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THE SHOOTING NEWSLETTER - NOVEMBER 2002
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By Tom Nordland, Shooting Coach
Volume 4, Issue Number 11, November 2002
Editor: Tom Nordland
Tel: 888/SWISH-22 (888/794-7422)
or 831/338-4647
E-mail Tom
Current subscriber count: 2,070
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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.
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IN THIS ISSUE
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1. Welcome from the Coach
2. Purpose of this Newsletter
3. Three-point Quarter in the NBA!
4. A Coach from Maine finds Acceleration
5. The Importance of Students "Discovering" Things
6. A New (Revised) Article
7. KIDS' KORNER
8. If You're a Coach...
9. Please Bookmark this Website
10. Shooting Clinics / Private Coaching
11. How to Subscribe / Unsubscribe
12. Contact Information
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1. Welcome from the Coach
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Welcome to my free Monthly Basketball Shooting Newsletter. Each
month I write about the skill of shooting in the game today and
how it can be more effectively learned and coached. If you like
what I'm saying, please tell others about it and suggest they
subscribe, too. Remember: Great Shooting CAN be taught!
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2. Purpose of this Newsletter
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This newsletter is a vehicle for communicating what I know about
shooting and for a conversation on how shooting can be improved.
With your help, I intend to inspire a Renaissance and help players
and coaches everywhere re-discover the Lost Art of Shooting.
Thank you for reading this and subscribing to it and sharing
it with your friends.
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3. Three-point Quarter in the NBA!
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As I intend to have my website be FOR great shooting and how
to get there, I won't often take the time to point out shooting
failures in the game any more. But this one I couldn't resist.
The Denver Nuggets had a 3 point quarter on Nov. 27th in a 30
point loss to the San Antonio Spurs! That's pretty hard to believe,
these incredible athletes running up and down the court and managing
only three points in 12 minutes of playing time!
I know any observer would comment on how
tough the defenses are getting, and how shot blockers are flying
around all over the place. That explains some of the rushed and
missed shots, but it doesn't explain the missed uncontested shots
and the missed free throws. Something is terribly wrong in the
game today in how players learn to shoot.
We see it at every level. If you've been
following my Newsletter and writings for awhile, you've seen
many examples of this. Coaches at the highest level don't know
how to coach shooting. A few great shooters are still coming
up the ranks, but the vast majority of players don't develop
a truly accurate, consistent and repeatable stroke.
So what's the problem? I'll use this example
to trigger a short discussion on what I see.
COMPLICATED STROKES
Though I didn't see the game, the Nuggets had a "bad"
quarter, obviously. Things didn't go their way and they basically
missed all their shots for 12 minutes. It was probably the "technique"
of shooting that first failed, and then as the poor shooting
continued it became more and more "mental." When technique
isn't truly repeatable, when shot motions are complicated, when
shots are flat and hot such that the target to the ball is relatively
small (a flat oval), then you have streaky shooting at best and
what I call "emotional" shooting. By that is meant
that if a player is confident, trusting, expectant of success,
and his or her mind is calm and focused, shots will tend to go
in fairly well and, in streaks, very well. However, if the confidence
is broken or shattered (you miss a shot badly, for example),
or if the player or the team suddenly get into a state of doubt
or fear ("Uh oh, our shots aren't falling, we're getting
more and more behind, etc. etc."), then they can miss everything
for awhile.
GREAT SHOOTERS DON'T GET INTO THAT FUNK
Great shooters don't get into that cyclical thing, up and down
performance, hot and cold, full of confidence, then full of doubt.
Their confidence is not dependent on success. Their confidence
comes from a deep place that cannot be diminished by external
performance. They "know" what to do to put the ball
in the basket and they know they can do it. Players like Jeff
Hornacek and Chris Mullin probably almost never had a bad day.
I know I didn't when I was at my peak in high school. And now
when I do clinics, I can get into excellent shooting instantly.
Maybe once in a blue moon those great shooters would have a bad
shooting game, but they would bounce back quickly because their
strokes are so reliable, predictable, repeatable.
MOST ARE STREAKY SHOOTERS, AT BEST
Most of today's players are streak shooters, at best. I can see
it in their strokes and you can see it in their stats. They can
make a bunch of shots one game and then be very unsteady in the
next (10 for 14 one night, 1 for 10 the next). It's because of
how they use (or don't use) their stabilizing leg action, it's
in the complicated, variable release motions they've developed,
and it's in how they control distance. Watch the wrist and hand
in the Follow Throughs of most players. You'll see tension, tightness.
