|
Return to Newsletter Index page
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. 1. Welcome from the Coach That article is going to be published in the February-March issue of Giganti. I've taken the text and posted it on my website at this location: What Matters! This article takes a fresh look at shooting and discusses the things I feel truly "Matter." And I don't mean just the Fundamentals. Grip, stance, vision, set point, release, etc. are important, but they're just preliminary to getting the ball to fly true to a target. Things like power, height and spin are critical in determining ball flight. Some coaching focuses on things I feel do not matter and which, in fact, sabotage great shooting. An example is that I feel the "Hand Position" really matters, but that the elbow position does not matter! This may be a shock to some people, but when you look at it, I think you'll agree with me. If the hand position is strongly under and behind the ball and the hand is in line with the shooting eye and basket, the elbow will be where it has to be and it won't be directly under the ball. If we hit the ball with the elbow, then where it is throughout the shot would matter. But it's the hand we push and move toward the target, not the elbow. The hand is where the ball is cradled. I hope you enjoy this article. To read it go to: How
We Learn Ted Beach, a coach from Cincinnati, recently ordered a Swish video and said he found me via a link on the Milford Basketball Association (MBA) website from Milford, Ohio. I went there to check it out and found this neat coaching tool. It's an animated program that very clearly teaches the "Motion Offense." The animation is from the Blue Eagle Basketball Club's site, so I'll refer you directly there: Go to the website: http://www.hoopsclub.com/playbook.htm There is also a presentation of the "Shuffle
Offense" displayed there. (I did not view it.) A coach from Ohio sent me this email after getting my video. It's a poignant discussion of why we coach. "Thanks for the follow-up email and interest in promoting good coaching through communication. Your request for feedback prompted me to write the following... The message of this email is to remind us coaches to examine our goals. "Some coaches have the mission to cull out the best-of-the-best and see that they improve their best players' skills to excel in Varsity and beyond. However, most of us coaches have kids who haven't given serious thought about whether their dedicated interest lies in basketball ... let's remember, they're just kids. "Our goal is to keep kids interested in basketball as long as possible. Yes, they may currently lack the skills, speed, and intensity that each coach seeks. But we are not judges ... our mission is to help each and every player to improve his or her skills and enjoyment of the game. Our goal this year is to get kids to want to play basketball next year. We do this by improving their skills, showing them how to improve, and giving them the feeling that they can contribute to the team. "This is why I ordered the video. Not to only help my best kids excel but also to help the kid who may never play High School to stick with the game a few years longer than he might otherwise without some shooting help. "Let me rephrase my message -- Most young kids we are coaching will not play High School ball. Yet, like us coaches, they will be parents someday. Showing these kids that basketball is fun and showing them some basic fundamentals (like this SWISH video) will stick with them so they can likewise encourage their kids to sign-up when the day comes. "Each coach thrives on the opportunity to coach 'the next upcoming star.' But let's not forget our mission to plant seeds that basketball is a fun sport so that we have EVERY KID trying out for the team, whether it be Rec League or competitive play. Let's coach so that future sign-ups and interest in basketball skyrockets. Our goal is to promote more interest in athletics and basketball, not less." -- Coach M. Woos, Bay Village, Ohio From TN: Coach Woos' words are very inspiring,
showing how teaching kids to love sports will add to their lives
and their kids' lives, whether or not they succeed at a high
level. Along this same line, let me mention again a wonderful
organization that can help you add value to what and how you
coach. It's the "Positive Coaching Alliance." PCA
is a dynamic organization located at Stanford that is really
making a difference. It offers workshops across the country,
as well as books and CD's on powerful ways to coach from a "positive"
point of view. Phil Jackson is one of their key spokespersons.
