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THE SHOOTING NEWSLETTER - MARCH 2003
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By Tom Nordland, Shooting Coach
Volume 5, Issue Number 3, March 2003
Editor: Tom Nordland
To E-mail Tom
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IN THIS ISSUE
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1. Welcome from the Coach
2. Purpose of this Newsletter
3. NCAA Final Four
4. NCAA 3-Pt Championships
5. A Cute Story of the Texas Women's Coach Practicing Psychology
6. Testimonials
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!
------------------------------------------------------------
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 shift the game 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.
-- Tom Nordland
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3. NCAA Final Four
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Congratulations to the Final Four teams -- Connecticut, Duke,
Tennessee and Texas on the women's side and Kansas, Marquette,
Syracuse and Texas for the men. It's pretty impressive that both
the men's and women's teams from Texas made it!
At this point in the season, the teams
you see still playing are the ones with both strong inside games
and strong outside shooting. They have great passing, court sense,
movement with and without the ball, and effective offenses and
defenses. In short, they have the whole game, the result of extraordinary
coaching.
WATCH THE RELEASES
The result is great basketball, both for the players and for
us viewers. My focus will be on the shooters. I love to see beautiful
shooting. (I wish we could raise the basket to 10'8" or
11' to take away the self-glorifying dunks. Or how about making
a dunk a 1-point shot? Wouldn't that change the game ... for
the better?)
To observe the shooting part of the game,
my suggestion to you is to watch how the players release the
ball. Stay watching them through the Follow Through rather than
shifting to watch the result, the ball flight. You won't learn
anything watching the ball fly through the air and go in or not.
You've seen that a million times.
See if a player's wrist and hand are tight
or loose after the shot. Notice when in the jumping motion she
or he is shooting. See if you can predict if a shot is going
in or not just by watching the Release. In my opinion, the best
shooters are those with a relaxed wrist and hand who shoot very
early on the way up and get high arch for most shots. (Close-in
shots and inside turnaround type shots can have some hesitation
of "hang time" before shooting, but not until the very
top of the jump, as then the shot becomes unstable.)
LOOK FOR THE "SNAP"
A relaxed wrist and hand will be seen in a flop or snap to the
hand after the ball leaves it. The hand will actually bounce
a little, indicating that the wrist was relaxed. You'll see that
great, consistent shooters "stick" the Release each
time they shoot. I use the expression that the hand "snaps,"
but you're not doing the snapping. See if you see the snap.
If you've read my writings, you know I
advocate that, for the best consistent shooting, power in the
Release comes only from the straightening of the arm, not in
the action of wrist, hand or fingers. The reason for this is
that the motion then becomes simpler and more repeatable. A wrist-flipping
motion and a throwing action are two ways to shoot, but they
create a flatter, hotter action and the little muscles of the
wrist, hand and fingers are relatively unpredictable. Take them
out of the shot and the motion becomes much more "repeatable,"
a motion you can do over and over the same.
Watch these great college players and see
if their Releases are variable or constant. If variable, the
best you can hope for are streaks of good shooting.
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4. NCAA 3-Pt Championships
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I delayed an extra day in getting this Newsletter out so I could
watch the NCAA 3-Pt Championships and report on them. ESPN showed
the top four ladies competing and the top eight men. They were:
Women:
Amy Waugh, Xavier
Katie Davis, Villanova
Ashley McElhiney, Vanderbilt
Coretta Brown, North Carolina
Men:
Tom Coverdale, Indiana
Willie Deane, Purdue
Kyle Korver, Creighton
Kent Williams, Southern Illinois
Matt Bonner, Florida
Darnell Archey, Butler
Hollis Price, Oklahoma
Jason Gardner, Arizona
First, before I comment on their technique,
let me congratulate all of them for just even making these championships.
It's a great accomplishment. Many of them set records for their
respective colleges. It shows they have both tremendous athletic
ability and mental focus. Especially congratulations go to Amy
Waugh and Darnell Archey for winning their respective
sections, and special honor goes to Amy for winning the
shootoff between her and Darnell! Her 24 points in the
women's semi-finals and 14 in a row at one point were most notable.
To perform as well as they did under all that pressure is remarkable.
