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ATTENTION: You are receiving this newsletter because you subscribed to it. If you'd like to remove yourself from this mailing list, please see the instructions at the end of this newsletter. Our subscriber list is NOT made available to other companies or individuals. We value every subscriber and respect your privacy. PLEASE excuse the advertisement paragraph
you'll see at the top of this Newsletter. Because I have a "free"
service with the Mail List company (Topica), they insert that
ad to help them pay for the service. Sorry for the little commercialism. 1. Welcome from the Coach In watching some boys high school games recently, I realized that their shots are all over the place relative to the basket. Shots are long, short, left, right, often in seemingly random patterns. The few good shooters are different; their shots are pretty much in a tight pattern close to the basket. But the majority have little control over where the ball lands. Yet this is the first necessity for effective shooting: putting the ball as near to dead center as much of the time as possible (and it helps to have high arch so the shot is softer and the target bigger). A WAY TO MEASURE SHOOTING ACCURACY (DIRECTION) I shot and kept track of results and saw that I get my shots to be in what I call the "Swish Zone" 90+% of the time, shooting from up to free throw distance and a little beyond. I didn't do an exhaustive study, but I can just see that the way I shoot gives performance that is very very accurate. (At the bottom I'll give some clues as to how I shoot so straight.) WORK ON CONTROL OF DIRECTION LIKE A TARGET IN ARCHERY ZONE A, ZONE B, ZONE C For the next zone, let's say that any shot that hits the rim yet bounces inward or straight up falls in Zone B, from 4" to 9" off line. Since the rim is 18" in diameter, from the exact middle of the basket to hitting the left or right side of the rim dead on is ~9". Zone C is all the rest, shots that hit the rim more than 9" off center and glance outward or miss entirely. With this system of reporting, now you can test yourself or your players by keeping track of which Zone your shots are landing in. Take 10, 20, 30 shots or more and record how many land in which zone. Write it down and do it again. You'll start to see your accuracy improve, just from the knowledge of results, from the feedback. You might also start to experiment now, noticing what your arm, wrist and hand are doing and adjusting it. When you see your arm move off line to the right of the target and sending the ball that way, your amazing body will start to correct it. You can also intentionally correct by "trying" to shoot X" more left or right, and that can work to some degree, but I feel you'll also notice that the body adjusts by itself, without consciously making changes. The automatic, natural correction seems to be more effective than trying to correct. Without awareness there is little learning. Fun may be there, maybe, but little learning. With awareness, actions become more controlled and predictable, maybe even tending toward perfect. Play with this. See if awareness of these three Zones leads to any changes. You could also start to notice Zones of distance, from swishing to long to short. And then your control of distance will improve. This aspect is much easier because all you need do is raise or lower the height of your shots, an instinctive adjustment of the release angle. This is the third "Key" of the Swish Method, by the way, varying height to control distance. If you like this and see some special results, write it up for inclusion in a future Newsletter. I'm sure other players and coaches would love to read about your experimentation and learning. A COUPLE IDEAS FOR IMPROVING DIRECTIONAL
CONTROL There's one more thing that makes a big difference: When I "set" the ball, I'm beginning the process of alignment. As I bring the ball up to the Set Point, I'm aware of the center of my hand (where the ball is), my shooting eye, and the target. I bring the ball up that line so I'm already aligned before the actual Release begins. The Release is just a continuation of that alignment, sending the ball to the target. Also, since I shoot on the way up and my goal is to "catch" as much of the UpForce (leg drive) as I can, my Set Point is not a stopping point; it's simply a change of direction. A stop and re-start could allow for variables to sneak in. If I don't stop, one less variable. Notice when and for how long you are aligned
with hand (ball), eye and target, and is there a stopping or
not at the Set Point. Do you get the ball to the Set Point and
then try to "find" the target, or are you aware a long
time before the Release begins? The longer you're in line the
