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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 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! 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. ------------------------------------------------------------ I thought to offer a couple simple performance games to your practice that will also teach kids to shoot more effectively. If a couple of individuals, you could play these games between you. If you're a team, you can break into smaller teams and compete against each other. ORDINARY GAMES EXTRAORDINARY GAMES AWARENESS IS AMAZING! FOUR SPECIFIC GAMES DEALING WITH THE RELEASE A. HOW MANY SHOTS CAN YOU MAKE IN ONE MINUTE? B. HOW MANY MAKES IN A ROW? C. HOW MANY SWISHES CAN YOU MAKE IN ONE
MINUTE? D. HOW MANY SWISHES CAN YOU MAKE IN A ROW?
These games teach Accuracy and Consistency. To make a shot once in awhile is not a difficult task. But to make a a lot of shots is. To swish a shot can be an accident. To swish two or three in a row is not an accident -- it shows the beginning of true control, true development. To swish four or five or more shows remarkable control. Just going for these goals will change a person's shot. ONE LAST SUGGESTION -- WORK ON RELEASE
FROM A FIXED DISTANCE A variation of the above games is to shoot from what I call the "Pure Release Distance" (PRD), a distance where you don't need your leg action at all or at least not very much. It will be easier from there and individuals and teams can really start to see progress. This distance will vary by individual and probably be from 3 1/2' to 6 feet from the basket, depending on strength. It's best that you eliminate the leg action so you can concentrate on the Release. Stronger players can just do a rocking motion or slightly up on the toes to "trigger" the Release, rather than to "power" the Release. Younger players may need to use a little leg action to make the shot easier, just keep that leg power pretty much the same each time. Either way, the idea is to keep working on developing the same Release motion every time. And aim for medium high arch as you work on the Release. That's a foot and a half or two above the rim, not much higher than that and not just over the front rim. If you shoot what seems to be too high, then move back a little or raise your Set Point. If a stronger player takes the ball overhead, suggest that he or she take it back only to where the back of the ball is in plane with the front of the head. That way they will have to push it up and that will help. If overhead, they have to throw or flip it, which is the kind of Release I recommend against. Those kinds of motion have too many variables. WHEN THE RELEASE IS ACCURATE AND CONSISTENT... PLEASE GIVE ME FEEDBACK! ------------------------------------------------------------ Here's an interesting coaching tool that I mentioned in a Newsletter almost two years ago. I thought it's high time to mention it again. A coach from Cincinnati had ordered a Swish video then and said he found me via the Milford Basketball Associate (MBA) website from Milford, Ohio. I went there to check it out and found this neat coaching tool. It's an animated program that teaches the "Motion Offense." This offense is a simple and highly effective way to get people open for shots. If you run this offense and your team can shoot well, you're going to win most of your games. If you can't shoot well, then nothing much is going to help. That this is an great offense, if you can shoot, was highlighted when I heard a Division I coach say last fall at a Coaches' Clinic that he never runs it because, "It gets guys open who can't shoot." Work on your shooting but also develop some sound offensive plays and movement, such as the Motion Offense, that get players open. When your team can shoot and you get players the opening and separation they need, you'll beat just about everybody. Go to the website for the MBA: http://www.mbahoops.com There is also a presentation of the "Shuffle Offense" displayed there. (I did not review it.) Backup URL direct to the Blue Eagle site ------------------------------------------------------------ Shooting is at a low ebb in the game of basketball, I think just about everyone will agree. We've all been seeing it decline for the past 20+ years. As is commonly known, a couple of evolutionary changes in the game are part of the problem as they've distracted players in their effort to learn to shoot: the 3-point shot that came into the game around 1986, and the emerging emphasis (almost obsession by the fans) on the "dunk" shot. As kids spend more and more time trying to make the difficult 3-point shot and the boys work incessantly on their spin moves and dunks, they all spend less time on mid-range shots and free throws, which is where shooting is really learned. One question becomes, "Do the kids want to change?" I hear often of kids who won't listen to their parents or coaches, especially boys. They think they know how to shoot, whereas the reality is very