(If I remember right, the women's champ has beaten the men's
champ most often the last few years. I reported on this in earlier
Newsletters.)
Now let me describe what I saw regarding
their shooting technique. These are, supposedly, the best shooters
in the college game in the country, at least the ones from the
more successful teams. (There are surely great shooters whose
teams didn't make it far enough to be noticed.) In these 12
shooters, I could see only one who had a truly great, what I
would call "pure" technique, Kyle Korver from
Creighton. The rest were using more or less wrist and hand to
shoot with varying amounts of leg action. Many had a weak leg
drive, thus shooting more with the upper body, an unstable way
to shoot from my perspective.
Let's see if I can show you just with verbal
pictures why Amy won and describe why Kyle had the best stroke.
MY ANALYSIS OF EACH SHOOTER'S STROKE --
THE WOMEN:
Amy: She had the best stroke of the women in terms
of consistency. However, her Set Point is over her right shoulder
and she has a hitch in her setting of the ball. She brings it
first in line with her eye and then moves it over in line with
her shoulder before she shoots. Her wrist and hand are medium
tight, as she's getting some power from them. Shooting off the
shoulder allows for a lot of power but it requires an angling
of the ball back to the line of sight so can lead to errors.
Her stroke was consistent, however, and lead to 24 pts in the
semi's and 21 in the women's finals. In the pressure of the
woman-man competition, she managed only 17, but that was enough
to win.
Katie: Her Set Point was in line with her shooting
eye, about shoulder height. She shot from the leg drive and
her wrist and hand appeared quite relaxed, but the arm action
was too unstable to and she scored only 10 points.
Ashley: Set Point over the shoulder and below the
shoulder (the bottom of the ball). However, she had a high percentage
of leg drive in her shots and her wrist and hand were semi-relaxed.
She scored 17 points in the semi's but only scored 13 in the
finals against Amy.
Coretta: She was the only woman to have the Set Point
above her head and it was in line with the eye. However, she
had a wrist flip motion which leads to inconsistency. She even
banked one shot in, which means it was way off line.
FOR THE MEN:
Tom: His Set Point was in line and he shoots from
a high percentage of leg action, however he wrist flips the ball.
Hence he's very streaky. His focus is strong but the release
is variable. He scored only 13 points.
Willie: His Set Point is in line with his eye but
he had very little leg power and that required he shoot almost
entirely with the upper body and wasn't consistent. Streaky
at best, scored only 10 points.
Kyle: He has the best form of the twelve participants!
He shoots on the way up, about 80-90% of the leg force, and
had a relaxed wrist and hand. His Set Point was in line with
his eye. He scored 19 the first time and 18 the second to reach
the men's finals. In the finals he was ahead but must have lost
concentration during the last half because he missed a lot of
shots in that section. I felt he should have won, but Darnell
scored a point or two more. I felt Kyle shot the most "effortlessly."
His shots were beautifully driven upward, often disappearing
out of sight of the cameras, coming down softly. I feel if he
were to compete against Darnell 10 times, he would win 7 or 8
of them.
Kent: His Set Point was aligned but he was more of
a jump-and-then-shoot shooter. He hesitated before releasing
the ball, thus de-stabilizing the shot. Also his body drifted
a bit as he was shooting, making it harder to be consistent.
He also had a tight wrist and hand, which is the result of disconnecting
from the leg power, requiring the upper body to do most of the
shooting. He scored 18 to make the semi's but then scored only
12.
Matt: Being a strong guy of 6'10", he didn't
generate much leg power. Must think that he's so strong he doesn't
have to. The result of this "soft" leg power is a
wristy action, mostly arm and wrist/hand. He caught about 75%
of the leg energy, but there wasn't much there. Also, his Set
Point was over the ear and very low for someone that strong --
at head level or slightly below. This required him to hold back
on his Release, since he's so strong. He also short-armed shots
a lot. His stroke was simple and fairly repeatable but lacked
the stability of the legs. He scored 20 to make the semi's and
then lost with 17. (I would have him move his Set Point up 6-8
inches above his head and in line with his eye and then jump
more strongly and fire off the Release more quickly and strongly.)
