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ATTENTION: You are receiving this newsletter because you subscribed to it. If you'd like to remove yourself from this mailing list, please see the instructions at the end of this newsletter. Our subscriber list is NOT made available to other companies or individuals. We value every subscriber and respect your privacy. PLEASE excuse the advertisement paragraph
you'll see at the top of this Newsletter. Because I have a "free"
service with the Mail List company (Topica), they insert that
ad to help them pay for the service. Sorry for the little commercialism. 1. Welcome from the Coach SHOOTING CLIPS A coach sent me the URL's of video clips of some of the better all-time shooters. You can probably find clips of many players at this location. Here are the ones I can share with you: Jeff Hornacek: http://www.nba.com/theater/video/hornacek_3pt_020798.avi I hope they load up and run for you. They ran just fine on my Macintosh with QuickTime. If you know of clips of other great shooters, please send them to me. I'd especially like to get the following: Jerry West, Oscar Robertson, George Gervin, Larry Bird, Chris Mullin, Detlef Schrempf, Reggie Miller and Alan Houston. OTHER NBA SITES General NBA information and links to all
other pages: If you want to check the stats for any
player: For team statistics (just replace "lakers"
with any team name: "warriors," "wizards,"
etc.): For team schedules and results (plug in
the name of any team you wish to view): It's amazing how many statistics are being kept by the NBA. I don't know if they're still doing it, but awhile back there was a way to see the shot selection for any NBA game, showing, by player or team, by half, where each shot was taken and whether it went in or not. If anyone knows this still exists, please let me know. It was interesting to use it and see what percent various players shot from different zones. For example, you could estimate the field goal percentage for a player for non-3's and non close-in shots. So many big guys are terrible shooters from outside 5 feet. If you take away their dunks, tip-ins, layups and close-in shots, many would shoot only 10-20%. As it is they might appear to shoot 50% from the field. ------------------------------------------------------------ DISTANCE, SPEED, PRESSURE TOO SOON, MISS A COUPLE If students move back in distance too far too quickly, the shot will break down and old habits will reappear. If the speed of the shot gets too far beyond a comfortable, slow-at-first "learning" pace, the shot will break down. If pressure is applied too soon and they're not highly confident in the new stroke, the old will take over. If they miss a couple of shots with the newly learned shot, some players will lose confidence. This stuff takes time to learn to the point where it becomes the dominant "habit," so make sure you know (or your players know) to go easy on oneself. Relax. This stuff takes time! But there is a way to "be" with this process that will help accelerate the learning and trust. DON'T BE OVERLY FOCUSED ON PERFORMANCE As human beings, our focus on results, on what's called "performance," is usually so great we will sacrifice everything to get it. And the funny thing is, by trying so hard to get the end result, it actually makes it harder, it sabotages what we want. It often eludes us because you don't get development if all you focus on is the result. Instead work on feel and observation. AWARENESS WORKS Awareness of what we do (what could also be called "feel") and feedback of how things are happening is how the body knows what it is doing relative to a goal, and from that feedback loop it develops. Awareness in a physical sport like basketball occurs in the present moment and is a physical feeling, not a thought. Our wishing and hoping for results are thoughts -- they exist in the mental domain. They're about the future (what you want, what you're hoping for) and about the past (past failures or successes), but not about the present. If you are consumed with performance, you will be in the mind and not the body. But our bodies need to be present -- what we could call "in the body" -- in order for us to create and sustain high performance. It's like a Catch 22. You can't get there by focus solely on performance. PERFORMANCE CAN BE AN "INTENTION" RATHER THAN A "GOAL" In my training to be a golf coach, my mentors and fellow coaches and I often talked about the difference between an Intention and a Goal. Let me tell you how I've come to understand them. They may seem like the same thing, but there is a difference. Let me go through a scenario to explain it (and I realize these are just my definitions of these terms). A GOAL is something we want and we strive to get. We usually work to find a way to make it happen. We might want to kick a soccer ball into the goal or bowl a strike, or we could have a goal to put a basketball into a basket from certain spots on the floor. With this goal in mind, we then "try" hard to get it. We kick the soccer ball with our leg in a specific fashion, or we roll the bowling ball down the alley with a certain spin, or we use all of our physical stuff to send the basketball up toward and, hopefully, into the basket. We try to manipulate our experience with this end goal in mind. An INTENTION is softer than a Goal! It implies that there is a result we want (like the goal, to put the ball into the basket), but it is achieved by sense of "Letting Go," not by trying or trying harder. It assumes that the body knows how to do things and the more we "let" the