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and respect your privacy. 1. Welcome from the Coach Recently in my practice of shooting and in watching some WNBA playoff games on TV, I realized the importance of shooting "Up" above the basket rather than "At" the basket. Most players, I feel, shoot at the basket. This is because of how they're powering and releasing their shots. A wrist flip action or a throwing motion are horizontal in direction and require that you aim at the target. Maybe you aim a little above to allow for some gravity pulling the ball down, but mostly the action is "at" something. I feel great shooters shoot up. Maybe some of you will remember the analogy I made of shooting "up through the sunroof" from a pickup truck's front seat rather than forward out the top of the windshield. This upward action creates greater arch which gives for a larger target and a softer landing. If you shoot with a wrist flipping motion you can't get much arch. However, if you shoot early in the jumping motion from a lot of leg power and make the Release just a pushing action of the arm, arch is automatic and high. Thus you get the feeling of shooting high above something rather than at it. The next time you watch yourself (or someone else or a team) shoot, observe in what direction you are tending to shoot. For most players I think you'll see they're basically going horizontal rather than vertical. In my clinics, after players are able to
perform the simple Swish method pretty well, I have them look
at the floor directly below the basket while they shoot. It's
amazing how many can make these shots, once they "figure"
it out, because they're shooting Up rather than At. Their plan
is to have the ball peak before the basket and be coming down
at it from above, thus it's possible to make shots quite easily
with this approach. By seeing the spot on the floor directly
under the basket, they know where the basket is, 10 feet directly
above that spot. They get power from the upward action of the
legs -- the earlier they shoot the more that action -- and release
the ball in that same upward tendency. This creates high arch
and allows gravity a chance to slow the ball down. A bigger target
and a softer landing shot gives them a much better chance of
the ball going in. Alan Lambert, President of the Basketball Highway website (the "mother" of all privately-run basketball websites), has just installed me as the new "Ask the Shooting Pro" coach. Visitors to his site can now ask questions about shooting and I'll answer them via this venue. Prior questions and answers will also be shown, by category. Here is a link to the "Ask the Shooting Pro" page. Alan gave my Swish video a remarkable review
in 1997: [A re-print (revised) from my September, 2000 Newsletter, issue #17.] I'm quite sure that the over 2,700 of you (and growing) who have chosen to receive this Newsletter do so because you care deeply about the subject of shooting for your players or children. Surely most of you realize that shooting has been in the dumpster for a long time, and you wonder what can be done about it. Hopefully, what I write about is inspiring to you. There IS an answer to the decline in shooting, and though it's going to take a lot of individual work on the part of coaches and players, the answers are simple and natural and the process of discovery will be exhilarating. Great shooting need not take thousands of hours to learn. Mastery isn't reserved just for the super-coordinated and physically gifted. The motion of shooting a basketball accurately and with high arch is so simple and natural everyone can do it immediately, and to master it to some degree of success (to really learn to trust it under pressure) will not take an interminably long time. In my opinion, the way many coaches coach shooting (if they coach it at all) does require a long time to master and many kids will never achieve it. The instructions that are commonly given, like squaring up, shooting at the top of the jump, and wrist flipping, actually sabotage the natural process that young kids grow up with. When a skill is difficult to do and repeat, or feels uncomfortable or unnatural, the level of discipline and commitment necessary to learn it is tremendous. With the short attention span of kids today, plus the desire