Darnell: I first saw him in Butler's upset over Louisville
and was impressed. This time, with all the repetitions I viewed,
I could see some flaws to a basically fine stroke. The biggest
flaw I saw was that his shooting hand aimed left of target at
the Set Point and he then had to twist the hand as he shot to
get it aligned with the target, probably imparting some side
spin (I couldn't see the spin on TV). He used a lot of leg power
and caught about 75-80% of it (shooting on the way up), and his
wrist and hand were a little tight, indicating he was getting
some power from those muscles. Other than that, his release
was very steady and he improved each session until he met Amy.
He scored 16, then 18, then 19 to win the men's, then only 16
under the crushing pressure of competing against a woman. (It
didn't help that he said he was going to win because he was a
"man" and men shoot better. Bad move, Darnell. As
one of the announcers said it, "He wrote a check with his
mouth that his body couldn't cash.")
Hollis: Very wristy, mostly upper body shooting.
His lower body stops and then the upper takes over. He also
short-arms his shots. He only got 15 points.
Jason: His shots are quite flat. He generates some
leg action but his stroke is mostly from the upper body and wristy.
He's thus very streaky and made only 9 points.
FINAL COMMENTS:
What I'm describing above are patterns and tendencies. In any
given moment, strong willpower and good concentration and confidence
can allow a good athlete to perform exceedingly well. We call
them "streaks." But over the long run, shooting that
has flaws and inconsistencies will fail.
HERE'S WHAT I LOOK FOR IN SHOOTERS:
1) Power: Where does it come from, lower body or upper body?
I've come to rate what "percent" of the available
lower body power is driving the shot.
2) Set Point: How high is it? Strong players can raise
it higher, making it harder to block and also allowing them to
fire off the Release quicker and with more freedom. Young players
have to keep it below the eye until they reach a certain strength.
If they take if over the eye too soon, they'll end up throwing
and slinging the ball with upper body to get enough power. Is
it aligned with the shooting eye. (If not, then a calculation
has to be made each time you shoot.)
3) Arch: How high does the shot get? (I look at the bottom
of the ball.) What's the general shooting angle of the shot,
vertical of horizontal? Does the shot come in "hot"
or soft?
4) Follow Through: What is the action of the wrist and hand
during and after the shot? Are the wrist and hand relaxed or
tight? What's the arm doing? Is it held in line or moving around?
Does the elbow lock or is the shot short-armed?
5) Steadiness: Is the body stable during the shot or is
it drifting or moving back or forward?
6) Focus, consistency, concentration: How focused is the
player during and after the shot? Does she or he have a strong
"connection" with the target?
I'm sorry most of you probably can't watch
a video tape of the competition while reading my comments. You
would see what I see. But I hope this analysis is helpful anyway.
It can help you see these things in players in future games
and practices.
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5. A Cute Story of the Texas Women's Coach Practicing Psychology
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In the local paper out here after her team had beaten Louisiana
State, it was reported that before the game Texas Coach Jody
Conradt had called LSU "... the best college woman's basketball
team in the country." LSU Coach Sue Gunter wasn't buying
that and said, "Oh, Jody knows better than that." However
the psych was probably already accomplished to some degree. Texas
wound up soundly defeating LSU.
The article further said now that Texas
has to take on #1-ranked Connecticut, Jody had this to say: "What
I said about LSU probably will be on Connecticut's locker room
wall. Now I'm changing my story and saying Connecticut is the
best team in the country." Beware, UConn!
Good luck to all the wonderful Final Four
teams.
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6. Testimonials
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Let me include this month some of the recent
testimonials I've gotten for the Swish video and my website articles
and newsletters. They reveal a pattern of people understanding
better how to shoot, how to approach practice, and how to coach
the skill. I always enjoy reading of how people are "getting"
what I coach.
--------------------------------
"Tom, I ordered your video about 6 weeks ago for my soon-to-be
13 year old daughter. We live outside of Philadelphia, PA and
the winter has been brutal, but we've been able to grab some
open gym time and practice the philosophies of the method. Being
a headstrong teenager (is that redundant?), I've had to adapt
the method to get her to incorporate the elements of the shot.
She's been making improvements, but it's hard to break bad habits.
She still to often reverts back to the old shooting style in
a game, but the free throws are improving. I think with a little
more practice (AAU season has just started), she'll be a great
shooter in no time. As I said, we've made some progress, and
I wanted to relate this story to you.
