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and respect your privacy. SPECIAL NOTE: The number of subscribers
to this Newsletter has just passed the 1,000 mark! Thanks a thousand!!! Articles are written about this dilemma,
and people are looking for an answer. I feel I can provide that
answer. If you agree with what I'm saying, please help me get
my coaching methods out there. Refer people to my Website and
be in communication with me. Thanks. It was wonderful basketball to watch. The defenses were tight, both teams were well coached. Each team had a go-to gal, Ruth Riley for Notre Dame, and Katie Douglas for Purdue. And the supporting casts were great. It's too bad one of them had to lose. Riley was the difference, as everyone could see, but just barely. She was just too great an inside threat, blocking shots, rebounding and able to score at times very easily. The shooting wasn't the best it's been for these teams, but I'm sure the pressure was extreme. The outside shot was performed better by Purdue, though Notre Dame had the better shooting season. That 1 for 10 from the 3-Pt. line for ND was very untypical (previously 51% from the 3 pt arc, I believe I read). I liked Ratay's form, but she made only 1 for 4. How they shot like that and still won is strange to explain, but, as I said, it was the inside game that won it for them. It was fun basketball to watch. Thanks,
ladies! This was fantastic basketball, a Titanic
struggle throughout. Two great coaches. Two great teams. Thanks,
everyone, for a terrific tournament and a great final game! I've had a couple coaches email me and insist it's an effective way to shoot, but most of the feedback I've gotten has been reinforcement for my point of view. To me, the key point is that if the center of the hand faces directly in line with the target, and is in line with your eye, you have the best chance of shooting straight. We can adapt to different ways of holding the hand and arm, and even shoot with the ball off the shoulder fairly well sometimes (John Stockton being the poster boy for this way of shooting), but the most effective approach is the simplest one, the one requiring the least compensation. Great shooting in all circumstances (including under pressure) requires that it be able to go "on automatic." If you have to judge an angle back to the basket every time you shoot, for example, as shooting off the shoulder or the ear requires, it's less automatic. If your shooting eye is not in line with the ball and target, you can't just fire away. You have to figure something as you shoot, in this case, exact direction. Stockton shoots very well, but then he's
a tremendous athlete and plays basketball many hours a day. However,
Jeff Hornacek was a better shooter. Adam Keefe once told me Jeff
beats everyone on the Jazz team in H-O-R-S-E all the time. His
technique is aligned and he can just let it fly without having
to control anything. Q: What can I do about a boy on my high school team who shoots very well in practice but is very "streaky" in games? A: Dear Coach. Here is how I would approach it: First, I'd like to know if he is truly a great shooter in practice or if he's just "high" mentally and performs well in that environment with a so-so technique? Some players have that ability. I say that because, from my experience, most shooting strokes these days are too unreliable to be effective all the time, and, if a player has a high level of confidence and/or concentration, he can make shots where there is less pressure but will fail when it really counts. You see this in the pro game a lot, too, where players can make lots of shots warming up and then come unglued in games. There are some physical things you can look for as clues: RELEASE: Watch his Release motion. Is he driving the ball with wrist and hand, or is he shooting more with the arm and the whole body? Wrist and hand shooting (wrist flipping) lead to streaky results. You can tell by (1) watching his Follow Through, (2) observing the height of his shots, and (3) asking him what he feels. If the wrist and hand are tense, that means they've been involved in powering the ball. This action flattens the shot and the ball comes in "hot," with little room for error. It gives more power, but it's hard to control. Is his Follow Through solid, connected to the target, sure and consistent, or is it tentative? Does the arm stay pointed in line with the basket, or does it move off the line or pull back? These are all clues as to consistency and repeatability. When pressure is off, players can get away with unreliable and variable motions, but when pressure is high, the variations and fluctuations get greater and shots are missed. Once you start to miss, then the mental stuff (doubt, fear, etc.) comes in and makes it worst. HEIGHT: Check the arch (height) of his shots. Wristy shots will be flat, while whole body shots will be higher. If he's shooting high and soft, then he's probably shooting from an arm pushing action (which I coach) and getting power from his legs and lower body. WHEN IN THE JUMP DOES HE SHOOT? What if he's doing all the effective stuff? If he shoots on the way up, has a relaxed wrist and hand in the Follow Through, and has high arch and a solid finish, then he is probably a fine shooter who is just screwing himself up mentally when it counts. My bet is that his problem is the former (above), where he uses too much wrist and hand, shoots at or near the top of the jump, and has a flat and hot ball trajectory. If you want further coaching, send me the answers to the above questions about his technique and I'll go from there. If his stroke is great and it appears the problem is all "mental," let me know and I can coach you on how to address that. My guess is that his motion is not completely reliable and repeatable, and when stakes go up, his shot has some or a lot of variables that throw the ball flight off. I hope this helps. Thanks for the question. Let me say something about Confidence. Great shooters, and great performers in any realm, have tremendous confidence in themselves. They "know" they are going to perform well, and that attitude makes them even better. It's kind of unfair. The better you are, the better you become, driven upward by your Confidence, and the worse you are, the worse you become, driven downward by the lack of the C-word. At least that's how Confidence affects the balance. But that's just the way it is. Exercise is tougher for out-of-shape people than it is for in-shape people. As you get stronger, the pushups get easier, less painful. Great skiers expend less effort than beginners. So there's a carrot out there of easier, more effective actions the better you get. With Confidence, let's look at TWO KINDS of confidence: (1) "Conditional" Confidence and (2) "Unconditional" Confidence. Conditional Confidence is the kind that depends on results. It's the confidence you have