Rattling your opponents cage!

Has a coach, teammate or rival ever been rude to you? Or worse, refuse to pass to you? If so, you know how much people can rattle your cage. No matter how mentally tough you are, you're still a human being...which means the energy of other people affects you. When Michael Jordan attended his first all-star game as a rookie, NBA star Isiah Thomas of Detroit froze him out.

Why?
Because Michael didn't say hello to him in an elevator. Actually, Michael was petrified of coming across as cocky.

The elevator was full of older, star players and Michael was intimidated. But Isiah, angry about being snubbed, tried to embarrass Michael by not passing him the ball. It hurt Michael terribly. He was completely disillusioned.
Finally he decided what to do:

"I knew that everything happened for a purpose and I could either learn from it or fight it. I decided to do both. The next night we played Detroit at home and I played like I was possessed. We beat the Pistons in a very physical game."

When people freeze you out, the first thing you need to do is find out WHY. If you were selfish, cocky, or downright narcissistic, you can apologize. But if you didn't do anything wrong - and they are simply being small - then you have a choice. You can crawl to them mentally. Or you can tap into your natural desire for vengeance.
See, underneath the athlete's competitive instinct is the desire for vengeance, to get even. It's totally natural.

Express it in a constructive way, like Michael did, and you can tap into it as a source of strengh. If you turn vengeance inward on yourself, you'll simply implode.

You'll get depressed and become passive. That's why when you are wronged, you need to harness your vengeance for maximum performance. Later, you can talk to this person, if appropriate. But I recommend taking care of business first. And that means winning.

You don't play angry.

Angry is out of control. You will not like your results if you play angry. Instead, you play determined.

Resolute and focused. With an iron will.