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and respect your privacy. 1. Welcome from the Coach "Tom, Yes, It appears that he was putting wrist into the shot as he got out further. We shot in a park last night and have started the correction. When we got home, we happened to see some slow motion shots, on TV, from the best Boise State basketball shooter. The very relaxed wrist was obvious, now that we look for it. "I think I mentioned before that my shooting has significantly improved. Often someone will see me shooting and walk over and talk to me about it. Your tape, website documents etc. have been great. I am taking early retirement as of today and will continue to learn your method and pass it on to the kids I will be coaching. "What you are doing is very cool." -- R. Kartes, Boise, ID ------------------------ "After my workout, I immediately dropped your video off to a player of mine. I think the video helps put a structure around correct shooting form, that I've struggled to find when coaching kids. I'm planning on using it as a basis for shooting drills during any for my future shooting practices. Your video is on my "Summer Videos" list that I rotate between my players. I want everyone...players and parents to be on the same page as far as knowing what we want to do...and be able to help each other with it. "I thought I'd forward you Amanda's e-mail I got late last night. She's a great athlete and a better person. She's always brief with her e-mails...but you'll get the idea. "We went to north again tonight and
i was surprised at how many shots were effortless or what seemed
to be effortless that swished all the time. it was cool. i'll
try and get that tape to lish soon. thanks!" -- S. Baer ------------------------ "Hi Tom, Just wanted to give you
a quick update on how the Swish method is working for us.... "My two sons were both very good guards.
Both were voted MVP and all-conference in middle school, and
now our oldest was voted co-mvp and all conference as a sophomore.
When my oldest son, Grey was an eight grader he probably hit
15-20% of his 3s. As a ninth grader he probably hit 20%. He averaged
12-13, and was a good player. They have an advantage because
they are athletic. ------------------------------------------------------------ Last week I was in the Indianapolis area doing some clinics. A very special thing on this trip was working with a former coach of Belgium's National Team and two of his young players on a professional team. The coach had found me on the Internet and bought my video and wanted the boys to learn from me. So they flew in to coordinate when I would be teaching back there. It was a thrill to work with them. They were most eager to learn and they and the coach took to my method very quickly. It was fun, too, to have them participate in a couple of my clinics, as the kids got to meet them and see they were working on the same stuff they were. We happened to be there on the weekend of the second week of All Star games between the best girls and boys of the two states of Indiana and Kentucky. The previous week they had been in Owensboro, KY, where Indiana won the boys' game and Kentucky won the girls' game, I believe. The Indiana teams won both games this time, the girls by just a few points and the boys by a lot. I got there late and missed most of the exciting girls' game, so I cannot comment on that game. It looked like a hard-fought game between evenly matched teams. The boys' game, however, was a different story. It became evident early that the Kentucky players could not shoot well from the outside and several of the Indiana boys could shoot very well indeed. Indiana raced off to a 20 point first half lead and the game was essentially over. If you can't shoot from the outside and you're pretty evenly matched inside, game over! The only way Kentucky stayed in the game was a ferocious second half press that rattled the Indiana boys for awhile, though their shooting (and Kentucky's failure in that department) kept them ahead and, at the end, it wasn't close. I can't quote you the stats here, but Kentucky shot around 30% from the field. Indiana, meanwhile, had at least 3 wonderful shooters. One made six 3's to set an All Star game record. Another player didn't score much, but I was impressed by the fact he had led the nation in free throw percentage for the season just ended at 97.6%!!! With free throws, however, both teams were poor, with Kentucky shooting about 48% and Indiana about 52-53%, if I remember right. Combined, they were about 50% from the Line, very poor! And these were the two states' best players! (Or should I say, "best athletes?") As I always keep saying in regards to the shooting, it was about the lack of "Repeatability!" The shots for the majority of the players were variable, not repeatable. If you go to shoot and you don't know exactly what's coming off your fingertips each time and have a way to control direction and distance, you're in big trouble, especially when the pressure's on. The great shooters have figured this out, and the majority haven't. That's what I encounter everywhere I go. And Repeatability is what I coach ... and "Pure shooting." ------------------------------------------------------------ I have now placed a third document in my "For Coaches" section that has additional coaching ideas in mostly a Q&A format. You can go to the web page to read the items, with links from and back to the Index to make the reading easier than in a newsletter. Here's where to go: Collection 3. You can read Collection 1 