Most shooters were trained to flip their wrists, so they get
power from those small muscles. Some were told to shoot at the
top of the jump, and all you have left then is a throwing motion
with the arm and/or a wrist-flip motion. But the problem with
those kinds of strokes is that (1) the energy is horizontal,
so it creates a flat arch, a "hotter" shot, and a smaller
target, and (2) the smaller muscles of the wrist and hand are
more "fast twitch" and hard to control and repeat.
For free throws you'll see a lot of stronger players freeze their
bodies and shoot (almost) entirely with the shoulder, arm and
hand.
These players have remarkable eye-hand
coordination for the most part, and the pro players practice
or play almost every day for hours, so they can make a complicated
motion work pretty well ... sometimes. But the smaller target
and hotter action of the ball eventually get them. It takes tremendous
concentration to pull off consistently a stroke that is not predictable
to a small target. Thus, the slightest loss of concentration
or confidence and the basket will seem tiny in their minds. And
the more they "try" to make the shot, try to put the
ball into that little cylinder, the worse it gets.
WHAT'S NEEDED
What's needed is a shooting method that isn't so complicated
and one that sends the ball higher and truer with less apparent
effort. Needed is a simple, natural, repeatable way of shooting
that uses the fewest possible variables while getting power from
larger muscles. The "Swish Method" is that kind of
method.
TELLTALE SIGNS
For most shots, I suggest that the most effective use of the
leg drive power (what I call UpForce) is early in the jumping
action. That is, shoot on the way up! This applies to all mid-range
shots, free throws and longer range shots, the majority of shots.
(The exception are close-in, turn-around type shots for the bigger
players where they usually need to elevate before shooting, plus
they're in very close so the margin for error is great. This
kind of shot can be released "near" the top of the
jump, to allow time to elevate. However, don't make the mistake
of waiting until the very top, as then the stabilizing force
of the legs is totally gone and the shot becomes unstable. Also
for these shots you can raise the Set Point so you can fire off
your release motion quicker and with more freedom.)
CATCH THE UPFORCE
However, most shots need all the stabilization they can get from
the power and energy of the legs and middle body. Shoot quickly,
on the way up, and you automatically get all the benefits! So
when you watch shooters, note how quickly they are shooting,
how much of that leg drive force they are transferring into the
shot. Great shooters have learned to catch it all. (My Swish
T-shirts have the slogan "Catch the UpForce!") Lesser
shooters hesitate before shooting and lose power and control.
WATCH THE WRIST AND HAND
The other thing to watch for is the wrist/hand action and the
flight of the ball. Watch the spin. Medium fast backspin suggests
that the wrist and hand were passive; slow spin or sidespin indicate
that the wrist and hand are doing something in the shot. Is the
shot high arching or medium high or flat? Most shooters these
days have a flat arch. Flat makes the target smaller to the ball
and keeps the action of the ball "hot." You'll also
see the wrist and hand are tight, as I mentioned above. When
you flip your wrist, the wrist and hand will be tight in the
follow through. They can't relax until much after the ball has
left. If the wrist and hand are relaxed, which I advocate, you
will see the hand flop or bounce. I stress that for the most
repeatability the Release needs to be an upward pushing action
of the arm, not a throw or catapult. You could say there's a
"snap" to the wrist and hand, but you're not doing
the snapping. It just happens via the push of the arm and the
relaxation of wrist and hand.
So next time you watch a game or even for
yourself shooting, look for these things:
1) The timing of the shot in the leg drive (early and quick,
or hesitated or top of jump)
2) The arch and spin -- high, medium or flat, what kind of spin?
3) The wrist and hand -- is the hand action tight or is it relaxed,
flopping?
4) Watch the Follow Through -- does it pull back quickly or move
to the side or up or down, or is it solid, held, connected to
the target?
I think you'll start to see why great shooters
are in short supply. With my video and in my coaching clinics
you'll see a simple, powerful method of shooting that really
works. I write about it constantly so read my articles, newsletters,
coaching ideas and suggestions and lesson plans. Great shooting
is basically quite simple.
P.S. I don't mean to disrespect the Nuggets.
I would love to coach them. They are like a lot of teams that
can go cold very easily, expect maybe they have a couple fewer
stars who can carry the team when things go down hill. I'm sure
G.M. Kiki Vandeweghe and his staff are working hard to improve
the team. The other teams score single-digit quarters sometimes,
too, and they're all capable of it if they have a "bad"
spell.