easier it is to shoot the ball straight. I told the parent some things he and his son can do to improve the skill and art of Free Throw shooting and I thought to spell it out in my Newsletter, too. IT'S A FREE THROW, A FREE SHOT, A FREE
"POINT" IF YOU KNOW HOW TO DO IT I thought to ask myself what could I say to my Newsletter readers that will help them, short of telling them to get my Swish video. Here is what I've come up with: YOU NEED A REPEATABLE STROKE THE
RELEASE The goal for the Release can become to make it repeatable with practice, the same speed and force every time. The angle can change, but the force, an accelerating, to the end-of-the-arm force, can stay the same. When it's the same, then you know exactly what's coming off your fingertips each time you release the ball. It becomes known, predictable. Then you can focus entirely on distance and, by varying arch, learn to control that dimension. POWER THE SHOT FROM THE LEGS AND MIDDLE
BODY The UpForce is a strong, stable force that you can use to drive the shot and to stabilize the motion. It comes from your biggest muscles -- legs, hips, pelvis, lower back. It creates a vortex of energy that you can then shoot FROM. When you do, the Release is quicker, the shot goes higher, your range increases, and it makes everything easier. TIMING STANCE OPEN ACCURACY COMES FROM BEING ALIGNED AND STAYING
ALIGNED The Release delivers the ball to the target, that's its job. With everything aligned, you can then push and straighten your arm on line and the ball will go there if you don't sabotage it. Having good, strong power from the legs makes the whole process easier. If you stop your body and shoot, like so many players do these days, then the upper body has to do all the work and it can easily get the shot off line. A NOTE ABOUT "SETTING" THE BALL SET POINT IS A CHANGE OF DIRECTION, NOT
A STOPPING POINT THE DOWN-UP CAN TRIGGER EVERYTHING, START
STRAIGHT LEGGED All shots can come from some kind of down-up motion to generate power. I see a lot of players crouch before shooting Free Throws. I feel that's making it more difficult because you're losing half of the power of the Down-Up. Instead start straight-legged and then do the Down-Up. You'll feel a lot more power and a more stable power. This Down-Up action tells the body when to start the setting of the ball, done quickly so you can "catch" all of the UpForce (or as much as possible). The setting leads to the release motion, the final, inexorable pushing action on line to the target, and finally the Follow Through is held for a half second to a second to complete the action. LEARN IT STARTING IN CLOSE "MICRO FREE THROW" DISTANCE FIRST When you find the appropriate distance and you just "DO" the whole motion, the ball will start to fly true to dead center, swish! The ball just can't go any further or shorter. It will start to happen over and over and over. The Release is what I call "Full out," meaning 70-75% of max. energy. It's always the same speed and force. For the fixed distance of this Micro Free Throw, the arch is pretty much constant, but you can adjust that as needed if you feel you have too much or two little power. With practice you can drain 90-95% or more of these shots and that's your goal. "MINI FREE THROW" AND THEN "REGULAR
FREE THROW" When the Mini distance becomes easy, then go all the way to the Free Throw Line. Now you will need a strong UpForce. The distance is 15 feet to the backboard, 13' 9" to dead center. It takes some energy to send the ball with medium high arch that far. Don't under power yourself or you'll have to employ more upper body muscles to get the ball there and add variables that can be hard to control. With practice this simple Free Throw motion will give you at least 75-80% results, and 85-95% or higher is within reach. SUMMARY AN ADDED BENEFIT When I talk or write about my coaching, I mention how the goal is a "repeatable" motion, a motion that can go on automatic, even under great pressure. I was surprised a few weeks ago (April, 2001) at a Shooting Camp I led in Santa Cruz, Calif. The power of what I coach came to light and reminded me how effective this coaching can be. My partner in the Camp was a wonderful long-time coach in the Santa Cruz area, Tom Curtiss, from Soquel High School. Two of his sons assisted us with the Camp, Conner, age 15, and Chase, age 17. Chase became one of northern California's top point guards and shooters. Conner, a sophomore and one of the best shooters in the league for his age group, demonstrated for the group at one point how relaxed his wrist and hand were with his Release. Then throughout the first day's session he listened to my coaching and speaking and did a little coaching with the kids, mostly just keeping them focused on the exercises. (I had coached him