Lebron obviously has time on his side. MJ only began to consistently earn championships and ‘mentally tough’ labels following many years in the league enduring frustrating playoff exits. However, A common counter-argument to the school of ‘Lebron has plenty of time’ used to be that he had yet to even experience a single championship series beyond high school. The deep post season is both the ultimate test and the ultimate toughness training crucible where you only enjoy the true value when you actually participate. This past year, Steve Kerr, certainly no stranger to playoff toughness and great clutch playoff performances, penned a Yahoo internet article that highlighted additional concerns.

"In losses to the Lakers, Portland and Denver, James either missed or passed up several game-winning shot opportunities, and he misfired on several key free throws. What was disconcerting to Cavaliers fans was not missing big shots – even Kobe Bryant does that – but his reaction. James looked distraught over the thought of letting his teammates down, hanging his head and flailing his arms in disgust each time…Kobe, Reggie and Michael…when they did miss, they never showed any negative body language that could be perceived as weakness. They held their heads high and defiantly walked off the floor." Mentally Tough Body Language Why did Steve Kerr pay particular attention to Lebron’s body language and behavior in these situations? This question is best answered by posing an additional question. How would most players feel if at the end of a game, their coach met with the opposing coach and said "here you go coach, here is the last play of the game ….we will take the ball out on the baseline and we’ll be running a double screen from the elbow for our best shooter, and she will take a nice comfortable 12-15ft shot to seal the victory." The players would probably ‘pitch a fit,’ and understandably so! In a similar way, it is important for athletes to understand that their facial expressions and body language are responsible for letting their opponents know exactly what is on their mind. Opponents have an advantage whenever they know we are frustrated, fatigued, or experiencing any other negative thought or feeling.

An even more important reason for maintaining great body language is the positive or negative affect body language can have on the athlete. As an example, try to answer the following question. What do all great actors have in common? Well, one of the things they have in common is the ability to convince us that they have become the people they are pretending to be. But even more remarkable than that, they have the ability to often convince themselves that they are playing a role. The great actors often immerse themselves in their roles to the extent that they are able to physically experience intense emotion such as courage, fear, and confidence, even to the point that they can produce tears of joy or sadness. How are they able to achieve this type of control? Great actors achieve this type of physical response through tremendous imagery and word suggestions in their mind and they also assume the body language of the emotions that they are experiencing to add to these emotions. Think about the last movie scene you saw where an actor laughed or cried and think about the body language that contributed to these different emotions.

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