I play ball several times a week. They are all pickup games and I usually try and match up against players that are better than me because it is how you improve your game.
Whenever I am playing I spend a large part of the game playing mind games with the guys on the other team. I have a number of little tricks that tend to work well. I am not going to share all of them, but here is one that I find to be particularly useful.
During the game I try hard to create turnovers. I have pretty fast hands, so I usually manage to interrupt passes and or a players dribble. Frequently the ball goes out of bounds because myself or another defender has managed to trip things up for the other guy.
When the ball bounces out of bounds most of the time there is a bit of a discussion as to which way the possession arrow is facing, that is, whose ball is it.
If possible I will frequently claim responsibility for having knocked the ball out of play because I want the other players to be worried about my ability as a defender. I want them to think twice about what I might be able to do. I want them to think of me as being a better player than I am.
And you know what, it works.
It is not always about what you can do, it is what you think I can do.
In other words, “Fake it till you make it”???