Ritual Of The Foul LIne

The best way to win is to make it a by-product of the process.  In any competition, the participants are better off if they get their minds off the final outcome and onto a ritual.  For example, when one of our players went to the foul line in a close game, I wanted him to be thinking about his ritual, not about the consequences of missing.

From the mid 1960s on I asked each player to have a ritual on the foul line.  It didn't have to be uniform throughout the team.  I encouraged each player to develop his own.  One player might decide to bounce the ball three times before shooting; another player might not dribble at all.  I just wanted them to do the same thing each time they went to the foul line. 

Their minds would be on the ritual, not the outcome.  It helped relieve the pressure of the moment.

Pg 39-40