to excel immediately, it's no wonder few of them learn to shoot well. START AN INQUIRY ABOUT SHOOTING As a coach or parent, keep inquiring as to what great shooting requires. You'll find many of the answers in my video and in the articles I write about it. You'll find other answers in your own experience, in the experience of your players, and what you and they see at games and even on TV. But you have to know what to look for. LEARN TO DO IT YOURSELF Make shooting an inquiry of your own, not just a theory. You don't need youth or great physical condition to do stand-in-place shooting. If you don't have any physical problems, you can learn the skill by shooting in close, from 15 feet and less. My video shows exactly how to learn and practice the skill and what "distinctions" make a difference. My articles can lead you to the distinctions and awareness that will teach you how to control the flight of a basketball. My article, "Coaching Shooting with Large Groups," lists a number of areas to look at, and how to increase awareness. My article, "The Things That Matter in Shooting," discusses areas of focus that make a difference and how to test them. Awareness is developmental, so if you just increase awareness of the key areas of shooting (e.g. arch, spin, where power comes from, shooting arm, wrist and hand, adding leg power, etc.), learning will happen. When you couple that increased awareness with the understandings and experiences of how things work best, learning is accelerated. WHAT WOULD YOU DO ... NATURALLY? If you were to go to a distance of about
7-8' from the basket and shoot without any preconceived ways
of shooting, how would your body do it? Go to a court and examine these things. When you can truly do it as well as talk about it, your coaching will improve dramatically. YOU KNOW HOW TO SHOOT WELL An inquisitive examination of what your body would do naturally will teach you a lot. You'll find you already KNOW how to shoot beautifully, and so do your players. You and they know instinctively what works best. But bad habits and ineffective understandings have covered over the great, natural knowing. What you see in other players in this shooting-challenged world of ours, and what some coaches have told you over your basketball life, doesn't jive with that instinct. No wonder kids get frustrated. Explore it naturally, both yourselves and with your players, and see what happens. Start and maintain a conversation about shooting. Ask them what works and what doesn't work. Ask them what they see in themselves and others, and tell them what you see. When one of your players starts to really "get" it and shoot lights out, ask him or her to demonstrate and tell the team what the key things are that have been learned. This is not rocket science. It's simple bio-mechanics -- you DO this and the ball DOES that, every time. Once they "get" it, they'll start learning like crazy. My video will shortcut the learning process because it demonstrates and discusses the important distinctions in shooting. Showing it to your kids will open the doors quicker. They can learn this by themselves (as did most of the very few who shoot beautifully already), but good modeling and good coaching can greatly accelerate the process. You'll find they will WANT to practice because they now know what works! ...and when they practice they get better. Keep in touch with me. So far over 500 coaches have asked me to coach them in coaching the Method, and I've started a process to do that. If you're a coach, join my Coaches' Mailing List (see "For Coaches" page) so I can communicate directly with you. If you like what I'm saying, tell your
coach friends and parent friends about this inquiry and the things
I'm offering. Refer them to my website (http://www.swish22.com/)
and to this free Newsletter. Thanks for joining me in a Shooting
Renaissance!!! NOTE: The following coach was shipped the video August 13th. He watched the video and worked with it and presented it to his team Aug. 23rd, less than 10 days after reeiving it. This is an example of a coach "getting" the simple concepts and how to coach them so well in a short time that he was able to teach others powerfully. Here is his story: "Tom, I presented your system at
practice for the first time this Saturday to 13-14 year old girls.
