UPB Mental Skills Clinic Led By Graham Betchart, Packie Turner, and Joey Hewitt Returns for the Second Straight Year
By: Dylan Tehada
Palms Down Basketball’s Graham Betchart and UPBasketball are collabing once again as the Mental Skills Clinic is making a return to the gym on Saturday, November 2nd. This year's rendition of theMental Skills Clinic will highlight ways for young athletes to take their mental game to the next level by equipping athletes with mental frameworks and exercises to implement into their daily lives on and off the court. Mental skills continue to be at the forefront of athlete performance and with the guidance of Betchart, Coach Joey Hewitt, and Coach Packie Turner, young athletes in the UPB community will have an opportunity to establish a strong foundation of mental skills that will elevate their game.
Betchart has been a pioneer in making mental skills in basketball more accessible to all hoopers. His experience with successful teams like University of Connecticut Men’s Basketball Team and individual players like Aaron Gordon fuels his desire to share these teachings with the next generation of hoopers. According to Graham, establishing these habits and equipping these mental skills frameworks early on allows it to be easily implemented into every aspect of playing ball whether it be a training session, a high stakes in-game moment, or even shooting around. Mental skills are not exclusive to high stakes moments or high levels of play, they are meant to be implemented in anything and everything a young hooper participates in.
“If you're practicing dribbling, you should be practicing focus. If you're practicing shooting, you should be practicing your next play speed. These are skills that aren't something you do once you're under pressure, this is what you do every day, and that's how we teach it to people,” Betchart said.
Coach Joey Hewitt has led the charge at UPB in helping young athletes hone their mental skills and integrates these teachings into every training session he leads. Hewitt knows firsthand the importance of mental skills training from his experience as a player who trained with Betchart from the young age of 18 while playing in college and now as a coach helping shape the next generation of hoopers. His passion for the intersection of mental skills and basketball is what excites him to make an impact through events like the upcoming Mental Skills Clinic.
“It's one of my favorite things to see, an athlete making a breakthrough mentally, or telling me about a moment where they used one of the mental skills in a game and it helped them get through it,” Hewitt said. “Giving back to all these young athletes is very fulfilling. To equip these athletes with all the skills that I feel like I needed and didn't have when I was their age is a great feeling.”
Athletes who attend the clinic will practice mental frameworks and habits in real time on court with the guidance and leadership of UPB player development coaches and Graham Betchart himself. Athletes will be guided through how they can implement core mental skills concepts, such as MVPs (meditation, visualization, and powerful self talk), the palms down approach, and next play speed, into their everyday habits.
In addition, new concepts will be taught such as how music plays a role in helping athletes develop rhythm and maintain focus in every aspect of their training and playing experience. Perhaps the biggest takeaway that Betchart and staff seek to instill is that the mental side of basketball is not separate from the physical side. In fact, according to Betchart these two dimensions of the game are more alike than one might think.
“The mental game is physical and once you learn that there is no separation of the two and we bring it all together, it's a beautiful thing… Confidence and focus can be developed. They can be built. It's not something you're born with. It's something that you practice all the time, and we make it practical,” Betchart said.
We are so excited to see the UPB’s second ever Mental Skills Clinic come to life and cannot wait for the impact that UPB’s player development coaches and guest Graham Betchart will make on the UPB community of hoopers. If you’re interested in joining the mental skills clinic taking place on Saturday, November 2nd sign up here! As a cherry on top, in addition to the amazing resources that will be present in the gym on November 2nd, every attendee will receive a free month of mental skills online training with Graham Betchart. To learn more about this online resource head over to Betchart’s website linked here!