body free to do its thing, the more likely the result will be accomplished. It can be scary at first, this idea of Letting Go to get the most effective results, but once you've seen how effectively and naturally it works, it will be something you'll keep coming back to and wanting to recreate. COMPARE AND CONTRAST If you find yourself oscillating back and forth between your old shot and your new possibility, here's a way to approach it that's more powerful than just "trying" to fix things. Remember that Trying doesn't work! (Reminder: by "Trying" I mean the extra, non-helpful things we do in our attempt to make something happen.) INCREASE AWARENESS OF THE TWO DIFFERENT SHOTS Intentionally shoot your "old" way. Then intentionally shoot the "new" way. Compare them, contrast them. Remember that awareness is always helpful, it is the master tool for learning. And doing more of it can't screw you up. Only when you "know" something like a shot motion fully and intimately can you choose to do it in a different way, what's called "Learning." Observe your old shot, with "quality" awareness. Welcome it, love it just the way it is. You don't want it to continue, but it is a part of you, it's how you survived in that activity, doing the best you could at the time. Now you know of new possibilities, but the old can't be erased that fast. The more you experience and understand what you've been doing, the more quickly you can abandon it and more forward. STRETCH YOUR EXPERIENCE / EXAGGERATION Stretching your experience will help. For example, let's say you want to change the location of your Set Point from it being "way overhead" to a position more near the front of your head. Besides just paying attention to feel it, consider exaggerating it. Take it further back than normal and then take it back more in front. Position it higher than normal and lower. Take it more to the right, more to left. Can you feel these different positions? If you can, the expanded awareness you now have will give clearer and clearer feedback, which leads to greater and quicker learning. Then observe your new shot with that same level of awareness. How do the two strokes differ? Where do they differ? When do they differ? Which feels more comfortable or effortless? Which produces the best results? The more you know physically (and mentally), the better. The new stroke should give more effective results or there is no reason to switch to it. So let's assume that's the case. Once you feel exactly what's happening with body, ball and target, you are ready to "choose" the new shot. It will give you all the benefits you want. If it still eludes you, slow the motion down more and more until you become more "super" aware. Then the learning will be stronger and the time to learn to trust the new shot will shorten. DON'T JUST KEEP SHOOTING HOPING FOR BETTER RESULTS If you find yourself getting lost in results -- and doing anything and everything you can to try to get them -- stop!!! Doing the same thing over and over expecting (or hoping for) different results is the definition of insanity, as described by writer Rita Mae Brown. If you catch yourself doing that, stop, and then start over. Shoot and truly observe what happens! Review the principles you're working with and repeat the progression you learned that empowers the new stroke. Watch yourself shoot now and see if the new stoke holds. If it fails and the old shot reappears, stop again and start over again. Your body and mind are magnificent. They won't keep doing something you don't want to do unless you get lost and stop feeling, stop being aware. GAMES AND PRESSURE SITUATIONS Remember that in the pressure of competition is not the place to learn a new stroke. It needs to be approached in a non-threatening practice environment first and then in practice game situations before you will truly trust it under "real" pressure. If you have a coach, tell him or her, or tell teammates that you're working on a new stroke and you want to test it under pressure but you know it may go awry. Ask them to be patient with you. (You can reciprocate with your teammates when they are working on new things.) With that approval, if it's appropriate, then you can really "go" for it and let go of attachment to results. The freedom to fail will help you break through to a new level. Expect to miss a bunch of times when you first expose the new stroke to a real (or imagined) pressure situation. Breakdowns are inevitable, but with practice and patience, very soon the new shot will become trusted, will become the "norm," and you're on your way. Remember you are in control of this! Your intentions are driving you. Your awareness and feedback system are the tools. But you have to get and stay awake to your experiences! ------------------------------------------------------------ When I introduced her to the Swish Method, she "got" very quickly that it's a much more effective way to shoot. It gave her the quick Release and high arch she always wanted but didn't know how to get. But it was hard for her to learn to keep the Set Point for the ball (the back of the ball) near the front of the head before she releases it. She kept bringing it way overhead. She kept reverting to the old habit, which is normal in learning, but the problem is that she couldn't feel it back there. She would ask others, "Did I take it back there again?" My point here is that you can't truly change something you can't feel. Being told that she takes it way overhead doesn't help. It's just a "concept" of something happening, not the real, present-moment "feel" of it