different. I remember offering my coaching to a high school senior near where I live here in California 8-9 years ago. He wasn't open to it. He had a long-range, semi-two-handed over-the-head sling shot that he liked to fire off, but it was very streaky, difficult to perform consistently, out of control most of the time. Shortly after he won a game with a last-second 25+ foot "three," I happened to be in his gym working with some of the boys and offered to coach him and help him find a more reliable shot. I could tell he didn't care about what I was teaching, and I guessed that his "heroic" shot that won the game was so big to him, made him feel so important, that he didn't want to change his shot. He liked that feeling. Even after he lost 3-4 other games trying to make one of those difficult long-range bombs (and never again that season winning a game with his shooting), he didn't change his attitude. COULD THERE BE A CONVERSATION ABOUT SHOOTING? This could be an interesting conversation, if you can get the kids to participate. Just from the interaction of the team, you'll get different opinions and you can add you own, if a coach. Then ask the players to go out and practice and note if anything changes. You'll see that just from the new sense of awareness and, hopefully, exploration, some of the kids will make changes and start shooting better. Awareness is like that, very curative! As one of my golf coach friends put it, "Awareness isn't just developmental, it's the ONLY thing that's developmental!" My Swish Method can give you a solid way to coach shooting, but just the natural exploration and discovery of the above process could lead to great learning. ------------------------------------------------------------ I'm sure this has been thought of before, but I've been watching the stats of NBA games and seeing an interesting slant on offensive effectiveness. What I saw was the relationship between "points scored" and "shots attempted." Let me attempt to quantify this relationship in a way that will help us identify great shooters and superior teams. Let's call this a "Points/Shots Ratio" (P/SR). Great shooters and great scorers make the most of their shot opportunities. The more they shoot the more they score, either by field goals (2's or 3's) or by free throws. If you take a lot of shots and don't score many points, you're a drag on your team. HOW TO RATE A PLAYER KOBE'S AMAZING PERFORMANCE This system I'm describing is a measure of how skilled and proficient the player is, both at getting shots off and making them, but also getting fouled and going to the free throw line ... and making them. I wondered if I could predict the final winner of games just by looking at the stats and calculating some kind of measurement of shooting/scoring proficiency for the two teams. I found you can. FOUR POINT VALUES POSSIBLE BY A PLAYER P/SR of 1 to 1 up to 1.4 to 1 = One Point!
-- "GOOD" YOU CAN GET MINUS POINTS, TOO TO MEASURE TEAMS, ADD UP THE INDIVIDUAL
SCORES A POINT TOTAL PER TEAM A SECOND METRIC (BONUS VALUE) -- 3 PT SHOT
PROFICIENCY! THE SYSTEM SEEMS TO WORK TWO REAL EXAMPLES: (1) Game 1: Atlanta vs. Charlotte CHARLOTTE LOOKING AT THE THREE'S: FINAL POINT SCORE (2) Game 2: Detroit vs. Milwaukee MILWAUKEE LOOKING AT THE THREE'S: FINAL POINT SCORE WHAT DOES THIS SHOW? SHOOTING PERCENTAGES MATTER! THIS IS A WAY TO RATE PLAYERS AND TEAMS Result .... Team P/S Ratio ... Shtg % (FG's)
..... Opponents P/S Ratio Next is their first win, game #8 or 9: The last one is an example of what I would call an "Emotional" shooting performance (meaning the players on a team shoot better if they feel confident, happy, expectant, etc.). Playing against the lowly Bulls and expecting a win, they got their act together, including 10 for 21 three's and 74% Free Throws. Against the stronger teams they tend to have spotty, streaky results, very good quarters sometimes and then miserable quarters. At the end, when pressure builds, is when they usually falter and lose. The bottom line for the Warriors is that they are, at this time, officially the worst shooting team in the NBA. It shows in the losses and stats above. You could go through the stats for the individuals, too, and rate them for each game or for the season. This Point/Shot Ratio will be pretty revealing. If you're a coach, let me know if this fairly objective system makes any sense to you in evaluating your players and teams. If you have a better method, please share that with me. ------------------------------------------------------------ A great organization for coaches and parents is the Positive Coaching Alliance (PCA). I'm a member and have mentioned them in this newsletter several times. They're motto is, "Transforming youth sports so sports can transform youth!" I just received an email from them describing how they recommend you talk to kids about the Nov. 19th brawl in Detroit. Here is that "coaching" regarding this remarkable, disturbing, and hopefully "landmark" event. An article in the San Jose Mercury News Nov. 24th mentioned how this is an opportunity for a new level of "sportsmanship" in sports of all kinds and at all levels. I hope the idea that sports fans have freedom of speech and can say anything they want at games will be challenged and made right. Crude behavior and profanity aimed at players has no place in sports, as does players reacting to fans' comments and going into the stands. Subject: How to Talk with Kids About the
