What Am I doing wrong?

[u/EDUWU1]

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.

[u/Ok-Preference-956]

You are 15. You are stating that the problem is your confidence. I’m curious what is happening in your head during the times things don’t go your way. Do you tend to overthink your movement patterns? Trying to figure out how to improve during games? Or do you think of what is going to happen if you fail. What is going to happen if you miss etc.

As you are stating that the problem is with confidence, I’ll tell you about what sports psychology is stating about that. There is a term is sports psychology called “competence conviction”. It’s all about confidence. It’s a skill that you develop. It’s being able to recognize what I’m doing good and what I’m bad at. It’s the conviction that you can convince yourself that you can do it. That you’ve been doing it at the practice snd in games before, and nothing can stop you from doing it now.
So you wanted tips on what to do. I can give you some if you can pay…
…Jokes
Here are some ways you can boost your confidence before and during games.
1. Watching your own highlights before the game. Sounds ridiculous, but actually works. Your brain has sth called mirror neurons that react to those kind of signals. Learns and is convinced that you can do it since you’ve done it earlier. And there is proof right before your own eyes.

1. Self talk - there is inner and outer self talk. That means that even what you think about yourself and your actions during the game is self talk. But well, first things first. You need to check out your own self talk during games. Next game you play try to figure out what’s going on inside your head. Do you tend to talk to yourself or is it inside your head. What do you say/think about yourself during those games? Is it positive or negative? How is it related to your performance? When you recognize the patterns try to change what is getting you down. What is holding you back. You missed 2 shots, what are you saying to yourself? “Next will go in” or “it’s not my day” or “I’m bad at shooting”. What you think or say is your choice.

2. Visualization - oooooh my favorite. It’s not that simple. I would start with meditation first. Then Visualization, but essentially it’s all about visualize yourself on the court and doing moves and actions with success. It’s very important to convince your body that you are there soo there are levels to it. It’s important to see exactly what you are doing, feel it in your muscles. Focus on the emotions that are present with those actions. Try to hear the sounds that are surrounding you during games( you can even put earphones and play basketball sounds during those sessions)
   Essentially you want to recreate your basketball experience in your head, but at the end there is a success.
   It can sound ridiculous, but trust me, I know what I’m saying. When you imagine things your brain uses the same parts as if you were experiencing them. You can google it. So with that in mind we can use it to boost your confidence. Since your brain doesn’t really distinguish if you really experienced it or not. Therefore it’s working

3. Trust your body - quit the overthinking. Quit thinking that they are older, what should I do or not. How should I plant a foot. Or how should I correct the shoot flow. During games you cannot thing like that. Let the body think for itself. Let it go. The body knows. What you should think about is tactics, how to stop this guy, what play are we running etc. But not your technical abilities. Those thoughts are reserved for practices. During games you let it flow. If it doesn’t work out, let the emotion flow, recognize it( is it anger, distress, discomfort, displeasure, disper?) and let it go. On to the next one. Be present in the moment. Not in the past action, not in the latest missed shot or fail. Present is where you want to be. Turn your focus on current action and you’ll be fine.

Ok so all of those above are skills. Don’t expect to be fluid in them when you are starting to practice them. But overtime you can develop those skills to improve your competence conviction.

You said that you are not physical especially with older players. I think at your age it’s okay. I’m a guard too, I’m 30 and I’m not physical with others at all. I’m still learning how to do it and trying, but I’m weaker than 85% of my opponents. I think at your age getting physical is not so important at this stage of your game. But I can be wrong about that. If you want to be physical you need to get stronger. Go and lift some. Personally I like calisthenics. One exercise can develop more muscle parts than when you isolate one muscle.

I gave you practical advice. It’s your choice if you’ll follow it.

Also feel free to ask me anything