I thought it went well, but the real result came on this email
from one of the parents. Your system made practice organized
and coherent so that I was able to get this fine report." "To Dave, "Oh.My.Gosh. "Bethany just spent about an hour outside with Paul shooting baskets. At dinner, I started to tell Paul about the scrimmage and drills you had them do yesterday at practice. Bethany elaborated, and it was amazingly detailed, which impressed me so much she was really listening! I quietly rushed outside to move my car out of the driveway, then casually suggested the two of them go shoot some baskets. "Oh.My.Gosh. "I TRIED not to overreact. First of all, she was practicing shooting (while occasionally telling us something you had told her). But also, she was shooting with one hand! "She was making what seemed like 90% of her shots and was following through! "I commented on it (again, as casually
as I could), with something like 'Hey, when did THIS "Do you KNOW how many people have tried to teach her this shot? "She shot from different points on a semicircle around the basket and repeated and repeated. I know you said you thought she was ready to make a leap, but... "Oh.My.Gosh! Can it be starting already? Thanks, Coach." -- Shirley "Thank you, Tom. I will continue to build your system at my next practice!" -- David "My son Danny is a Freshman in high school and has decided to make basketball his main sport. He has played for a few years, but nothing real serious. He has a friend whom he wanted to emulate that is a good player and good shot. Even before getting your video I began to teach him your principles. I was a high school player and had a college scholarship to play, so understood your perspective. "Once we got your video we watched it together and hit the gym. He was very surprised and pleased at the quick results he was getting. He has never been a strong shooter. Quite by accident his friend showed up at the gym and we had a shooting "contest." Both Danny and I beat his friend hands down! By the time we were done Danny's friend asked me to teach him 'how to shoot.' "I am still learning, as is Danny, but I am excited at the prospects. Thank you for distilling this information in a way that is both fun and informative. I am also a Certified Clinical Hypnotherapist and Sports Performance Coach and this will help me in my work with basketball players throughout my area. Thanks again, and keep up the good work!" -- D. Von Waggoner, Colorado ------------------------ "Tom, I read all your newsletters with great interest. The subject of shooting, coaching and teaching all fascinate me. Thanks very much for your work. "Your last newsletter intrigued me when you described the difference between boys and girls. I know coaches who won't coach boys anymore. Their rationale goes like this - You can tell girls what you want them to do, and they will try to do it. IF you can get boys to sit still long enough to tell them what you want, they immediately go out and do something else anyway. "The only way I have found to work with boys is to get them doing an activity that they like and then quietly work with them in the activity, steering them towards what I want. There is still the big obstacle with end-results and appearances. If I suggest they open their stance on the foul line, and they miss the next shot, they invariably say "That doesn't work - why did you have me do that?" Or, in soccer, I'll ask them to kick a ball left-footed, and they say "I can't" and won't even try. "One thing all my players took to was shooting with their eyes closed. For whatever reason, that was seen as 'fun' and the only pressure on them was trying to guess where the shot would go after they released it. It certainly improved their sensitivity and awareness and they had a great time doing it. "Other things from the Swish video we did were trying to use the legs more; trying to have three players in a line swish their shots one after another (this exercise really seemed to captivate them, even though it proved very difficult); and varying the arc on our shots. By the end of the season some of the players were shooting amazingly high-arcing foul shots. "A game the team invented was trying to shoot a ball onto a vent that stuck out from the wall, about 12 feet high off the floor. The surface of the vent was very small, and the players would hoist a shot up and try to land it softly enough that it stayed up there. Of course the ball had to be coming almost straight down to have a chance of staying up there. After watching the Swish video and realizing how beneficial that was, I gladly let them do that whenever they wanted. "Finally, I have to give a testimonial to the 'feedback and awareness' method of teaching. I had a soccer player who was drop-kicking the ball, and sending it almost sideways. He asked me what he should do. I said "This time, tell me what part of your foot is hitting the ball." He proceeded to kick the next few balls beautifully and right at his target, noticing that they were hitting the hard part of the middle of his foot. Similarly, I was passing a soccer ball back and forth with another boy, and he was kicking the ball about 5 yards to my right, from 10 yards away. He said "I can't kick it straight" and I said "See if you can tell where the ball is hitting your foot." He then kicked a few right at me, and when he kicked one off-target again, he said "That one hit up by my toes." -- Michael