and Collection 2 there, also. ------------------------------------------------------------ I HONOR AND RESPECT YOU! Dear young players, As I travel around the country doing clinics, I get the chance to meet and work with many of you. I just was reminded by a thought (reminded by myself) to say how honored I am to work with bright, intelligent, motivated kids such as you. I respect each of you, who you are becoming, your attention, your patience, your hard work to learn something new, your passions, and the love and respect you show to me. I know it isn't always easy to listen to an old guy talking and demonstrating. You want to be "doing" stuff, shooting, moving your bodies. I'm especially lucky because I have something VERY VALUABLE that you want, so you pay me more attention and respect than I would otherwise get. Sometimes I ramble on too long and lose you, but you always come back and, hopefully, I catch myself losing you and find a way to make it interesting again. Learning how to shoot is a HUGE thing in the game of basketball. I have some simple but specific physical techniques to teach you that really work, but it's in the "Learning" that you and I are successful or not. I'm responsible for presenting the method; you are responsible for the learning. I invite and encourage you always and every time to be AWARE, to see and feel what's happening. When you are aware, you learn. It's as simple as that. As a mentor of mine said it one time, it's okay to be bored by the word "awareness," and to be bored by me for saying it too much, but NEVER BE BORED BY AWARENESS. It is the master skill, the master tool for learning. Spend the time necessary to develop your awareness of your surroundings, yourselves and your actions. It will reap great rewards the rest of your life. It will help you learn everything!!! But if you get too wrapped up in your Performance (how you did, how you looked, judging yourself as "good" if you make the shot, "bad" if you miss, etc.), your awareness diminishes and your ultimate goal of learning and development suffers. That's why playing too many games (like with AAU in the summer) can stunt your growth. It's because games are all about performance, winning and losing. You would be better served in the "off" season by spending some of that time in a gym working by yourself and playing in pickup games. Games are fun (if you're getting to play and doing well), but too many and it can backfire on you. Games also don't allow you to experiment and try different things. They too easily and quickly came become all about "winning." Make learning your goal in the off season and your "on" season will be a lot more fun and productive. Thanks for honoring me with your attention with this writing. I hope to see you at a clinic sometime. At least keep in touch with me by email and this Website. You are awesome! You are the future of game of basketball and this country! Fulfill your promise as best you can! And don't let those old enemies of doubt and fear hold you back too much. They'll always be around, so try to get used to them and don't listen to them too much. And it's okay to make mistakes! Just pay attention to them and you'll not have the need to make them over and over. Read the wonderful story above in the testimonials section written by Mike Wilson. He helped his son perform beautifully and get noticed in a tryout game by telling him it's okay to miss, in fact welcoming it. The dad told Grey ... "he wanted to see his form after a miss." It took all the pressure off and, after a slow start, Grey hit 14 of 15 shots down the stretch and made the team. Good luck my young friends! ------------------------------------------------------------ I invite you to bookmark my Website (http://www.swish22.com) so you can go there easily to catch my latest comments on shooting. You can read about my video there (including endorsements, testimonials, reviews and an Overview of the video), my coaching, and the many articles on shooting I've written. You can see video clips and archived back issues of this Newsletter and, of course, subscribe, if you're not already getting this on a regular basis. Please tell others about my site and my
video. Send them the URL (http://www.swish22.com) and let them
know there's a proven method for better shooting. Note I'll be in northern Minnesota (Barnum and Cloquet) later this month (July 22-24) for two 2-day camps and a Coaches' Training. Check the clinic schedule for the latest details. Other places and dates are being planned as we speak (read). If you'd like to organize some shooting
clinics or camps, please call or email me. I'll be scheduling
Coaches' Trainings at each stop as much as possible, too. Stay
in touch for them. ***Important: Please note that when you "subscribe," Topica, the company that manages the free list for me, will send you a "confirmation" email and offer you two ways to "confirm." I SUGGEST YOU USE THE SECOND OPT ION! The first option is to click on a link to Topica where they will ask you open a free account with them. This is okay to do, as they have good free mailings lists, discussion groups, etc., but I think most of you just want to subscribe to the newsletter. You do that most easily by the second option, just REPLYING to the email. That's all you need to do, no need to key anything. Click on this email -- it will start the subscription process: Subscribe me. To UNSUBSCRIBE from this Newsletter, just send a blank email to the following: Unsubscribe me ------------------------------------------------------------ |