Everyday You Have To Take The Challenge Of Wanting To Learn In Basketball - By Elijah Allen

It has truly been a blessing to be able to play basketball professionally for the past six seasons, along with learning from different styles of coaching throughout my career. Seeing the world has been a dream of mine ever since I was a kid and every season has been a challenge and a eye opening experience.

And through it all, sttaying positive through the ups and downs as well as having a good support system behind me has made this whole pro process an enjoyable one. 

​After finishing up four years of playing at Division 2 Northwest Missouri State University, I was presented with a few opportunites to play professionally. I spent half of a season in Ireland and then headed here to Germany. Playing basketball in Europe was a big change for me. I was very fortunate to have Gerrit Kersten- Theile and Scoreres 1st support and having them believe in me along the way.

​The biggest difference playing in Europe for me was the attention to detail. It took time for me to learn that everything you do on the court should be done with a purpose. From the outside looking in I would have never imagined how much detail it takes to play the game at a high level. Everyday you have to truly focus and concentrate to be able to become an effective player. Everyday you have to take the challenge of wanting to learn.

​It always amazes me when i watch great players play because of the way that they make the game look so simple when in reality it can be difficult game to play. The older I get the more I realize that attention to detail was what I was lacking as a player when I was younger. Even now playing my 6th season professionally I feel like I make many mistakes because of not paying attention to details. An easy example could be setting a screen the wrong way, bad spacing or even the correct timing when running a play. If I was more disciplined to detail as a kid growing up I would have been a much better player than I am now.

The game of basketball is something that we should never stop trying to improve. Recently I have tried different approaches to finding different ways on how to improve attention to details, from being more vocal in the practices, finding out what foods to eat to stimilute the brain and also taking notes or writing down plays throughout the day.

Often times people get complacent and get lazy and wonder why they arent where they think they should be. Take the challenge of improving your attention to detail and watch how much a player and person you become!