Rams star credits meditation for transformation
Ten minutes ofmeditation a day helped leading basketballer Jack Salt through a horror two-year health ordeal.
The 2.08m centre made his longawaited return to the court for the Canterbury Rams in Blenheim last weekend in pre-season action against the Nelson Giants and Wellington Saints.
It was some wait for Salt who hadn’t played a competitive game in 22 months – last suiting up for the Phoenix Suns in the NBA Summer League in June 2019.
Salt appeared to have the hoops world at his size 16 feet two years ago, becoming the first New Zealander to win US college basketball’s coveted NCAA title with the University of Virginia.
He had been pushed to the brink mentally and physically since then, with the 25-year-old doubting if he would play the sport again.
First, Salt was wiped out for six months by glandular fever, which prevented him from heading to Poland in 2019 and taking up his first professional contract with Trefl Sopot. Salt ballooned to 128kg from his usual 110kg when he was ill. Restricting his eating made the sickness worse and he ‘‘got fat’’.
Worse was to come last year after signing with the Christchurch-based Rams prior to the Covid-19 pandemic. He landed awkwardly while jumping at a training session in June, chipping the cartilage in his left knee. Salt underwent keyhole surgery and spent nine months on the sideline, ruling him out of the six-week Showdown.
Remaining positive during such a challenging time with his health hadn’t been easy.
He stumbled across meditation while struck down with glandular fever and said it had changed his outlook on life. Each day he meditated for 10 minutes using the ‘Waking Up with Samharris’ app.
‘‘I try to do it daily and it’s really been a life-changer for me,’’ Salt said.
‘‘I would’ve drove myself crazy if I wouldn’t have had a way to deal with all of the things I was feeling.’’
Meditation has become increasingly popular with NBA stars. The league announced a partnership
with meditation app Headspace in 2018 to enable players and support staff to deal with the stress and anxiety of professional sport.
Los Angeles Lakers superstar Lebron James is a meditation enthusiast, saying it kept him sane in the NBA bubble last year.
Using meditation had been a powerful mechanism for Salt, erasing negative thoughts in his mind.
‘‘It’s the lessons you learn during meditation, you translate it over into your life, so really I don’t just meditate for 10 minutes a day. Throughout my whole day, I try to be present.
‘‘It’s a huge way to stop these constant negative feedback loops in your head.’’
Salt is a fascinating individual.
He has aspirations to write a self-help book and is in the early stages of generating ideas.
‘‘That’s been my side hobby the past fewmonths. I want to help people. I’ve changed a lot in my mind, how I think, and if I can help people into seeing how they can think in a way that would improve their life, that’s what I want to do.’’
Salt is close friends with former Rams’ American import Isaiahwilkins, who credited the Kiwi with getting him through college at Virginia as he battled clinical depression and anxiety.
The duo were team-mates and room-mates for three years and it was Wilkins’ glowing endorsement about the Rams that led to Salt signing with them last year.
Several NBL sides chased Salt, who was a high school phenom at Westlake Boys’ High on Auckland’s North Shore. He debuted for the Tall Blacks while still at high school as a 17-year-old in 2013.
Salt would be on amanaged workload to start the season, but hoped he would be ‘‘full swing’’ a month in with no restrictions.
He was realistic about his expectations in the NBL after such a long layoff and acknowledged it would take time to build up his confidence and match fitness again.
‘‘Honestly I have no idea how I’m going to perform, but I do know I’m going to prepare as hard as I can. I’m going to workmy butt off every game and I’mgoing to be comfortable with the results because I’ve put in the work physically, mentally, and I’mup for the challenge.’’
‘‘I want to help people. I’ve changed a lot in my mind, how I think.’’
Jack Salt