happening. Just knowing intellectually that something is occurring is not enough. And you can believe it or not, as you choose. It can help point out the area(s) that need attention, but it won't facilitate the change. FEEL IS EVERYTHING What she needs to practice, any way she can, is to feel it happening when it happens. This takes focus and patience and commitment and dedication. NOT feeling is easy. We do it all the time. But to FEEL, that takes some work, some practice. The good news is that the more you practice it, the better you get at it. If you can learn to feel your tongue in your mouth, I feel it will help your feel in any part of the body. It's learning to be in a different dimension, the dimension of feel rather than thinking. One of my mentors made the point a long time ago that you can't think and feel at the same instance, and I believe that's true. Try this: See if you can think about what you had for breakfast AND feel your hand clenching (make a fist). Can you do both at the same instant? Or do you flip back and forth between the thought and the feeling, the feeling and the thought? I think we have to flip back and forth. See if you agree. If that's true, then you can see that any thoughts you have about what you should be doing, who's watching, what happened last time, what might happen this time, etc., take you away from feeling anything in the present moment. If you flip in and out of awareness, then your body is getting unsteady reports on what's happening relative to where you want to send the ball. But if you believe what I said above, feeling in the present moment is how we best perform. It's what's called the "Zone," total focus on the present. The body needs feedback (from nerve endings to the brain for adjustment, correction, to identify what works, etc.) to perform well. It has to feel subtle differences between long and short, left and right, too high, too low, just right, etc. In this example, the player has to pay the price of awareness or the new shot will never (or only very slowly) evolve. She has to stop relying on her coach or fellow players to tell her what she did and JUST FEEL IT. She can use a mirror or a video camera to show her how it looks or where to look and feel, but until she can actually feel it going back there in real time, she's lost. Once she does feel it, the old shot will start to disappear since she truly wants the new way of shooting. ------------------------------------------------------------ In thinking about this, I thought about the several "key" things I teach. One is the idea of the Constant Release action, a motion that has the fewest possible variables and is something you can do over and over with little variation. Another is the idea of shooting more powerfully from the legs and lower/middle body. The third is a way to control distance, that of varying arch rather than varying the arm or wrist or hand muscles or varying when in the leg drive you release the ball. Of those three simple concepts, my vote for the single most important instruction is this related to the second key: SHOOT QUICKER, SHOOT EARLIER IN THE JUMP!!! The are several reasons I choose this. In my Swish video, I point out six advantages to shooting from the leg power (what I call "UpForce"). Here I'll mention a few of them: (1) First, if you shoot quicker you will get more power and you will get more upward energy to ride the ball to the basket. The shot will feel more effortless. Ball flight will automatically be higher, the target will appear bigger to the ball, and gravity will have a greater chance to slow the ball down as it approaches the target 2) The more power there is coming from below, from the middle and lower bodies, the less the upper body muscles have to do -- arm, wrist and hand -- and they can quiet down and do less and less. The middle/lower body muscles are big and less prone to choking, whereas the small muscles of the wrist and hand and fingers are less reliable, more apt to fire too quickly, too slowly, too much or too little, a little left, a little right. The result of using bigger muscles is more accuracy. 3) And finally and most importantly, the extra leg power from shooting quickly STABILIZES the shot! The big muscles create a column of energy that need only then be directed somewhere, and the release motion does that. If you shoot quickly and forcefully from the leg power, it will correct many of the flaws that occur when lower body power is not there: the throwing, slinging or flipping of the smaller muscles, the flat shooting, etc. When there is plenty of power, lots of helpful things happen and shooting becomes easier. I just observed practice at a major college, and 75-80 percent of these great athletes could benefit from just that one instruction. (They had a couple of excellent shooters or the percentage would have been higher, which is more often the case.) It would change everything, both for jump shots and free throws. A couple years ago I observed a week-long NBA Showcase Event in Phoenix for the upcoming NBA Draft. Forty of the top college seniors were there working out for all the NBA coaches, GM's, scouts, and agents. From what I saw, every one of them could have benefited from shooting quicker, even the best shooters in the group. They were hesitating before they shot -- some more than others -- probably because some coach in their past had told them to shoot "at the top of the jump." If they would learn to shoot quicker, earlier, I feel they all would have improved. HERE'S HOW TO DO IT So try it next time you go to shoot or coach the skill, just that