Their motto is: "Transforming youth sports so sports can
transform youth!" Here is their website: Does anyone know how to get video clips of professional and college shooters? Someone recently send me these URL's for
clips: These locations can be searched for other clips. Please send me any additional repositories you know of. I'll pass them onto my readers next month. Video and DVD technology is going to be
commonplace pretty soon. That will really be fabulous as we'll
be able to go to a court and video tape ourselves or others and
then return home and put them on a website to share with others
like a newsletter or articles. I'm looking forward to the day
when I can have a growing library of clips of great shooters
right on my site. The technology is available now, but it's
still a bit expensive. Video streaming, which I use for my four
clips from my Swish video, requires a lot of horsepower to allow
multiple viewers to see clips at the same time. Soon we'll be
exchanging clips like we do email now. Recently a sportswriter for the Cincinnati Enquirer, Tom Groeschen, called me because he was writing a story on poor shooting and had run across my website. We talked about what I saw in the game and in shooting and I then sent him copies of old shooting articles I had from Sports Illustrated, the San Francisco Chronicle, etc. His article is entitled, "Boys basketball scores drop: Blame put on shot selection, defense and lack of practice." He was kind enough to give me a plug in the article. Here's direct URL to the article in the
paper's "On Line" version: LEMONS INTO LEMONADE This idea was triggered by a couple mothers who called me this fall to order the Swish video to help their sons who had not made their teams and been severely disappointed. You know the old story of turning lemons into lemonade. When the Universe gives you something sour, turn it into something sweet. The point is that setbacks are not the end of the world. In fact they can be what are called "Turning Points." A Turning Point is a specific event or moment in time when a major shift occurs for you. Often, I feel, these come through setbacks, through failure, but they could just be a decision you make that sends your life off in a different direction. The two wonderful mothers were determined to help their sons rebound from these seemingly "devastating" setbacks. To be 12 or 14 years old and not get what you want, to look at a list and not see your name on it when you wanted it to be there SO MUCH is painful. It can feel awful and even humiliating, depending on how much importance you put on the event. These two mothers are working hard to find ways to give their sons the advice and coaching (and life lessons) they need to come back stronger than ever. As I said in last month's Newsletter, these "wishes denied" can be treated as "opportunities" rather than failures, but we all know in the moment it's extremely hard to take failure and accept it. The opportunities for Turning Points occur throughout life. Sometimes they hit you in the face, as in not being chosen for something. Other times they're more subtle, a feeling of wanting to do or say something that maybe you ignore but which keeps appearing. My coaching is to look for them. If a difficult situation occurs, ask if it might be an opportunity for learning, an opportunity to shift direction and develop a new you. PACKING EVERYTHING AND MOVING TO LOS ANGELES In 1975 I was living in Minnesota working in the computer field. I learned of a special coach in Los Angeles (I had read a book he had written and then a year later I saw a 6-part TV series he had done) and I was very intrigued by his method. I wanted to know more. Astoundingly, about that time I happened to meet a woman in Minneapolis who knew this author/coach and, get this, had dated him briefly in California! (Talk about something destined to happen! See how the Universe was helping me?) That lead me to attend a special workshop with him in L.A. that winter and within a year I moved to California where I've lived ever since. Often in the past I would have talked myself out of such a move (too difficult, family in Minnesota, etc.), but this time I didn't hesitate. I wasn't married or tied down to a job or personal situation at the time so I could do it. It started me on a path toward coaching that lead eventually to the (re-)discovery of the Swish Method of shooting and my passion to bring it to the world. In this case, I had to be ready to make a major relocation. Other times it just might be taking a course you've always wanted to, or choosing to introduce yourself to somebody, or switching jobs, or taking up a different sport or activity. You will never know what it's going to be. Just keep your antenna up. In line with the lemons to lemonade theme of this story, how you handle loss or failure or major disappointment can be the Turning Point to a fabulous new (sweet?) you. Maybe sports is not your talent but you keep thinking it is because of a friend or a parent or a TV sports hero. Maybe not making the team sends you down the path of art or music or dance or writing. A failure might just make you work harder during the "off" season and come back the next year dramatically more developed than you otherwise would have been (and more developed than the players who made the team, thought they were important, and stopped learning and growing). OTHERS CAN HELP As with these two mothers, because they told me about their sons disappointments I volunteered to give them special coaching by email and video analysis (and maybe a clinic when I'm in the area). People and resources can appear -- sometimes out of nowhere -- to help you, if you're open to them. In the case of one of the boys, his mother said, "He asked if we could go by the YMCA and find out if he could be an assistant coach for younger children, giving him a clearer understanding of the game, starting with the basics. On Christmas Eve he dropped off an application and spoke with the Youth Sports Coordinator who told him that if someone was open to having an assistant coach, he would call. It was Bryce's idea." This could lead him into a career in coaching, maybe something he wouldn't have gotten into otherwise. She wrote that my video was helpful. They sat down and watched it as a family and it gave them a clear visual of what shooting is supposed to look like. You can see from this that the family is responding to help heal the pain, and from this comes unexpected good stuff. To summarize, failure can set you back
and leave you humiliated, or it can challenge you and inspire
you to work harder and more effectively than you might otherwise.
Grieve a little if you feel you've had a great disappointment,
but then open your eyes and ears to what the Universe is saying
to you, to what it is offering you. You'll find you're not alone,
and the special incentive you'll have to rebound from failure
can be all you need to make a major leap and come back stronger
than ever, or to find something that excites you even more.
Best of luck with this. If I can help you in some way, let me
know. 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. Also, visit and bookmark my "For Coaches" page, as it will have more and more coaching ideas, lesson plans, articles, etc. There's a "Homework" document that can get you started on this path very quickly. I also intend to have a Public Forum (Discussion Group) up and running there soon so we can all share ideas, questions, discoveries, etc. To join the List, 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,
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. 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. To SUBSCRIBE to this Newsletter, click
on the link below. 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. Remember to expect the Confirmation email. To UNSUBSCRIBE from this Newsletter, just
send a blank email to the following: ------------------------------------------------------------ |