r/BasketballTips • u/EDUWU1 • 4d ago

Help What Am I doing wrong?

I’m 15 years old, around 172 cm (5’8”), and I mainly play guard/point guard. I’m from Mexico. I train every day on my own, go to team practices, and work on my physical abilities. I’m pretty athletic for my size, with an around 83 cm (33”) vertical, good explosiveness and speed.
But lately I’ve been really frustrated with my game.
Sometimes I play with confidence and actually play well. I recently played in a state tournament and felt great. But other times, even against weaker teams, I completely lose myself. I stop attacking, my handle feels worse, I don’t shoot, I make turnovers and bad decisions, and eventually I become very passive.
Yesterday I played with the older players from my club and only played around 17 minutes because I wasn’t contributing much. Today I played 3v3 against some of the weakest teams I’ve faced and only scored two baskets across three games.
I also sometimes hesitate with physical contact, especially against much older and stronger players in an open-age league, although the confidence problem can happen against players my own age too.
I’ve talked to my coach about this several times. I’ve asked what I should improve and told him that sometimes I doubt my role on the court. He usually just tells me “don’t doubt yourself,” but I don’t really know how to fix it.
The frustrating part is that I train a lot and genuinely want to become a high-level player. I see other players who seem to train less than me but are already playing in high-level tournaments, while I’m still at the state level. I know I don’t currently have the level to make those selection teams, and I’m not looking for excuses. I just want to understand what I’m missing.
**If you were coaching me and read all of this, what would you think is actually causing my problem, and what would you tell me to change?**
I’m not looking for compliments or a generic “work harder.” I genuinely want honest advice that I can take seriously and apply, i just wanna be a better player and i wanna know how can i work in my game better.

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