NBA Brawl A Double-Goal CoachTM (who wants to win AND use sports to teach life lessons) or a Second-Goal Parent (who focuses on helping the child process the sports experience to take away life lessons) can capitalize on events that happen in virtually every game in any setting. Win-at-all-cost coaches or parents, by contrast, may not even notice opportunities to reinforce a positive character trait because winning is the only thing that matters to them. So then, what are parents and coaches to do about the brawl that broke out during the Pistons-Pacers game on Friday night, the nastiest in NBA history? (Not to mention the fight before a recent Steelers-Browns game or the multiple altercations at the Clemson-South Carolina college football game on Saturday.) The first thing is to NOT let it go by
without comment. If a family watches something like the brawl
together without comment, young people may take that as tacit
approval by the adults. It's important to let your children know
that you do NOT approve of what you see. You might say something
like But beyond showing your disapproval, you
also have the opportunity to reinforce specific positive values
and character traits. Here are some ideas to talk with youth
athletes about the brawl. 2) Responsibility to One's Teammates: PCA
promotes Honoring the Game as getting to the ROOTS of Positive
Play, where ROOTS stands for respect for the Rules, Opponents,
Officials, Teammates and Self. If a player values and respects
his or her teammates, he or she would never do something to take
them out of a game or championship quest. Great teams bond together
around a shared commitment to give their best to each other and
the team so they can see how good they can be. An athlete's behavior
both on and off the playing field can bring honor as well as
dishonor to his or her team.
Getting your child talking about his or her feelings about what happened on Friday night may be as important as you saying how you feel. When kids begin to grapple with the right and wrong of a situation (rather than simply nod their heads when an adult speaks) it is more likely to become internalized. So go ahead and say how you feel about
the brawl, but also ask your children how they feel about it.
In time you may find that both the good
and bad of professional sports on television may provide Positive Coaching Alliance is a national
nonprofit based at Stanford University. For information "Transforming youth sports so sports
can transform youth." (Editor's note: The PCA puts on coaches seminars in their great work all over the country. Join up with them and help promote the messages they have developed so beautifully.) ------------------------------------------------------------ "Tom, I bought your Swish tape 2-3 years ago and immediately became a disciple. I have written you several times before. I coach (God help me) 4th through 6th grades. We have turned into very good shooting teams over the course of a season after they first are taught the UpForce method. "One of the most important items (I believe) is to practice during the off-season. I have seen so many good shooters literally revert back to nothing over the course of a summer. It can be maddening. A great deal of the parents that I have spoken to over the years think that many summer basketball camps are a waste of time. I am one of them. But, there are some very good ones. It's up to the parents to find out. I have my two boys only attending two (down from about 5 a few years ago). These two camps keep the campers busy 100% of the time and teach FUNDAMENTALS alone. Even during water-breaks the players are doing drills. These two camps also reward good play. Everyone does not get a trophy (just like life). They make players compete. "My two heathens love the competition. I know in the realm of life, that basketball is truly just a game, but your tape and instruction have been a big boost with my two boys. Their last camp was at AAA North Marion, WV. This is a four day continuous drill and shooting competition. My seventh grader won the J. High Foul Shooting contest. They had to move my fourth grader up to compete in the fifth and sixth division. He then won first place in all four competitions: Mikan layup, foul shooting, one on one, and hot shot. He also beat a boys first team all-state AAA (2003-2004) scholarship-bound player in the hot shot drill. Please DON'T take this as bragging, it is not. I won't even let my sons talk about their basketball with their friends. Please DO take this as a compliment to you and your UpForce. UpForce works great, but you must