Delving Into The Mind Of Klay Thompson As He Recovers From Injury

The abiding memory of the end of the Warriors run was undoubtedly Klay Thompson walking back down the tunnel, onto the court, and nailing two free throws after tearing his ACL in Game 6 of the NBA Finals. It demonstrated the heart of a champion, the resilience of a team that had dominated the NBA for half a decade and just wouldn’t go down without a fight.

As heroic and epic a feat as that was, the journey back to playing after a serious injury like an ACL tear is long and arduous. Thompson knew it would be tough. But he also knew he wanted to give fans hope. So he decided he would allow access to a film crew to capture his recovery.

The result is ‘Above the Waves’, a 6 minute, 13 second documentary that is as enigmatic as the Warriors star shooting guard is himself. The film was created in partnership with the NBA and Kaiser Permanente, and directed by Floyd Russ.

“As a basketball fan, I appreciate how much of the game is mental, especially at the highest level with a player as phenomenal as Klay, whose style and shot really embody that cerebral beauty,” said Director Floyd Russ. “So when we set out to make this film, we wanted it to show that mental aspect of a physical struggle. I wanted to clash the physical, raw cinematic visuals we often see in sports documentaries with a surreal, dreamlike approach whenever we enter Klay’s mind.” 

The mentality of a champion

On an early morning call, Russ elaborates. Capturing that mentality of an NBA champion was so important because so many NBA players have told Russ that “when you get to that top tier, all of these guys are physically great. What sets you apart at that point is the mental aspect of the game. That’s what sets guys apart in the top tier of the top tier.” 

That extends beyond Thompson to the Warriors as a group. “They were the best team for five years. They got pushed to the limit.” Russ muses. “There was this rash of injuries and you saw with all three superstars now within the span of three to four months. That’s a testament that they have their mental aspects pretty much together but their bodies, almost all hit a breaking point.”

Entering the mind of Klay Thompson

But how do you get inside the mind of someone so enigmatic as Klay Thompson, a man who once gave a street interview to a local New York TV station about scaffolding? “Oh man!” exclaimed Russ, before pausing and drawing a parallel to Thompson’s ultra-efficient playing style. “Something that’s really interesting about him is that he’s very selective with his words… Klay is actually very procedural, you could say, like in the sense that he really thinks before he answers the question.”

One of the key elements to establish early with Thompson was that the film is “not just us following around for rehab”, explains Russ, “but that we’re also recreating kind of what he went through in Game 6 back then, which was such an epic basketball game..the way he came back out to shoot the free throws – that act itself is so symbolic to what it means to rehab an injury and now come back from an injury, you know stronger than ever.”

Capturing what makes Klay, Klay

Russ uses imagery drawn from Thompson’s life and passions to take the audience on this mental journey. For example, his love of chess. “It was really great to get the visualisation playing chess against himself because that’s representative of what the PT [personal training] process of injury is,” Russ explains. “You’re actually battling yourself and pushing yourself in a way that you can’t rush it….you really have to like keep your mind occupied so that you don’t go into a dark place.”

Indeed, the isolation inherent in recovery is something that Russ stresses that he wanted to bring out. “You’re often doing this by yourself, you know like if you’re doing it against your own body.” For star athletes that’s a particularly challenging process. Russ describes them as “people that are used to playing and being around people, being idolised by fans, the energy that comes with that…I think basketball players get used to being in the light, and when that’s just taken away from you in a sense you are kind of forgotten.”

Then there was capturing Thompson’s love of water and the beach, which ended up giving the documentary its name. “For him that was a very therapeutic thing where he kind of, in a sense, resets his mind. And it is all with the notion to come back stronger.” Indeed, Russ tells me that from the very outset he “knew that water and the beach was a huge thing, and it would hopefully serve as a motif for part of the mental rehab.”

Finally there’s the appearance of Klay’s father Mychal, himself a retired NBA champion. But true to the central theme, Mychal Thompson appears as a voiceover, creating the illusion of Klay hearing his father’s words in his own head as battles back from a devastating injury. “The fact that we just have Mychael on audio especially…it gives us a bigger view, you know, a reflection that even though Klay is in a place of reflection, he’s not retired,” Russ emphasizes.

The result is a short film as efficient, enigmatic, and inspiring as the man himself. All with a powerful message of the importance of the mind and mental resilience in overcoming challenges, as Russ underlines. “If you want to be successful in something that’s physical, you first have to have the mental will and the mental motivation to be able to execute that.”

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