R. Gillis ------------------------ "Hi Tom, Thanks for the most fun I ever had with a basketball. I am a beginner. Even though I'm 41 years old, I never played basketball. A few weeks ago a friend suggested that we go the courts after work, so I bought a ball. I'm not very tall. I'm not very good. But tonight I went on the Web and found your site. I read how to hold and shoot the ball and watched the clips and immediately went to a local high school court. I saw immediate results. Your method is simple, easy to remember and learn, and natural. The hand and arm do point toward the target, what could be simpler. I even made 8 baskets in a row from different points on the court. It amazed me. You've got an effective technique. Thanks very much." -- Edgar Saenz ------------------------ Subject: You are my hero!!! "Dear Tom, I am 14 years old, and am writing from Canada. I used to shoot the way most coaches teach nowadays, and I was a terrible shooter. I would change my technique almost every week but would still get the same results. Then, a few months ago I ran into your website and read about the way you coached shooting and your technique. So I decided to give it a try but I didn't expect any better results because I was hopeless. I started working with your technique a few months back and have gotten better every practice. Today, I went to the Local Gym with my friend and he was amazed at how good I was shooting. To tell you the truth even I was amazed. Thank you Tom." -- Hamid Haidery, Canada ------------------------ "Tom, I asked Tyler to put together a letter in response to your note. Before I copy his letter for you, I wanted to tell you how confident he has become. His accuracy at the foul line has improved so much and as a result he's looking for contact on the drives to get himself to the line where in the past he would avoid attacking the basket. He also is stepping further and further out on his range if the defender gives him the room he's letting it fly with confidence. Last night he scored 31 points in a incoming top Freshman league in our area, making 8 three's and some of them from the NBA line (he's only going into 8th grade). Thanks." -- Robert M., Foster City, CA This is copied from Tyler himself; "Dear Tom, Thank you so much for coming out and coaching me. Your "Swish" Method has improved my shooting tremendously. Like Free Throws for example. I used to be shooting at 50-60% tops. After working with you and practicing what you taught me, I have improved to a 70-75% free throw shooter now and continuing to improve. My three point shooting has improved a lot as well. Last night I hit 8 three's in my game. The most important reason I have improved was that you showed me the correct way to practice." -- Tyler M., 13 years old, Foster City, CA. ==================================== "Hi Hiko, This is just to thank you
again for doing so much for the rest of us. Miya and her -- Jane
One problem we all have is trusting a new stroke (or new anything) when there is pressure, when it "counts!" Why is it that, even when we're getting pretty good with a new stroke or behavior, we revert to our old habits in games and screw things up? FROM PRACTICE AREA TO THE COURSE MAKE THE TARGET MORE IMPORTANT! "Hey Tom! I think I have a clue that may help me to better my shooting in public. When I was reading some things on your website, something really clicked. There was a question that a boy had that had the same weakness as myself. Your guess was lack of concentration on the goal. "I started to notice that when I am
being very self aware of how I am shooting, I miss. Now that
I have gotten the method down, I just need to focus mostly on
the goal, and not worry about much else. Does this sound familiar?
Thank you." PROFOUND DISCOVERY However, if you can minimize the thinking and return more and more to the "present moment," to the action that's happening, and be more with feel than with thoughts, you will perform better. That's been my experience. It's tough to do when the doubts and fears get really intense, but with practice you can get better and better at this process, like Kelly is doing. THE TARGET -- A GREAT FOCUS! TRY IT! SUMMARY Thanks, Kelly, for a wonderful subject
for the KIDS' KORNER this month! If you'd like to start on the process of learning how to coach shooting with my Method, please 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." 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. ------------------------------------------------------------ For the latest news about Clinics, Camps and Coaches' Trainings across the country, go to the "Clinics" page. I'll be posting the details as soon as they're finalized. In the meantime you can email me if you're interested in attending any of these clinics and camps. Clinics and camps being planned for this fall: 9/25-10/5 Clinton, MD area -- Thursday, Sept. 25 Boise, ID -- Friday thru Sunday, Oct. 17-19 Eden Prairie, MN -- Friday thru Sunday,
Oct. 24-26 St. Louis -- Saturday and Sunday, Nov.
22-23
NOTE: I'll be speaking at the Iowa Basketball
Coaches Association convention in Des Moines, IA, on Saturday,
Nov. 8th. Other possibilities for the fall: I invite you to bookmark my Website (http://www.swish22.com) so you can go there easily to catch my latest news and 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. 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
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