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and respect your privacy. MY VISION/MISSION I intend to shift the way shooting is taught in this country, and I invite you to join me. Whatever has been done the last 25 years on an overall basis hasn't been working. Shooting has been deteriorating at all levels of the game, as I mention above. I'm sure there have been some great shooting coaches from time to time, but my feeling is the majority of the coaching didn't make a difference. My Method, as revealed in the video, "Swish - A Guide to Great Basketball Shooting," is a start in a different direction. It reveals and demonstrates a Method of learning and coaching that anyone and everyone can understand and put to use ... and results are quick. I call it the "secrets" of great shooting, but I know they're not secrets. It's just that the key principles that lead to great shooting are not being seen by most participants in the game. Players like Jeff Hornacek, Chris Mullin, Detlef Schrempf, Mark Price and Steve Kerr have been demonstrating them every time they go onto a court. My coaching shows how they shoot, and suddenly it's no longer a mystery. Of course, mastering the technique takes time and practice and learning and commitment, but the simplicity of it and the quick results will keep kids on the path. Who in the game doesn't want to be a terrific and consistent shooter? More videos and coaching materials are needed that simplify even more how to learn and coach this Method. I want to develop a package of coaching materials that can be offered at the lowest possible price to every coach in the country. A Website could be developed to support the coaches and players who are learning the Method. It could clarify things and give coaching ideas, a Forum for questions and feedback, etc. etc. New video technology can be used to communicate specific teaching and showcase great shooters. A "Conversation" about shooting can be started that will help coaches and players at all levels finally master this elusive skill. This will take time and money and effort, but the payoff will be tremendous. When shooting works, the game becomes more enjoyable both to play and watch. Better shooting gives teams more options. If you can shoot from the outside, that opens up the possibility for driving to the basket. If you can penetrate and score, that opens up the outside jump shot. When you can make free throws, then you become more aggressive in your attack on the basket, just daring them to foul you. Great free throw shooting teams are difficult to beat when games are close. When all the players on a team can shoot, teamwork is encouraged and enhanced, plays work better, and the success and enjoyment of the game will skyrocket. If you think this is my "passion,"
you're right. And I invite you to join me in spreading the passion
of great shooting. Though I do not always enjoy the way basketball is played in the NBA, I look forward to seeing these great athletes play again. Teams have done a lot of shuffling this off season, and you'll see many new combinations of players. Rookies will make their presence known on many of the teams. HACK-A-SHAQ IS STILL ALIVE Other players will have problems with shooting, too. Observe the shooting techniques when you watch games on TV. Resist the temptation to follow the trajectory of the ball, rather stay with the shooters and watch their Releases. Watch what happens to the arm, wrist and hand after the shot. Are the wrist and hand tense or relaxed? Is the main power source mostly the upper body or the whole body together? How high are the shots? Can you see tentativeness in the Follow Throughs, or is there confidence? Usually I see the players "guessing" how hard to throw or wrist-flip the ball up there. Sometimes it works, and sometimes it does not. With the few great shooters, it works more of the time, and misses are always close around the basket. See if you can predict if a shot's going in just by watching the shot motion. See if you can tell a shot is going to be long or short this way, from watching the Release and Follow Through. UNDER A MICROSCOPE A. As to shooting on the move, what I feel is needed, besides the usual footwork and body preparation before shooting*, is to emphasize the importance of SHOOTING MORE SOLIDLY THAN EVER from the UpForce power (UpForce is my term for leg lift, leg drive, etc.)!!! The body motion, the turning, all that stuff increase variables, so a moving shot is much more difficult to make than a "catch and shoot" shot. But the UpForce can still be used to maximize power and reduce the variables; in fact it's even more needed now. SHOOT FROM MAXIMUM LEG DRIVE! CONNECT AND ALIGN WITH THE TARGET -- HAVE
STRONG INTENTION! COMPLETE THE SHOT! LET ME KNOW HOW THIS COACHING WORKS FOR
YOU! (*Turning to face the basket as much as
possible [not square, just generally facing it], having the ball
ready to shoot as quickly as possible, etc.) Just a note to remind you to see if you can love the game of basketball for it's own sake, not for any special glory you're getting or not getting (frustration). Enjoy being alive out there, and having the strength, energy and coordination to run up and down the court and have fun with your friends. It's a great "Team" game, both the offense -- dribbling, passing and movement to get yourself or a teammate open for a shot -- and defense. It's great fun to work together to accomplish something like winning games, but it's really the self development and the relationships we're making while playing basketball that are most important. Only a very few get the major glory and adoration. But we can all enjoy the game and get tremendous satisfaction from whatever level we're at. ATTITUDE IS CRITICAL! The beauty of this way of life is that YOU are in control, not the outside circumstances. You can't always control what comes at you in life, but you CAN control how you react to those approaching events, words, attitudes, etc. Peace and joy and love come from within. There is no intrinsic beauty in a sunset or a great piece of music. The sense of beauty and serenity you feel comes from inside of you as you see the sunset or listen to the music. The next time you go on the court, look
around at your teammates and coaches and see if you can appreciate
a little more the joy of sports and physical movement. Don't
get to heavy on yourself when you make a mistake, and hopefully
your coach isn't the kind who yells at you when you screw up.