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4. A Coach from Maine finds Acceleration
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A coach in Maine bought my video about a year and a half ago
and just bought a second copy for his nephew. When I called to
clarify something about the order, he told me that he especially
felt his own release was improved by what the video taught him.
It gave him a release motion with "acceleration all the
way to the end-of-the-arm," like it was to the end of a
rope. It gave him a sense of control, like the release couldn't
go any further and was, therefore, more predictable. Previously
he would often slow the release down or decelerate as he tried
to control distance and arch. Now he just lets it happen, straightening
the arm as far as it goes, and it always goes the same distance.
Here are his words:
"Dear Coach Nordland,
"Since ordering your video my shooting
has improved greatly. Yesterday I made 17 out of 20 foul shots.
I used to be lucky to get 50%. Now I expect to make at least
8/10 and often make 10/10. I also am very comfortable shooting
3 point shots. Where I play during lunch, 3 pointers often determine
who plays the next game if there are more than a certain number
of people. Even with everyone watching, I expect to make it and
usually do.
"I was never a great athlete (didn't
make my high school BBall team in a very small school). I taught
kids and learned how to shoot using the popular "C"
method before I got your video. I started learning your method
before teaching it to kids that I coach. I could execute the
"C" method fairly well when I was relaxed, but under
pressure it just didn't feel right. I would tense up and just
not have the free flowing motion. The first thing I noticed with
your method is that I didn't tense up as easily and that it was
much more of a flow because there was not a long pause before
the shot. Just up into the set point and then away. In golf we
call this a "waggle" -- it is used to keep the golfer's
muscles relaxed prior to the start of the swing.
"The other thing I noticed right away
is with the up-force from the legs and a full out snapping motion
that the ball stayed on my hand much better. Top golf teachers
teach something called stability. This means that the golf club
is accelerating all of the way through the ball. This is accomplished
in putting and chipping by taking longer follow throughs than
the back swing. If you take the club back 1 foot in the backswing
and then follow through 1.5 feet, the club will be accelerating
when it hits the ball. This gives a more consistent stroke. The
same works for shooting. With the full-out motion, the ball pressure
on the hand stays constant or even increases right until the
ball leaves. I always had trouble, feeling the ball come off
my hand "funny," until I tried your method.
"The other thing that I've noticed
is that I can shoot from just about any position with my lower
body as long as I get the up-force and get the hand directly
in line with the basket. I don't really have to worry about my
right toe pointing at the basket, as is commonly taught.
"The other really cool thing that
I noticed is how my subconscious has taken over the shot. If
I don't have enough leg push, my arm knows to shoot lower and
push harder. I also noticed that my hand turns to the left occasionally
instead of the palm facing the basket on the follow through.
I watched the shots that it happened on and figured out that
it did that when I started the ball off line to the right. What
was happening is that my hand (under the control of the subconscious)
would try to and often successfully correct shots that started
off line. If you want to know more about how powerful (and usually
accurate) the subconscious is in golf, you should read "The
Short Game Bible" and "The Putting Bible" by Dave
Pelz. It is very interesting how the principles apply to all
sports where accurate repetition is required.
"Great stuff! From what I have learned
from your video, I can tell immediately if someone is a good
shooter after watching one or two shots and seeing where they
get their power from."
-- G. Crocker, Maine
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5. The Importance of Players "Discovering" Things
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As a coach, it's very easy just to tell kids what to do and then
expect them to know what you mean and do it. I'm afraid it's
the way a lot of us coach and the way a lot of us were coached.
I even see myself doing it sometimes when I'm short on time.
If the student doesn't do it "right," then it's his
or her fault, not the fault of us, the coaches, because we said
it correctly, we "told" the player what to do. However,
that's not the best way we learn.
You know from my writings that I've realized
"Awareness" is the key to learning a physical motion.
Awareness is an "in the moment" sensory experience.
The student feels what her or his arm is doing and the arm action
gets more efficient or effective just from the feedback. The
student observes exactly where the ball lands and then the body
corrects for the next shot without thinking how.
It's like magic. If you teach awareness
it always works! You can't screw it up.
My recommendation is whenever you have
something you want to teach, find a way for the players to report
back to you or to a partner what is happening while they practice
and learn it. It both engages them more and leads to quicker,
deeper learning.
An example: Let's say you're teaching a
team to block out better when they're on defense. You show the
players how to be more aware of their offensive player as a shot
is taken, and how to position their bodies to block them out
for a second or two so you, the defense, have the advantage in
getting any rebounds. Then you set up a practice situation and
ask them to work on blocking out.
