How to become an ENERGY GIVER.

Ask your child this question, “Are you an energy giver or spirit sucker – on your team and amongst your friends?”

Think about it, each time we interact with one another, we either give energy or take it away. So, in every instance, we are either an energy giver or an energy taker.

Energy givers make those around them better – most of us can adamantly admit that we are more productive when we’re around positive people (a.k.a. “energy givers”).

So why don’t we consistently surround our children with positive, dream-supporting people? Why do we continue to let them partake in adverse situations and expect them to flourish in dream-killing environments?

It’s pretty simple – if every member of a program (coaches and players) is an energy giver, the experiences become much more profound and thus more productive by default. More fruitful workouts on a consistent basis will inevitably lead to more progress for the participants.

Remember, although we may all wish to be, not everyone can be 7-feet tall. Not everyone can jump out of the gym. But, each of us can become an energy giver. Being an energy giver is a conscious choice. It is an attitude.

Energy givers are leaders. They raise the confidence of everyone they come in contact with regardless of how they feel. They improve morale, chemistry, and performance every day. Coaches and teammates covet players who are energy givers.

So again, ask this question at the end of each day, “Were you an energy giver [today]?

Below is an energy giving check-list for student-athletes to go over to gauge whether they are being an energy giver:

• Do you give energy by listening and being coachable?
• Are you a supportive teammate?
• Are you an enthusiastic leader?
• Are you lifting the spirit of the group by working as hard as you possibly can?

Or do you drain energy by loafing, arguing, and complaining?

If our children want to stand out at their games, weekly training, and clinics—and indeed have coaches take notice when they get to high school—then they need to be a constant energy givers.

Below are just some of the many things that an energy giver does during games and practices:

• Thank teammates for a good pass.
• Help teammates up after they take a charge or dive for a loose ball.
• Cheer teammates on when they are not in the game.
• Listen to coaches with their ears and their eyes.
• Communicate on defense.
• Show up early, prepared, and enthusiastic to workout, practice or play.
• Always give extra effort.

Make a conscious effort to ask your child every day whether they were an energy giver—it will pay off. It could be helpful to watch a basketball game together and to pick out the energy givers and the energy-giving behaviors. Furthermore, if we want our children to be successful in basketball and life, they need to not only be energy givers themselves, but we need to surround them with energy givers and dream fertilizers.