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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
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ad to help them pay for the service. Sorry for the little commercialism. 1. Welcome from the Coach ------------------------------------------------------------ I got to see a WNBA game July 25th in Sacramento, between the Monarchs and the visiting Indiana Fever. It was a close contest, won at the end by the Monarchs. What impressed me the most was the mediocre shooting. Neither team had an edge in that area, though I felt the Fever had better shooters. Only one of the 24 players I saw warm up went in-close to start the process. The rest all came out to mid-range and beyond to start shooting. That one player went to about 3 feet away with a trainer to rebound for her and shot a bunch, and then moved back slowly a foot or two at a time, further and further. She turned out to be one of the better shooters. She knew the value of working on her release motion as a way to prepare for a game. The best outside shooter on the court was one I had coached, Kate Starbird, from Indiana. She shot early in her motion, had her Set Point in line with her eye, and had a pretty constant, repeatable stroke. She told me later that her elbow is bothering her from a weight lifting injury a couple years earlier, so she couldn't straighten her arm as fully as she would like. Kate hasn't been playing a lot but she got some good time this game as her coach must have seen she was shooting well. In the game she missed her four field goal attempts (made two of two FT's), but they were all really good shots, just barely missing. If she had made a couple, her confidence would have probably kicked in and I feel she could have made the difference for Indiana. Both teams could have used more of the penetrate-then-kick-it-back-out strategy so popular these days, but when your outside shooters can't make a high percentage of those shots, the strategy has to be used sparingly. MOST USING UPPER BODY MUSCLES The problem with wristy, flippy shot motions is that with the flat trajectory and hot action, sustained, excellent shooting is very difficult. You can sometimes make them fairly well in practice, since you're relaxed and can get some confidence going. Plus you're shooting often from one spot over and over and get into a rhythm. But in the pressure of a game, that kind of ball flight is susceptible to error, to variation. If the ball is coming in very flat, say just 6" above the rim or less, if you're a couple inches short, the ball will skip over the basket. If you're a couple inches long, the ball will bounce out. Left or right a bit and the ball will spin out. And once you miss one or two, especially if you miss badly, your confidence starts to get shaky and you'll miss more. Then can start the downward spiral of miss, doubt, miss again caused partly by the doubt, then more doubt, more misses, etc. The doubt may even lead to fear, fear of missing, fear of looking bad, etc. etc. Not a good space to be in. SOLUTION ------------------------------------------------------------ I wanted to pass on some things about coaching I've learned that might be of value to coaches, especially new and aspiring coaches. From my experience, the best coaching is built around asking questions of students rather than telling them what to do. Most coaches feel they have to be telling their students or players things "to do" or they're not good coaches. At least I know I did when I first started coaching. We feel we have to provide information and instructions that the student then will integrate into her or his physical action. This is how we all learned a lot of stuff while growing up, with parents, coaches and friends telling us stuff. However, I feel a lot of learning was interfered with by too much of this kind of instruction. Yes, of course, we need some basic instruction as to how the game is played, passing, dribbling, shooting, ideas about offensive plays and defenses, rebounding, blocking out, etc. etc. But "how" each of the actions is learned is something else. AWARENESS IS DEVELOPMENTAL The most important quality a student needs to develop is AWARENESS (what could also be called "feel" or "experience"). To learn a physical motion, awareness provides the student with realtime feedback as to what's happening. The thought "about" something or the conceptual instruction to "do" something are nothing like the real experience. For example thinking of what you had for breakfast is nothing like the taste of the breakfast. The thought of a sunset is nothing like actually seeing a sunset. A sunset is really "undescribable," though we try to describe it anyway. The theories on blocking out an opponent are a far cry from the actual, physical action needed to do it. A coach's job is best described, I believe, as guiding a student into her or his own "discoveries." Another way to say it is that "experience is the only teacher." Words can help at times, as they lead the student into the areas of awareness where the learning takes place. But mostly the student needs to do the learning by using the senses and experiencing what happens. "WHAT HAPPENED?" When I am coaching someone and don't know what to say to help them learn, I remember this one question: "What Happened?" You can't go wrong with that question, and you'll probably be praised as being a good coach some day by asking it over and over. That question puts people in the mode of Exploration and Discovery. If the student can be guided into really feeling and seeing what happens, then their very smart bodies will learn. That's the key thing! The student does the learning from experience, not from the clever words of the Teacher or Coach. If you can get that, your coaching will start to soar, and the good news is that it's very easy to coach this way. A friend and I were watching a playoff game recently wondering why it is that poor shooting is so prevalent in the game today. Aren't players learning what works through practice? Aren't they experimenting with different ways of shooting, learning how to control distance or direction? Don't they see how flat their shots are and experiment shooting higher? Apparently not. We reasoned that they're mostly in Hope and Fear, hoping to shoot better and fearing there's something wrong with them. But they're not doing much about it. And since most coaches don't know how to coach shooting very well, players can't get much help there. Also, since most players in the game today (with few exceptions) shoot badly, a poor shooter doesn't stand out, so the pressure is off. That's the problem when the whole system starts to deteriorate. No one's to blame. ARM YOURSELF WITH AWARENESS QUESTIONS As a coach, be it for shooting or for any skill in any sport, arm yourself with awareness questions: What happened? What did your arm point that time? Where did the ball land that time (exactly)? Where did the power come