After the play is run, you'll see that
some effort was made to block out, but several or many of the
players did it poorly. The usual way is to then show them again
what to do, maybe pointing out a couple examples of what did
or didn't work, and then set up the play again. They're asked
to do something and then critiqued and corrected afterward.
THE AWARENESS WAY
Another way is to set up an environment of awareness and feedback.
After each play or after a couple of minutes, you ask each player
to rate how well he or she blocked out the opponent on a scale
of 1 to 10. "1" means not well at all and "10"
means perfectly. Do it "non-judgmentally," such that
a "1" is okay and a "10" is okay, you just
want them to report honestly what happened. When they do that,
you'll see the effort and the effectiveness go up because they're
now have to pay more attention to what happened and they have
a responsibility to you (and the team) to report how they did.
Just the act of observing their actions
will lead to the action improving. You can, of course, continue
to show them how and where to do it before and after each play,
but now the self-awareness they're reporting intensifies the
learning and development. Kids are smart, and if given an environment
where they can learn and not be judged too harshly if they fail,
they'll learn quickly. The awareness makes the experience more
powerful.
SHADES OF GREY ARE IMPORTANT
When learning something, it's rarely a case of yes or no, got
it or didn't get it. It's more often a case of varying degrees
of getting it, of different levels of accomplishment (or failure).
If you set up the feedback so the player reports 1 to 10 on how
well the blocking was done, it's not a pass/fail kind of situation.
It's about shades of grey. It's a "did that better, did
that worse" kind of reporting and it measures the degree
of success of a skill like blocking out. When judgment is diminished,
then the players will have less fear of failure and be more present
and honest. It's really an exhilarating feeling to know that
all you have to do is be honest and report what happened and
you won't be judged on every play.
Your players will figure out that a high
number is the most effective, so they'll naturally be wanting
to achieve that, but it's critical that the 1's and 2's be accepted
as okay and part of the process. As soon as judgment and humiliation
are out of the picture, the kids will start reporting honestly
what happened, and the effort and awareness will lead them to
quick learning.
With shooting, do your teaching and show
them what you want them to do, and then set up some way for them
to report back what happened with the distinctions you want them
to focus on. It could be their stance, the use of leg power,
their setting of the ball, height, spin, the Release and Follow
Through, where the ball actually landed, etc. Awareness alone
is magical, but if you can add to that the "key distinctions"
of shooting (the things that really matter) and set up exercises
to focus on them, learning can soar through the roof. My video
and writings (articles, lesson plans, coaching suggestions, newsletters,
etc.) show and talk about the key distinctions involved in shooting,
so the goals become clearer. With clear goals and a consistent
pattern of awareness and accurate feedback, learning will be
remarkable. The players will actually be coaching themselves,
but you can subtly take credit as the official "coach"
who had the wisdom and experience to set up the learning so well.
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6. A New (Revised) Article
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"Winning Hoops" from Lessiter Publications in Brookfield,
Wisconsin, recently featured an article by me on page 1 of a
special 16-page "Sizzling Shooting" edition. It's called
"Fixing What's Wrong With Shooting," and it's a compilation
of two of my original articles on the subject "The Trouble
with Shooting" written for the Basketball Highway website.
Mike Podoll did the combining and editing and did a nice job.
Thanks, Mike!
"Sizzling Shooting" is available
only in printed form, I've been told. To get a copy, here is
how to contact Mike and/or Lessiter:
Lessiter Publications
Tele: 262/782-4480
Email Lessiter
Website: Winning Hoops
I've put the article on my website on the
Articles page.
Here is the direct URL to the article: Fixing
What's Wrong With Shooting
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7. KIDS' KORNER
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SEEK OUT ANSWERS, TAKE ON CHALLENGES!!!
Whether it be shooting or any skill or
activity of life, keep asking questions and seeking out great
teachers and resources. Find out what you're interested in and
ask for help in learning how to do things, understanding life,
developing knowledge and skills. It might be a person or a book
that unlocks the secrets for you, or a video or DVD or a course.
Have you heard the expression, "A
little knowledge goes a long way!" Take courses in everything
that interests you. I took a 2 hour free course on composting
about 12 years ago here in California, and ever since I've been
the official compost-er for our home. It gave me some ideas
and I bought an inexpensive compost container. We now compost
all kitchen waste, not sending anything to the landfill that
can be composted. It's not that I'm an expert, but I know a
little about it and it gives me the confidence to do it. Education
is like that. It helps you get over the difficult initial effort
because you know things. You may still need a ton of experience
and learning, but at least you know enough to get started. The
rest will happen on the journey. Many people, from ignorance
or fear, never even get off the starting blocks.
