Watch Your Body Language

Throughout our lives various mentors in our lives have always been sure to tell us to think before we speak. Whether that person was a parent, grandparent, teacher or some other at some point I’m sure we’ve all heard that phrase. So it seems we are more cognizant of the power of our words and have a pretty good understanding of how to choose our words wisely. But what you may not be aware of it that when it comes to communication, the words we use only make up 7% of what we are communicating to people.

​So what determines the other 93% of your communication? Well 38% is the tone you use and 55%, over half of your message, is being communicated by your body language! But no one ever warned us growing up that we needed to watch our body language so how would we know? For many of us we may have never even considered what out body language is communicating to others. I know for me I never was conscious of it until taking my first Communications course in college.

Not sure what I mean when I say body language is communicating a big message? Try this: While watching the NCAA tournament, watch how players react to being subbed out of a game.  Are they walking to the bench hunched over, head down? Are they jogging over high-fiving the incoming player and pointing out who they had? Do they interact with other people on the bench on the way by? How about the interaction with the coaches do the make eye contact and listen or are they looking away? What is the story this athlete is telling.

When a call goes against the player what do they do? If they don’t get passed the ball during an offensive possession how do they react? When getting beat on the defensive end? When a teammate gets beat? How about after a mistake by a teammate or themselves? All of these moments our body language is conveying a message.

Then think about yourself. What do you do in those situations? What message is your body language telling your teammates, coach, and those watching. You may think this isn’t very important but the message you are communicating tells people what kind of person you are.  

To get you started on the road of improving your body language here are five tips:
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1. After getting called for a foul, raise one hand and own it. DO NOT look at the ref with a “What Me” two hands to the sky look
2. When coming out of a game, jog off, meet replacement with a high five or fist bump being sure to point out man or position on defense, if coach has anything to tell you stop, look them in eye, listen and nod, then be sure to high five everyone on way down the bench line. When you finally sit down be sure to lock into the game.
3. On the bench, DO NOT lean back in chair. Lean forward locking into game, standing if you have to point out something on floor or celebrate. Be engaged pointing out action on the floor to your teammates
4. When a teammate makes a mistake, support them. Give them a quick pat or fist bump acknowledge that they’ve got it next time.
5. When a teammate is on the floor hustle over to pick them up.
   
   

One of my favorite examples of this happened a few years back, on a team I was an Assistant Coach for.

There was under a minute left to go in the game and we were down 5 with a baseline out of bound at our hoop.  We set up a play that was our go to play for getting a quick 3. As the ball was inbounded it was clear from the sidelines that the other team was prepared for it and they defended it well. The ball swung to the player who was supposed to get the shot out of the play and he was closely guarded by two defenders. He shot the ball anyway, and immediately you could tell he knew he shouldn’t. His hands went right to his head and then head down as the shot missed and the other team got the rebound.

​We fouled immediately to send them to the line.  The shooter was walking up the court head down in hands, clearly dejected that he had made the mistake, when the captain of our team, the individual who had taken the ball out, ran up from behind gave him a pat on the head and butt and simply said “We got this”.

​That confidence and support gave the rest of the team a boost that there was still enough time to win that game.  We did end up winning that game, scoring 6 points in the final 30 seconds to send it into overtime and winning in overtime, but it was a simple gesture that sparked the whole thing.

The ability to control ones body language and be cognizant of its power on the message we are trying to deliver is arguably one of the most valuable communication skills one can master. This is especially true on the basketball court. As a player, your body language is often the only thing that is communicating to those in the crowd , your teammates and coach.  Focus on telling the story you want.