Mistakes are expected when you're young, and your challenge is
to learn from them. Stay awake, stay conscious, and you'll have
more fun. Sure, keep striving to learn and get better and succeed,
but keep a joyful attitude and see if you are happier. http://www.nba.com/games0001/20001031/PHOGSW/boxscore.html You can see that the date is in the format 2000XXYY, where 2000 is the Year, XX = Month and YY = Day. The teams are in caps, with the visiting team first and the home team second. I don't know what all the team abbreviations are. You're going to have to experiment with that. Most are obvious: Here are some I checked out. You can figure
out the rest. Note that at the top of the box score page is a link to a "ShotChart" for each game, where they show shots taken and missed by location. They do not show layups and dunks on the chart, rather show them as separate totals. This is interesting because now, if you want to do the work and the charts are accurate, you could figure out the percentage of shots that are not dunks, layups or 3 pointers, that is the percentage for jump shots, hooks, jump hooks and set shots. I like the possibility because it will start to show how poor the shooting really is when you take out the dunks and layups (tip-ins should be in this category, too, maybe they are). I hope they will, at some point, make this figure part of the official stats. Then you'd see some real attention on improving shooting. Right now percentages are skewed upward by dunks, layups and tip-ins, and many players who can't shoot outside jump shots often come up with decent shooting stats because they're getting such a high percentage from those shots. In my first short test of this, I couldn't reconcile my figures with the totals in the box score, but it has possibilities. It's amazing to me that the NBA has people charting this and then inputting it all into the computers after every game. For stats on the NBA players, modify this URL for the player you want: http://www.nba.com/playerfile/shaquille_o'neal.html FREE THROW PERCENTAGES - OPENING NIGHT All 12 games: Best performances: Worst performances: The Lakers performance: If you spend most of your time thinking and worrying about where the feet point, and what the hands and fingers should be doing, you lose connection to the target and you probably start to get what they call in golf, "Paralysis by analysis." Grip, Stance, Vision, Set Point, Release and Follow Through are important for a good foundation to the shot, but don't make them the entire coaching. Everybody does the Fundamentals a little differently, so trying to make a formula that works for everyone is not effective. Spend a little time on the Fundamentals, but then work on what's needed to control direction and distance (the Flight of the Ball), how to be consistent, how to have a repeatable motion. An example of how too much attention to detail can diminish freedom, creativity and letting go is in which finger(s) should touch the ball last. I've seen some videos that say the first finger is the last one to touch, and others say the second finger or both first and second fingers. As for me, I don't know which finger(s) the ball touches last as it leaves my hand. And I don't want to know!!! From experience, I know it will screw me up if I get concerned with that. What I want is TRUE FLIGHT of the ball! I want consistency and effortlessness. Those qualities lead to better shooting, not a debate as to which finger touches last. There is a video by a great player where he talks for awhile about feet and stance and hands and arms, and then there's a break and he takes a bunch of long jump shots, making every one. Then there's more talking, more rules, and then another break and swish, swish, swish. This happens several times. Never once does he talk about how high he shoots or how he controls distance. It's like there are two videos: one where he tells you things you have to do, and the other where he demonstrates excellent shooting, with little, if any, connection to what's been said. In my video, "Swish," you'll see and hear and understand what it takes to become a Great Shooter. And if you're a coach, you'll see exactly the steps needed to coach it. That's why I've begun offering an unconditional 90 day money back guarantee to that effect: "You will get what it takes to learn and coach Great Shooting from this video or your money back!" Test me on that. If you haven't already, get the video and see what it communicates to you. If you have it, watch it again. 'm sure you'll see this is different from other videos you've viewed. That's why I've got people like the great Bill Sharman, Boston Celtic legend, saying "Outstanding, Excellent, Congratulations" for the video. And Bill's considered one of the greatest shooters of all time. Pete Newell viewed it and said "Every NBA player should have a copy of your tape... It's sorely needed." I want to change the culture of basketball.