I'm reminded of this idea of seeking out
teachers and resources when I think back to times when I wanted
to learn something, and maybe I saw a book I wanted but couldn't
afford it so I let it pass. Years later I could look back and
see that that book (or movie or trip or class or whatever experience)
could have made a difference for me, sometimes a HUGE difference,
but I didn't have the courage or insight to grab for it, to go
get it, to ask others how to find it or get it.
PEOPLE LOVE TO HELP
As I say each month, people love to be asked to help. There
are tremendous resources in the world that can help you learn
and understand and do things. But if you just sit at home wishing
you had this or that or knew this or that but never take action
to "get" it, your growth will be limited. Take it
from someone who's done his share of procrastination and being
afraid to ask for help.
Parents and coaches are a place to start.
At a library, the Librarian is trained to know where things
are and she or he will be of great help. Wherever you go are
people who know things. You might even ask them what they know
that could help you. If it's something that interests you, ask
them for coaching. (When you're a kid, this is very easy to
do. People expect you to need help. If you're 30 or 40 years
old asking how to do simple things, you might get some stares.)
The Internet allows you to search for things from around the
world. There are answers out there for the asking, but you've
got to ask. Don't want to ask and then let it go and never follow
up, later wishing you had asked. It's never too late to ask
for help, but the earlier you get involved, the further along
the path you will get.
DON'T DO ANYTHING YOU'RE GOOD AT!
One more thing: a mentor of mine said once, "Don't do anything
you're good at!" It sounds silly. Of course, we do the
things we're good at all the time. But his point was to not
dwell always in what's comfortable. Today the phrase everyone's
using is "Step outside the box." The box is the known
world, and in this case for me, sports. I am good at sports
so I spent most of my young age playing them. I avoided things
in school like debate or theater because I dreaded public speaking
(and was not good at it). In looking back, those things would
have helped me the most to grow up, to develop myself. I would
have learned better how to communicate, a vital life skill!
But no, I kept returning to (and hiding in) sports, where I was
"good." It's scary to step into something unknown,
but try it more and more. If you are not a good speaker, take
a speech course to challenge yourself. If you can't dance, take
a dance course. It will be difficult, but if you can hang in
there and complete it, you'll come out the other side a more
powerful person.
TAKE ON SHOOTING AS A SKILL
Shooting is just one example of this. Take it on and ask for
all the help you can get. Then work hard at it. Be patient
with your progress but be like a bulldog after a bone. Be that
committed to your goals. As you see the process work in sports,
then you can apply it to all aspects of your life.
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8. If You're a Coach...
------------------------------------------------------------
If you'd like to start on the process of learning how to coach
shooting with my Method, please be in touch with me and join
my Coaches' Mailing List. The list is a quick and easy way for
me to communicate to all the coaches at once. As I develop new
things and post new articles, coaching ideas, etc., I use this
vehicle to let you know. I also intend to have a Public Forum
up and running on those pages soon so you can all share ideas,
questions, discoveries, etc.
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.
------------------------------------------------------------
9. Please
Bookmark this Website
------------------------------------------------------------
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,
my site, and my video. Forward the newsletter to them and suggest
they read it and the many archived issues. Send them the URL
(http://www.swish22.com) and let them know there's a proven method
for powerful shooting.
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10. Shooting Clinics / Private Coaching
------------------------------------------------------------
For the latest news about Clinics, Camps and Coaches' Trainings
across the country, go to this page: Clinics
& Camps.
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.
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11. How to Subscribe / Unsubscribe
------------------------------------------------------------
To SUBSCRIBE to this Newsletter, click on the link below.
***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 OPTION!
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. Remember to expect the Confirmation email.
To UNSUBSCRIBE from this Newsletter, just
send a blank email to the following: Unsubscribe
me
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12. Contact Information
------------------------------------------------------------
Tom Nordland, Shooting Coach
Boulder Creek, California
For a Basketball Shooting Renaissance!
------------------------------------------------------------
Website: http://www.swish22.com
Tel: 888/SWISH-22 (888/794-7422)
or 831/338-4647
Fax: Call above #'s to get fax # and to get fax turned on.
E-mail Tom
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Special thanks to E-ZineZ.com for helping format this Newsletter.
(http://www.e-zinez.com)
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(c) Copyright 2002 Tom Nordland
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