one thing: shooting quicker and earlier in the jumping motion (or down-up action of a free throw or set shot). Here is how to approach it: Let's assume you're coaching a team. Instead of just asking the players to shoot quicker and earlier, set it up this way. First ask them to observe and feel how quickly they shoot now. One way to measure it is to observe and feel the "percentage" of the leg drive (UpForce) is being used IN the shot. This is not how big the leg force is, but rather "what percentage of what's available" is being used to power the ball. I hope you get the difference. When a shot is happening and the legs bend and then straighten to generate an upward force, right at the start there is 100% of power available. Over time, the percentage becomes less and less, to 90%, 80%, 70%, etc., down to zero % at the top of the jump. If you wait to shoot beyond that point, it becomes negative %. A small surge of leg power, like for a free throw, can be utilized 100% or any other percentage, just as a powerful jumping action can. It's the "percentage" that matters in this case. Have them report what percentage they use normally. It might be 50% or 25% or 75%. If someone is shooting at the top of the jump, then call it zero %. If they're shooting immediately on the way up, then it's 100% or close to it. Once you have had them report what percent they use now, then suggest they experiment with "upping" the percentage. If you can demonstrate it, that would be even better. Or ask a player who has a high percentage to demonstrate. Really anyone can demonstrate, as any percentage that's pointed out and seen will instruct them. Then send the players off in pairs (a shooter and a rebounder) to "up" their percentages with the simple instruction to observe what happens with the flight of the ball and their results. Make the point that the rebounders can watch carefully and give their ratings of the percentages, too, and that this will help the learning for them. The shooter needs to report first so she or he pays attention and learns by direct experience. Then the rebounder can give feedback. You should start to see quicker releases, much high arch, more consistency, and a lot more shots going in. At first their shots may land long, but once they observe that and feel the new level of power, they'll learn to shoot higher to control the distance and swish shots will probably start to appear with all of them. To debrief, get them together and ask what happened. What did they learn? How did it feel? Did it feel simpler, easier? Could they feel that the arm, wrist and hand are doing less now that there's a great deal of power available? Was there a different trajectory (more height) for their shots? Did accuracy and consistency start to improve? Do they get the feeling of more confidence, now that the shot is powered by strong, stable energy? Let me know what happens with the shooting from just this one simple instruction! I'll post the reports in a future newsletter. (Note that there is more to great shooting than just shooting quicker and earlier, but this is a key distinction. The Release would be the second thing to focus on, how to make it simple, accurate and repeatable. But just the "when-in-the-jump-do-you-shoot" thing can accomplish miracles.) ------------------------------------------------------------ I had the thought recently that in any activity, whether it be a sport like basketball, a performance art like dance or painting, anything in life, you can develop a CREATIVE approach or a PASSIVE approach. In looking at my own life, I can see I lead a passive existence for most of my years. My parents were not high-powered people out there creating stuff all the time. They lead passive lives being kind, simple, loving, stay-at-home people, and their lives were not very exciting. Besides raising two boys to be good, decent people, they didn't accomplish much (nor did they want to or think they needed to -- they just didn't know any other life, as learned from their parents). They were too busy working to put food on the table and being simple, regular citizens and parents. Thus my role models lead me into that same general way of being. I've learned in the past 20 years or so of a different way to live: A way of creating life instead of waiting for life to come to me! This is a much more powerful, dynamic and fulfilling way to live, I now feel. I don't do it all the time, but I do it more and more. I wish I had known this when I was younger, and I want to suggest it to you in this newsletter. Just simply I encourage you to take charge of you life as much as you can. Take inventory of where you are and what skills and accomplishments you have, and then look forward to see what you would like to develop and achieve. This "taking stock" is very important. Be realistic about it. Write it down. Describe some of the things you'd like to do and the person you'd like to become. It is said, and I believe it, that just the process of writing things you want down will set the Universe in motion to help get them for you. TAKE ACTION -- KEEP YOUR EYES ON THE PRIZE! When you know where you are and where you want to go (like taking a bus), you'll start to know what's needed to get there. If you live in Chicago and want to go to New York, you will know to get on a bus going East. If you didn't know where you lived, you might get on a bus going west or south and get real lost (or at least waste time). Let's take the example of learning to become a better basketball shooter. Here's a suggested procedure: (1) Take stock to see how you shoot now.