"During an AAU game this past weekend,
my daughter was fouled attempting a shot. The shot did not go
in, so she went to the line for two free throws. I could see
that she was not making the adjustments we had worked on, adjustments
that had improved her foul shooting from about 30-40% to approaching
70% in just a few sessions. Her first free throw was an air ball,
and the second clanged off the back of the rim, off-center. I
happen to be an assistant coach for this team, so at the next
break I reminded her to focus on the adjustments that we made.
Late in a close game (her team was winning by about 5 points),
she was fouled again going to the basket. I didn't say anything.
However, this time as she approached the line I could see that
she was setting up differently: open stance, arm/shoulder in
line with the basket, right up on the line. She swished both
shots almost effortlessly, and as she ran down the court the
head coach said "great looking shots."
"As we get more into the season and
get some warmer weather, we're looking forward to more improvements
in both game situations and foul shooting. Thanks for a no-nonsense,
straightforward approach to shooting fundamentals."
-- J. Roynan
--------------------------------
"Tom Nordland's approach to shooting the basketball is flat-out
the best I have ever seen. His approach goes well beyond the
old adages of shooting the basketball and focuses on the essential
keys to control the flight of the basketball. If you commit to
learn this system, you will become a good shooter, it's that
solid. If you are going to invest a lot of time and energy in
basketball, it would be foolish not to learn this method. Your
child will become his or her own coach, and confidence will soar.
Perhaps the greatest and most precious gift is the time they
spend practicing will no longer be wasted developing bad habits
and in frustration, but instead will become productive and effective,
motivating them to practice even more."
"Getting this video is a must, and
even more beneficial is to take advantage of the opportunity
to do a clinic with Tom. His personal instruction will accelerate
your child's progress and help them teach themselves. Do not
miss out on this opportunity which has such great potential to
help your children excel and reach their goals."
-- Marc Jacobs, Program Director, Five-Star
Basketball of Greater Washington D.C.; Asst. Coach, Georgetown
Prep
--------------------------------
"Tom, I received your video on Thursday. I tried it out
for myself in a pick up game yesterday, and all I can say is......
WOW!!!! I could not believe how well my shot improved. Since
I coach my daughter she's going to be my first guinea pig today."
-- Q. Houston
--------------------------------
"Dear Tom, I have been in basketball over 20 years, both
as a player and a coach, and what I read here [on your web site]
made me know you know what you're talking about. My son P.J.
is rated as one of the top players in the country (Hoop scoops),
and he has had everybody in the world trying to change his shot.
He's left handed and these folks don't have a clue. But I read
just a little bit of your web site and know you have more than
a clue. Thanks for knowing what you're talking about!"
-- M. Taylor, North Carolina
--------------------------------
"Tom, I just thought I'd give you a little update....
"On Saturday night, my girls basketball
team qualified for the state tournament! It's the first time
since the merger of two schools 13 years ago that a girls team
had qualified for state in any sport. That doesn't sound like
such a long time, but the only time in history that either school
(Prairie City or Monroe) qualified was in 1948!
"There were obviously a lot of reasons
that we won Saturday, but the most obvious one is shooting percentage
-- we shot 51% from the floor, while our opponent shot 40%. In
fact, FG% has been a huge reason for our success all year --
we're shooting almost 8% better than the girls did a year ago
(before I took over the program and implemented parts of your
program). I currently have 3 girls who have broken the school
record for season FG%...one of them (who has spent countless
hours working with me after practice on her shooting) has improved
from 31% from the floor last year to 48% this year -- still not
great, but a HUGE improvement. Her scoring average has gone from
just under 8 points per game last year to over 13 points per
game this year, and she has recently committed to play basketball
at junior college here in Iowa -- something she never thought
she was good enough to do. In our regional final last Saturday,
she scored a career-high 21 points on 7-13 shooting from the
floor, including the game winner in a 59-57 overtime win (to
go with her 12 rebounds).
"It still hasn't sunk in that we've
accomplished what we have -- this is my first season as a varsity
head coach, and things like this aren't supposed to happen to
first year coaches...but then again, when you have great kids
to coach, anything can happen! Thanks again!"