when you don't trust yourself. If you can make a few free throws in a row before a game, then you allow yourself to be more confident for awhile, but it's very precarious. If you make your first shot in the game, it's still there. But as soon as you miss, that confidence disappears. The mind is a funny thing. It has a "double negative" nature. Let me prove it. You know the old adage that the past dictates the future? It explains streaks and slumps. However, watch this. If you do poorly at something, our minds are quick to say to us that it's going to repeat. That the past dictates the future. These are what we call slumps. If you believe you're in a slump, you probably are. But what if you're doing well, making a bunch of shots in a row. Does the mind say the past is going to dictate the future and you'll continue to do well? No!!! It says, ever so subtly, "You're going to screw it up!" Somehow our usually negative minds want us to fail, or at least not succeed too well too long. The point is we can't trust our minds. Unconditional Confidence is the kind that is not dependent on outside forces or results. It's the strong, true, unshakable kind of Confidence that we all want. As I said above, when you have it, it even helps you perform better than you might think. It's related to Trust. Maybe they're the same thing. With this kind of Confidence, if you miss a shot, it's not the end of the world. You know it's possible at any time to interfere and screw things up, but overall you know you will perform well. It develops over time, usually, as you perform well over and over. Eventually a sense of true Confidence develops in you. To me, this kind of Confidence is not a product of the mind. It's more from the heart. It's a belief in yourself that doesn't have to be based on external experience. It can just be "created." How to develop Confidence: Awareness is the key, again, as with all my coaching, and if you can work with a partner or coach, do so because it will be more powerful. Let's use shooting as the example, but it can apply to anything. Find a way to communicate what level of confidence you observe within yourself as you prepare for and perform a shot. A scale of 1-to-10 is one way to do it, but any scale you prefer will work, just so it has different levels and it communicates differences that make sense to you. Let's assume you're doing the 1-to-10 thing. Take a shot and state (to yourself or to a partner) what number you notice. You might notice two numbers, one before the actual shot as you prepare to shoot, and one to report what happened during the shot. Let's say you notice that you were a "7" or "8" before the shot, quite confident, but during the shot some doubts crept in and you could only give it a "4." Now just do it again, and again, and again. Keep noticing what happens in your mind and heart. If you have a goal of a higher number (and who wouldn't?), the body will find a way to manifest that and make it real. 8's, 9's and 10's are very good numbers. What would happen, you might say, if you were totally confident? How would you stand, how would you move, how would you shoot? Would you show fear? Would you be tentative and unsure? I don't think so! Pretend you're an actor and your role is just to "look" confident for the camera as you shoot a free throw. How would you act? We can get into those kinds of games, and they're a lot of fun. And you'll find the Confidence goes up, naturally, organically. We don't really know how to generate more Confidence (though I'm sure some people will come up with answers). We just are Confident or we're not. But it can change and grow by increasing awareness of it and giving it some kind of number system feedback so we can observe differences. You'll find you actually shoot better when you are, or play that you are, of high confidence. If you're just pretending in the beginning, eventually real confidence will come forth and you'll know you're not acting anymore. Awareness and feedback are the keys. Confidence AND Technique! What you need for extraordinary, sustained performance is a flawless physical technique AND a calm, focused and confident mind! One without the other can work for awhile, but it will eventually break down. Learn both great technique, like the Swish
Method, and then develop your Confidence. If you have an effective
technique, you'll start making more and more shots. As you make
more shots, A wonderful thing about being a "kid" is that no one expects you to know everything. When you become an adult, either others or you, yourself, start to believe that you should know things. The truth is that we don't know much at all but we're afraid to reveal that. As a kid, it's expected for you to ask questions, to ask to be shown how to do things. Don't lose that curiosity and humility, not for as long as you can. The minute you think you're above asking for help, you'll start to stunt your growth. As you may guess, I'm talking about myself here. As an adult I can look back now and see the many ways I failed to grow from lack of knowledge, lack of coaching. I remember being very shy in most ways (except sports). My voice was weak. I didn't know how to express myself vocally. I would just keep quiet. My folks were quiet people, too, so that's why my brother and I became that way. But if I had learned to ask for help, I could have asked friends, teachers, relatives, what to do, what books I might read, what courses are available. ASK QUESTIONS Last month I talked about how the "Elbow under the ball" theory isn't the greatest, in my opinion. So if someone were to tell you to do that (and you didn't know if it's helpful or not), thank them for the suggestion and then go "check it out." Go try it and feel how it feels, observe what it does to the shot. Does it feel natural? Does it work? If it does, then it's probably a good instruction. TIPS AREN'T THE ANSWER; TRUE KNOWLEDGE
IS A great way to receive a tip from an enthusiastic "tipster" friend is to ask him or her if she or he has "mastered it" yet. If the answer is "Yes" and they can prove it, then listen to him or her very carefully. However, if the answer is "No," then you might say, "I only accept tips from people who have mastered what they're trying to teach me. Thanks anyway." Don't reject everything you hear, but also
don't believe everything. Your experience is all that really
matters, so subject any outside instruction to the test of your
own experience. And keep asking for help. You'll develop much
much more quickly. 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.) See my Website for news about Clinics, Camps and Private Sessions. Here's a direct link to that respective page: Clinics, Camps being planned ------------------------------------------------------------ To SUBSCRIBE to this Newsletter: To UNSUBSCRIBE from this Newsletter: ------------------------------------------------------------ |