Be realistic. Observe yourself shoot and figure Record your "Before" Performance: Shoot 50 free throws (two at a time) and record how many you make, what percentage. Take two groups of at least 25 jump shots (total 50) from different spots and record your performance. Take 25 with just catch and shoot (or spot shooting), and 25 off the dribble. Record them separately because shooting off the dribble offers a different, more difficult challenge. Do more than 25 each if you have time. It just averages better with a larger quantity. Do anything you can to discover and record what kind of shooter you are to begin with. Also, give yourself a rating in shooting from A to F, including +/- (like "B-" or "D+"). "A" means you're an excellent shooter. "F" or "D-" mean you need a lot of improvement. "C" would be average. Then, later, when you have learned the new shot and are ready to test it, do the same number of shots as above and record your "After" performance and self rating. By comparing, you should see some good statistical development in your shooting. (2) Set some Goals for where you want to get, both in how you shoot and the percentages you wish to achieve. Let them be "preliminary" goals, subject to change as you learn more about it. Look around and see what kinds of shooters there are and see yourself getting to be as good as the better ones and maybe even better. At this point, since you don't know much about shooting, it isn't realistic that you would know exactly what you want to achieve. But as you get into it, you will sharpen your focus more and more. Keep adjusting your goals over time. (3) Seek out help. Ask for coaching. This is a critical phase. You need help or you're going to grow only, usually, very slowly. You can coach yourself to some degree, but few people have the knowledge or patience to do that well. Look around to see what resources you have in your environment who can help you. Maybe it's a parent or a coach or a sibling or a fellow player. You have to be discriminating here now, because not just anyone is a great coach. You'll find that some people are better at it than others. Some have a more effective way of explaining things. Some know how to do things, some just think they do. (For suggestions on how to coach someone else, refer to my Nov. '01 Newsletter, KIDS' KORNER: Nov. 2001 Shooting Newsletter) (4) Then start on a program of exploration, discovery and learning to move you from where you are to where you want to be. Find and use the best instruction and coaching you can find. Don't be afraid to ask for help. Don't think you have to know. People LOVE to be asked to help! Remember that! Ask questions of everyone, especially those who seem to know what they're doing. If none are available, then do your best to coach yourself. The KEY is to learn where you are, where you want to get (as much as possible), and then get on the path to that end result and be UNSTOPPABLE. Expect failures. If you fail, feel sorry for yourself for a few minutes or seconds, and then get back on the horse, so to speak. We all fail ... all the time ... until we "get" it. Failure is expected. Welcome it because it just means you're one step closer to finding a path that works. Good luck with this, if you take it on. Remember it's a CHOICE!!! It's YOUR Choice! See if you are living your life creatively or passively in a given area. If there's more you want to achieve, then consider this creative "being" approach and go for it. I say "being" because it's a matter of who you are being in an area of life. Are you being quiet, shy, introverted, pessimistic, or are you being outspoken, questioning challenging, optimistic? It's really just a choice you've made (knowingly or not), and you can choose to change it. Learning to shoot a basketball can be a powerful life lesson on how to live this way. If you have some interesting experiences you want to share with me and my newsletter subscribers or website visitors, please write them down and email them to me. I'd love to hear about them. Email me here: email Tom ------------------------------------------------------------ To join, go to this webpage on my site (For Coaches' page), scroll down to the "Sign up" section and click "Join List." You'll be prompted as to what to do. Your email address will not be sold or given to anyone else, and you can easily un-subscribe yourself on that same page. ------------------------------------------------------------ I invite you to bookmark my Website 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 this newsletter,
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