briefly 4-5 months earlier in a group thing with 6-8 guys. His foot was in a cast at the time and he could not do all of the exercises, but he listened and learned some.) Well, the next day during a lull, he rather shyly told me he had made 150 shots in a row that previous night, after the camp! They were from what I call the "Learning Distance," a distance of about 6 feet away (for him), back to ~12 feet. I asked him what he had gotten from the first day of the camp that permitted him to do that. He said, "I had never gotten the 'Full Out, to the end-of-the-arm' thing you talk about!" (By "Full Out" I mean about 70-75% of maximum, quick and strong, the same every time, no holding back.) I asked him to share that with the camp and it was most impressive. He said it just "clicked!" A couple weeks later I asked Tom if there was any more to the Conner story. He said yes, and that I would be surprised (again). Conner had asked his dad one day to rebound for him as he wanted to do some "spot" shooting, shooting 25 shots from each of a number of spots. He wound up taking 550 shots from a distance of 6 feet out to about 18 feet. Tom said he's sure he made over 500 of those 550 shots! They didn't keep exact count, but he knew he hadn't missed more than 35-40 shots. Thus he made between 510 to 515 shots out of 550, a percentage in the range of 93-94%! These were mostly set shots, with just the close-in shots being done with no leg power. Free Throws you might imagine a great shooter making 90% plus, but set shots from different distances up to 18 feet!!!? This is approaching the performance level of the best shooters in the world. And he did this only a couple weeks after the "150 in a row," with no particular practice, maybe just an hour's worth. The point is that Conner had learned an effective way to control the flight of a basketball. And I don't mean just "some" control, I mean absolute control! He learned a way to repeat what he does, over and over and over. He was in a groove, but it's one that will always be there when you know what you're doing. He said he felt total confidence, and when he missed, it didn't phase him, as he knew exactly what had failed and was able to self correct on the spot. When we truly minimize variables and learn
to trust and shoot from the powerful and stable energy of the
lower/middle body, connected strongly to a target, who knows
what we're capable of? COACH YOURSELF WITH YOUR OPPOSITE HAND! In my clinics, I usually spend part of the last few minutes showing participants how to coach themselves in shooting with their opposite hand (left hand for righties, right for lefties). If a method of shooting is simple, this becomes possible. If it's complicated, this won't work because the weaker hand is not as good at throwing or flipping things (at least mine isn't). I'm impressed by how many of the kids, some just 9-10 years old, can "get" this opposite way of shooting. I tell them in my Clinics that it's important to be able to coach themselves. The real shooting clinic starts after I leave. What are they left with? What do they "own"? Can they recreate it? They need to be able to re-discover the things I coached them in. Coaching yourself with the opposite hand is a great way to do that. You have to translate what you learned in the Clinic to the other side, in a mirror image for the stance and Set Point for your strong arm. Use of the UpForce (leg drive) is the same on both sides, as are most of the other principles (the "constant" and relaxed Release, aiming high, varying arch, not holding back, etc.), so once you translate the physical set up, shooting on the other side is easy. For you, now, you probably don't have my video so you are left with whatever shooting technique you happened to learn. Hopefully it's effective. Either way, it will probably help you to coach yourself with the opposite hand because you'll be more innocent and open on that side. You have no "history" there. You won't have the extensive performance, good or bad, that you try to repeat or avoid. Fears and doubts will be fewer and smaller because you have little experience and low expectations. You'll probably even improve on your technique because Learning will be in high gear. My students find that shooting from the
opposite side is amazingly "doable" and you will, too.
In fact, your intelligent body will figure things out differently
from how you shoot on your strong side. You'll know to use more
legs automatically. The idea of jumping over people and flipping
or throwing the ball at the top of the jump will not make sense
on the weaker side. You'll learn to shoot "on the way up."
You'll see how simple the motion really is. 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
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