from in that shot? Almost any "What" question is helpful. Just be careful not to hide "To Do" questions in a "What" format: for example, "What would happen if you did this next time?" It helps to know where you're headed with a coaching session as a coach, because then you can guide the learning more skillfully. But anytime you tell somebody what to do or, even worse, what they did (instead of them telling you), you rob them of the riches of self discovery. Try it next time. When you want to coach something, ask questions instead of telling. If you want to coach higher arch, make that the goal and then simply ask players, "How high was that shot?" Figure out a scale for the reporting, either in feet or with something like a 1 to 10 scale, where '1' is the flattest and '10' is the highest conceivable. I'm sure you'll see lots of learning if you do, and shots will start to go higher ... naturally. And, if properly set up, it will encourage curiosity and exploration. Do a '10' on purpose, then do a '1' on purpose. "What was different about them? What did you notice?" You can coach team things this way, too. If you want to coach more "Aggressiveness" as a team, for example, ask the team after a particular play, "How aggressive were you that time, on a scale of 1 to 10?" Ask each of them to rate it. Then ask them to run the play again without telling them how to be aggressive. I'll bet their aggressiveness goes up. You could do the same with "Ball Movement," or "Defensive Pressure," or "Screening out," etc. If this way of coaching interests you, check this out. Let me know what you discover! Thanks. ------------------------------------------------------------ As I'm working on my next DVD/Video, on coaching the Swish Method, I thought to have a small chapter on what are the things needed in a method to make it effective. What is there about shooting that needs to be learned and developed for effective shooting to return? What would the approach have to include to make it worth investigation and, possibly, a switch to it? I came up with these characteristics. Perhaps you will agree with the need for such answers: OVERALL SIMPLE AND UNDERSTANDABLE! BODY POSITION AND SETTING THE BALL! VERSATILITY! Look at the way you coach shooting now, if you do, and see if your approach fulfills these simple, general requirements. You'll find the Swish Method does!!! If you can think of any other requirements for a terrific method for coaching this skill, let me know them. ------------------------------------------------------------ SEEK OUT MENTORS! A wonderful thing about being a "kid" is that no one expects you to know everything. Ego being what it is, YOU might expect it OF YOURSELF, but no one else does. When you become an adult, either others or you, yourself, start to believe that you should know things. The truth is that we don't know much at all but we're afraid to reveal that. As a kid, it's expected for you to ask questions, to ask to be shown how to do things. Don't lose that curiosity and humility, not for as long as you can. The minute you think you're above asking for help, you'll start to stunt your growth. As you may guess, I'm talking about myself here. As an adult I can look back now and see the many ways I failed to grow from lack of knowledge, lack of coaching. I remember being very shy in most ways (except sports). My voice was weak. I didn't know how to express myself vocally. I would just keep quiet. My folks were quiet people, too, so that's why my brother and I became that way. But if I had learned to ask for help, I could have asked friends, teachers, relatives, even strangers in some circumstances, what to do, what books I might read, what courses are available. ASK QUESTIONS Last month I talked about how the "Elbow under the ball" theory isn't the greatest, in my opinion. So if someone were to tell you to do that (and you didn't know if it's helpful or not), thank them for the suggestion and then go "check it out." Go try it and feel how it feels, observe what it does to the shot. Does it feel natural? Does it work? If it does, then it's probably a good instruction. If not, reject it. TIPS AREN'T THE ANSWER; TRUE KNOWLEDGE
IS A great way to receive a tip from an enthusiastic "tipster" friend is to ask him or her if she or he has "mastered it" yet. If the answer is "Yes" and they can prove it, then listen to him or her very carefully. However, if the answer is "No," then you might say, "I only accept tips from people who have mastered what they're trying to teach me. Thanks anyway." Don't pull that one with your coach, however, as you'll be viewed as uncooperative or worse. Don't reject everything you hear, but also don't believe everything. Your experience is all that really matters, so subject any outside instruction to the test of your own experience. And keep asking for help. You'll develop much much more quickly. (If only I had known that when I was a kid...) ------------------------------------------------------------ As a bonus for the DVD, I've added at the end six minutes of clips of shooters I've coached who beautifully demonstrate the Swish Method (the length is now 56 minutes, rather than 50 minutes). The clips show about 20 different players making effortless shots, players from Indiana, Chicago and California. DVD's are great because they allow you to bounce around quickly in any order from Chapter to Chapter, not just view things in sequence. The price will be the same as the video, $29.95 plus shipping & handling, and tax in California. If you've already purchased the SwishVideo, you can get the DVD for just half price ($15.00) plus shipping. Please tell us WHEN you purchased it to get the discount. The video comes with a printed Swish Workbook and Shooting Guide. For the DVD, the Workbook is included as a .PDF file on the DVD (readable by Adobe Acrobat's free "Reader" software), and the Guide is included as a printed insert. With new orders we include the printed Workbook. We're also very close to activating eCommerce for product ordering on our Website. We should have it by mid-August. That will make it easier to order videos, DVD's and Swish T-shirts. By the fall I expect to have my second DVD/video ready on "Swish II -- Coaching Shooting." Our website is: http://www.swish22.com.
When the new order page is ready, you'll see a link in the upper
right of the Home page to the new "Products" page. 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. ------------------------------------------------------------ Clinics planned for this summer: Minnesota -- firm plans Northern Ohio -- in planning stage St. Louis area -- in planning stage As the details become firm, I'll update my "Clinics" page on my website, at Clinics. Refer there for the latest status and instructions for enrollment. ------------------------------ ------------------------------ If you'd like to help organize the above
or other shooting sessions, contact
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