Making Peak Performance a Common Occurrence
During this year’s March Madness tournament, we’re going to see some fantastic athleticism. In fact, it will seem like these athletes are performing in ways you didn’t think possible, and that’s the reason we enjoy this tournament so much. In order to play at that level, however, athletes must embody a mindset that expects this kind of peak performance as a common occurrence.
Andy Panko is a basketball player I worked with while he was in college and during his first couple of years in the pros. Entering his senior year of high school, Andy was a 6’0” point guard. He was a good point guard, but apparently not good enough for coaches at the next level to recruit him. But, during his senior year he grew nine inches. He was now an incredibly athletic, skilled ball handling, 6’9” point guard who could shoot the lights out.
By the time he was on the college basketball radar screen, however, it appeared to be too late for the next season. Enter Division III Lebanon Valley College. They had heard about the local wonder and offered Andy an opportunity to play for the Flying Dutchmen. They were thinking they had found their star power forward or possibly center. Andy had a different idea. Rather than wait a year to see what might open up at the NCAA Division I level the following year, he approached the coach and said that he would sign with LVC if he could play one of the guard positions. The rest is history.
He went on to set all kinds of records and was twice named Division III player of the year. He signed as an NBA free agent with the Los Angeles Lakers, and then with the Atlanta Hawks. Eventually he settled in Europe where he continues to enjoy a remarkably successful career that included selection as the 2012 Spanish League’s MVP. What made much of this achievable, aside from suddenly growing nine inches and his incredible dedication, was the fact that Andy came to know that he was capable of performing at a level far beyond what he thought possible.
While preparing for a professional tryout after his senior season, an incident occurred that convinced him of the truth that he had only begun to realize. Andy and I were walking toward the gym exit and discussing his shooting performance during the session. He was and is an outstanding three-point shooter, but I was making the case that he possessed the ability to shoot at an even higher level. He turned to me and stopped about 20 feet from the exit and said, “Coach, you can’t expect me to be perfect. I can’t make every shot I take.” I readily agreed but said, “You are far from perfect.” He looked at me unconvinced, resisting the belief that he could do better.
Because I had been working with an NFL wide receiver prior to my session with Andy, I had a football under my arm. I said, “It is all about mastering your ability to focus on a target. If you continue to improve that skill you could even throw this football through the hoop at the other end of the gym.” He looked at me with a mocking expression and said, “Yeah right. If you’re so great at teaching all of this focus stuff, let me see you do it.” Without hesitating I looked at the basket, cranked back my arm and threw the ball with a perfect spiral across the entire gymnasium as he watched it swish through the net. It was the perfect moment, a proof about what is possible, and planted a seed that has grown throughout his entire professional career.
Too often we witness a remarkable performance and write it off as some anomaly, or we watch in wonder of all the incredible pro highlights. If you don’t believe some feat is possible, it is not going to happen. If you say, “Oh, I can’t do that,” then you are absolutely right; it is almost a guarantee that your self-fulfilling prophecy will come true. Instead of viewing them as rare occurrences, why don’t you expect them all the time? After all, they were possible. And if they were possible, they are repeatable.
