on the side, we’re changing our language as we train. Instead of saying, ‘make the shot’ we'll say, ‘trust your shot.’ Trust your shot means we don't even know if it's going to go in or out, let it rip though,” Betchart said. 

A special practice that they do at each mental skills clinic is called an MVP which stands for, Meditation, Visualization, and Powerful self-talk. Athletes can use this practice for anything they want but in this clinic, coaches want to see players working on their breathing which will inevitably flow into their ability to visualize their skills and how they can trust in their performance. 

The upcoming mental skills clinic will be the third one hosted at UPBasketball. Betchart and Turner are always looking at ways they can improve the clinic year after year. Although the most important takeaway from each clinic is facilitating a strong mind for each of these young athletes. Players can expect to learn about breathing techniques, self-talk phrases in stressful situations, and ultimately how to work around the adversities of what it means to be a basketball player. The regular training is met with mind exercises that players can then incorporate into every game and workout. It is a simple but highly effective practice that every athlete should implement into their game. 

“We're just teaching broad stuff. It's not like a one-on-one thing where you're doing surgery to someone. We're all working on being present and that can be hard. We're all working on moving to the next play fast which is hard to do. But through breathing and all of our other exercises everyone can work on that. A nine-year-old could be with an NBA player doing the same work,” Betchart said.

Practicing how to work around the mind’s thoughts in the basketball world starts with the language they are surrounded by. It is important especially for young athletes because they carry these mind practices for as far as they hope to reach in their career. Mental health in sports has been unfairly overlooked for too long. Turner and Betchart are actively looking to change people’s perspective on mental training. It should be something all players, coaches, and families adopt when working with younger athletes. 

Betchart’s output in successful professional athletes is proof of what is possible when a player commits to the discipline of mental training. A strong foundation to a long and successful basketball career starts with the language and mindset that leads a player. Begin with UPBasketball at our Mental Skills Clinic on Saturday January 17, 2026, led by Betchart and Turner in training 6th-12th graders on how they can use their mind as an advantage.