If you feel this video can help do that, please send me a testimonial
and help me bring this coaching technology to the world. Thanks. I expect soon to add Streaming Video to the Site so visitors can click on links and see 20-30 second clips from the video. This new technology offers a tremendous way to show what a video is really like. Let me know your impressions once I get them up there. Please tell others about my site and my
video. Send them the URL (http://www.swish22.com) and let them
know there's hope for better shooting. (More than "hope,"
it's a proven Method.) Below are some of the sites being considered
for clinics this fall or winter. Call or Email me if you're interested
in hosting a series of clinics in your area. BAY AREA COACHES/PARENTS: I'm available to coach shooting clinics in the Bay Area of northern California. The price will depend on how long the clinic is and how many players. I can do anything from 1.5 hours up to a full 3.5 hour clinic, from 6 to 20 kids. Call me and I'm sure we can come up with something within your budget. OTHER AREAS OF THE COUNTRY: I'd love to come to your city to put on Clinics. My rate for 2-3 days of coaching is a mini- mum of $2,000 plus expenses. If we do at least 3 Clinics of about 17-18 players at a cost of $75/player*, that would pay for the visit. The Clinics would be 3 1/2 hours each, max. 20 kids, giving enough time for lots of individual coaching in addition to the powerful group exercises. Also, a school or basketball association could engage me to coach their team or a couple teams for an extended period for the flat rate. Call for details and to set up such a visit. While in the area, I can do private sessions and train coaches to coach the Method. (*Price includes the Swish video plus an administration fee for the organizer(s).) Keep checking my Website at http://www.swish22.com or call or Email me if you'd like more details. I'll update the schedule on my Website when it changes. TRAINING COACHES I'm interested now in looking at the process of certifying coaches to coach shooting with my Method. About 30 coaches have expressed interest in this so far, and we've started a simple process for them to become more familiar with my Method and start coaching. If this interests you, please contact me. I expect eventually to have a Directory of coaches around the country who are skilled in coaching the Swish Method and to whom I can refer people who want clinics or private coaching. One way of beginning the process will be to add Coaches' Training sessions when I travel to various cities to put on Shooting Clinics. If you would like to help set up a series of Shooting Clinics and a Coaches' Training in your area, contact me. I will also have Trainings here in the Bay area eventually, too. PRIVATE COACHING: I'm available for private coaching in the Bay Area of California. I live near near San Jose in northern California. Call or Email for further information. AUDIO TAPE ANALYSIS OF VIDEO: VIDEO ANALYSIS: Voice over will be used to assist the coaching.
Approx. cost $200 for up to 6 players. As I have to drive a long
way to do this and use a friend's digital video system, it is
not cheap or easy to do. When I have my own equipment and software,
then this will become more reasonable. Call or Email for further
information. Go to the Swish Website, find the section about the "Shooting Newsletter," key in your Email address and click on the "JoinList"graphic. An Email will be sent automatically back to you asking that you confirm that you want to be on the List. Reply in the affirmative and you will be added to the list and receive a password. There is no need to save or record the password because ListBot will always quickly Email it back to you when asked. It's needed only to change your Email address or to Unsubscribe. To UNSUBSCRIBE from this Newsletter: If you ever want to Unsubscribe, please
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