-- C. Honeck, Monroe, Iowa
--------------------------------
(Another from C. Honeck)
"Hi Tom, Just wanted to let you know
about another little success story for your shooting program.
"As you may remember, this is my first
year as a varsity coach. When I took over the program in June,
I knew we had some good athletes, but was told that we were probably
3 years away from success (great middle school teams coming up).
I always asked the question, "Why wait?"...and usually
got some pretty funny looks (as if I had no idea what I was saying).
Well, to make a long story short, I've
implemented bits and pieces of your program throughout the season
-- haven't been able to take the time to do it word for word,
start to finish (that's coming up this summer), but I've used
parts where needed with certain players. The result? We were
the top FG% shooting team in our conference, and all five of
my starters finished in the top 9 in FG% in the conference!"
"The other impact? We currently have
a record of 17-4. We went undefeated in conference play at 10-0
(something that hadn't happened in the conference since 1986),
we won only the second conference championship in girls basketball
in school history, and we are playing Saturday in a regional
final for a trip to the state basketball tournament! Our school
is made up of kids from two different communities. Prairie City
last made the state tournament in 1948, and Monroe has never
made it, so we have the opportunity to continue our special run...your
program was certainly a part of it, and I can't wait to implement
it fully with our younger kids this summer!
"Thanks again!"
-- C. Honeck, Monroe, IA
--------------------------------
"Dear Tom, This is just a quick note of thanks for the time
you spent talking with me on the phone Sunday, and the resources
available on your website. I haven't even seen the video yet,
but the SWISH method is helping my team. Let me explain
"Last night at practice I watched
my players shoot. The best shooter fits your profile of a good
shooter she's a girl, she has a non-stressed release, a
high arc and perfect backspin. She's the only girl on the team
but is by far the best shooter. I was watching one of the poorer
shooters shoot, and his form looked fine but he just isn't strong
enough to shoot from ten or fifteen feet out. I told him to bend
his knees and put some leg into it. He resisted at first, but
soon he was trying it and got very excited. Later in practice
during a shooting drill he said "Watch me, Coach watch
me!" And then as he shot he would say out loud "That's
in. That's in" displaying his new-found confidence. His
release was much more relaxed than before and his success rate
went way up.
"I have always stressed shooting in
practice, but have never really known what to tell the players.
I believe in the natural intelligence most children possess,
and so I don't try to coach mechanics too much. I usually encourage
them to put backspin on the ball and just drop it over the rim,
and let them figure out how their body should do that. I am greatly
looking forward to the video and to sharing it with the team."
-- M. Gillis
--------------------------------
(Another from M. Gillis)
"Tom, When I got your video I asked
my boys if the wanted to watch. One boy is 12, the other is 10.
They said "No, we know how to shoot." They had the
same reaction when I asked if they would be interested in a shooting
clinic. The funny thing was that when they came into the room
while I was watching the video they were mesmerized and immediately
started watching intently and making comments and asking questions.
"Sunday my 12-year-old was practicing
from the foul line when I asked him to move closer -- to a spot
he felt confident he could make 5 in a row from. He didn't want
to do it but he did. His form and arc improved. Then I asked
him to close his eyes and shoot from the same spot, and he started
having a great time. Then I asked him to call out where he thought
his shot was going with his eyes closed. Now he really started
to enjoy himself. I joined in and he had fun watching me try
to do it. As soon as a new player arrived for practice my son
would say "Come over and do this, this is great!"
"Now, one boy on the team is a great
guy and a good athlete, but he has only played hockey, not basketball,
so I work with him on developing basic skills. His father came
to practice on Sunday to help. This Dad knows much more about
basketball than I do as he is a coach, a ref, and a trainer of
refs, and a general basketball expert.
"I did the eyes-closed shooting drill
with this boy and he liked it and his shot went from flat to
nicely arched. Then he moved out to shoot from spots on the floor
in a drill we do, and he was making a good share! I was very
excited. Then his father started yelling "Those are JUMP
shots! Think 'hang-time', 'hang-time'" and he reverted back
to his old struggling form. It was tough listening to that and
I felt bad for this boy. I guess it was a good chance for me
to see 'Traditional' coaching in action.
"I want to thank you for the resources
you reference on your website. I have visited the website of
the Positive Coaches Association, and have started reading "Mastery"
by George Leonard. I wonder if you have ever read a book called
"Developing Youth Soccer Players"? Probably not, since
you are a basketball and golf coach. This book was a revelation
to me. It pointed out that most adults coach children as if they
were coaching other adults lecturing, talking, showing
off how much they know. It also talks about the developmental
stages children are in at different ages and how they learn.
Best of all, it describes GAMES that are designed to help children
think, grasp ideas, and develop new skills. My favorites are
games where there is an object, and the players have to figure
out the best way to achieve that by trying, not by listening
to an adult tell them what he thinks is the best way. I have
incorporated some of these into my basketball practices and it's
very effective and very fun to watch.
"I mention this because it reminds
me of your eyes-closed game of feeling where the shot will go,
or the exercise of three players shooting one behind the other
and trying to make all three shots go in right after another.
I also mention it because on Sunday when the guest coach would
go off on a tangent about how John Stockton does something or
where referees line up or why the players needed to pay attention
to the 'little things' or some such thing, the players just rolled
their eyes and tuned him out.
"Thanks, Tom, for all your work and
help."
-- M. Gillis
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7. KIDS' KORNER
------------------------------------------------------------
LEARNING SOMETHING NEW
When learning anything new, it's a process of changing behavior
from one action to another. Let's say your shot is not very effective
and you want to learn a new stroke, perhaps the method I offer,
the Swish Method.
Through my Swish video or even my writings,
and especially if you could take a clinic with me, you will see
and experience a different way to shoot a basketball. With a
little practice you'll be shooting better, shooting higher, making
a higher percentage of shots. However, unless you're a very good
learner and "get" the new stroke totally and adopt
it completely, you will now have a period of time where you have
both an "old" stroke and a "new" stroke and
the older stroke is dominant. The question is, "How do we
break an old habit and learn to trust something new?"
AWARENESS AND PATIENCE
The answer is through awareness of what you do and with patience
to hang in there while the body adapts to the new behavior. Habits
are hard to break. They serve us by allowing us to do things
over and over with little attention, with less focus and concentration,
thus minimizing stress and strain as we perform. However, when
we want to change the habit, then the old patterns need to be
broken.
AN OLD HABIT AS A GROOVE OR RUT
One metaphor I've used is that of a deep groove (or "rut")
we're walking or running in for the old habit and a new, very
shallow groove for the new motion. Imagine that they run parallel.
For awhile, we keep falling back into the old groove since it
is so deep and comfortable. If we're determined to learn the
new motion, we have to keep climbing out of the old, deep groove
and placing ourselves in the new, shallow and slowly-building
groove. Eventually as we practice the new stroke, we deepen the
path. The more the awareness, the deeper the impact. As the new
one gets deeper and we learn to trust it more and choose it,
to continue the analogy the old one will start to fill in with
sand and dirt and dust, and in time the new path becomes the
only one.
FEEL AND KNOW THE NEW POSSIBILITY
Find ways to feel more acutely the new motion you want. Slow
it down, bring it in close so there isn't so much risk. Close
your eyes and do it so feeling is enhanced. Watch how you do
it with as much precision and feel as you can. Add pressure only
slowly, as pressure applied too soon will result in a complete
breakdown. Consciously perform and observe the process. When
you fall back into the old habit's groove, don't get upset. Realize
it's just a part of you and it takes time and patience to change
behavior. Then return to your intention and commitment to learn
the new stroke and see what happens.
FEEL THE OLD HABIT, TOO
It helps to increase awareness of the old habit, too. The more
you know about something, the less mysterious it is. Bring it
out of the "unconscious" as much as possible so you
have more of a choice in the matter.
At some point you will have total confidence
in the new "habit" and it will become the default habit
from that point on. I doubt that anyone can really tell how long
this process will take.
OPPOSITES AND EXTREMES
A good tool to use in learning something new is to practice it
in a lot of different ways. Exaggeration and doing the opposite
are two ways to do that. If you're learning to shoot higher than
you have before, play with height. Shoot very flat, shoot medium
high, and then shoot very high. Compare and contrast. How high
can you shoot? How low can you shoot and still make it? If you
want to learn to push the ball, as I recommend (rather than flip
or throw it), flip and throw on purpose and then push on purpose.
Do it as much as you need to to really "know" it in
the different forms. If and when you experience that the "push"
is more effective than the "flip" or "throw,"
then you will CHOOSE the new action. It will not be someone else's
idea of what's better, it will be yours!
DON'T WORRY IF YOU THINK YOU CAN'T MAKE
THE CHANGE
For awhile you're going to keep screwing it up, keep failing
in this learning of a new action, constantly going back to the
old, comfortable, programmed way. That's very normal. We all
do it. You'll feel like you can't learn and that it will never
happen! (I remember once having to learn a new telephone prefix
when I worked at Apple Computer. It was "974" instead
of "973." It took me weeks of mindlessly dialing "973-XXXX"
to call someone and being reminded by a message that the prefix
had changed. I felt silly each time, just to myself, of course.
But finally the new took hold.)
Whatever, don't give up. Keep purposely
reinforcing the new behavior every chance you get and, at some
moment, the old habit will start to break and your new action
will begin to dominate.
A LIFE-ALTERING EXPERIENCE
Learning to become a "shooter" can be a life-altering
experience. It will show you that you can learn and even master
a motion like shooting. It will stretch your self image to include
that of a great performer with a basketball. And in learning
this skill, you will be learning how to learn. You'll see the
various ways to approach a physical skill, from slow to fast,
from close in to far away, from flat to high, all the different
aspects, always letting the experience teach you, not the words
of a coach.
YOU'RE LEARNING TO FLY
And finally you'll learn you're a genius! Humans are tremendous
learning machines. As your shots will start to fly high and true,
so will you as a person start to "fly," so to speak.
You'll start to see that you can learn anything if you set your
heart and mind to it and apply simple awareness principles. You'll
see you CAN perform under pressure. Who knows what you can and
cannot accomplish? The future is a blank slate. You'll find you
are a little more in charge of your future now. With vision,
imagination, practice and hard, joyful work (including a lot
of awareness, of course), you can press forward and become an
awesome human being in whatever fields you choose.
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8. If You're a Coach...
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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.
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: Send Email to subscribe..."
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.
If you're having some wonderful results
either from working with the Swish video or just from reading
my coaching suggestions, lesson plans, etc., please write them
up for me to post on the coaches' page for others to see. We
can all learn from each other's experiences and insights.
P.S. I just recently realized that with
my digital video camera and Macintosh computer I can fairly easily
make my own DVD's to offer to coaches and players as I develop
new insights into shooting and coaching the skill and capture
it on digital video. I'm in the process now of getting the extra
hardware and software I need and learning how to use it. I can
see it's a fabulous way to communicate visual experience and
conceptual ideas. Stay tuned for new offerings in this area in
the next few months.
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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
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For the latest news about Clinics, Camps and Coaches' Trainings
across the country, go to this page: Clinics,
Camps and Trainings.
Some of the clinics that are being planned
in the next four months:
.....April 26-27, Austin, Texas
.....May 3rd or May 10th, St. Petersburg, Florida
.....June 12-15, Nashville, Tennessee
.....During the week of June 21-28, two 2-day camps in Vernon,
British Columbia
......... plus clinics in the Seattle and Ferndale, Washington
areas
.....July 13-22, Clinics in Davenport, IA, Peoria, IL, Milwaukee,
WI and Chicago, IL
.....Possibly July 31, Aug. 1-2, Boise, Idaho
.....Aug. 13-15, Southington, CT (20 miles west of Hartford)
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.
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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.
Remember to expect the Confirmation email.
To UNSUBSCRIBE from this Newsletter, just
send a blank email to the following:
Unsubscribe
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12. Contact Information
------------------------------------------------------------
Tom Nordland, Shooting Coach
325 Crows Nest Drive
Boulder Creek, CA 95006
Website: http://www.swish22.com
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Tel: 888/SWISH-22 (888/794-7422)
or 831/338-4647
Fax: Call above #'s to get fax # and to get fax turned on.
To E-mail Tom
Creator of the video "Swish - A Guide to Great Basketball
Shooting"
For a Renaissance in Shooting!
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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 2003 Tom Nordland
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