practice, practice, practice." -- K. Wilson, Morgantown, WV ----------------------- "The first adjustment I made based on your video was allow myself to rotate my shooting shoulder (left) a bit further forward. I had always been taught to shoot "square", and it obviously wasn't working all that well for me. The next adjustment for me was to intentionally shoot the ball with more height than I had previously (I've always had a pretty flat shot). Last was to attempt to incorporate the use of UpForce instead of shooting with my upper body. "Long story short, we did not win our 3-man game, but I personally hit 4 in a row from the outside at one point and made nearly ALL of my free throws!! This was after only watching your video and reading through your book, not even having worked the training drills yet!! I can truly see the potential in adopting your shooting philosophy. I'm next going to concentrate on my release, keeping the wrist and hand limp and consistently repeating the release process to minimize the variables in my shot. Incidentally, I can't wait to get home tonight and start working with my son using your system. He's a quick study, and I know he'll take to it right away. I plan on going through the drills in the order they are presented in your video (jumping to feel UpForce, seated practice of the release technique, shooting back and forth to one another with varying degrees of UpForce and lastly some form shooting attempting to incorporate all of the new techniques). Good stuff. Keep me in the loop for the DVD version of your program and any other updates / addendums that you come up with!! -- J. Ruwe, Ohio ----------------------- -- R. Tan ----------------------- ------------------------------------------------------------ BECOME AND STAY "INQUISITIVE" (Note: "Inquire," the root of the word Inquisitive, means "...to ask a question or questions; to investigate; to seek information about.") May I please ask that you learn to be an Observer "of" your life and be Inquisitive "throughout" your life? I thought to say this because of something I recently noticed in my own life. Being an Observer simply means one who observes what's going on around her or him. It gives information one can then use to learn and, hopefully, grow. Writing things down makes them even more of an impression on your mind. If you're making some kind of mistake in life and you observe it, there's a good chance you'll find a way to stop doing it the next time. If you're doing something well and you can see how and why that's so, you'll probably continue to do it in the future. OBSERVE, INQUIRE MY GOLF SWING I asked occasionally, but usually I thought I "knew" enough to swing pretty well so I didn't ask for much help. However, I knew many years ago that something wasn't quite right with my swing. It worked okay, but not great. I knew I didn't do what is called the "release" of the clubhead through the ball very well, that I was always protecting against hitting the dreaded "Snap hook," (a sharp, hooking, right-to-left flight of the ball that causes trouble), so I developed a stroke that was controlled and lacked freedom. It worked to some degree, but I could tell that other players (professionals and low-handicap amateurs) were getting a different sound when they hit the ball. Though for years I knew of this difference (and they were usually hitting the ball longer than I), I didn't truly investigate it. I wasn't "inquisitive" about it. Thus not much changed. About 6-8 years ago I got some coaching in one way to create the release, but it didn't really work for me so I gave up. Still the problem existed, but I wasn't committed to finding an answer. THIS IS THE POINT I want to get across to you: Don't give up if you want something! Ask for help! Keep questioning! Keep seeking the answer! If it doesn't come from one source, it will come from another. FINALLY THE MYSTERY WAS REVEALED I've played golf for almost 50 years and I consider myself a pretty good golfer. But now, with this new Release idea, I feel I can now break through to much better golf. What grabs me is that "I DIDN'T GO FOR IT" with the Release when I knew something was missing so long ago! I kept hearing the differences in sound but I didn't do much about it. I was passive about it, wishing for change but not assertive enough to ask for it. I didn't approach one of those golfers (my friends, usually) and say, "HELP ME LEARN TO HIT THE BALL LIKE YOU DO!!!" "I HEAR SOMETHING DIFFERENT IN YOUR SWING." "HELP ME 'GET' THE RELEASE!" If I had asked for help, I would have been playing golf at a higher (and more enjoyable) level all these years. It is all my fault. I'm the one who had the insight that I needed a change in my stroke, but I didn't take action to get it solved. LET'S LOOK AT SHOOTING, A CRITICAL SKILL
IN BASKETBALL Assuming you've decided that playing basketball well is important to you at this time, seek the knowledge you want, ask the questions you need. As I've said many times in these KIDS' KORNERS, people LOVE to be asked to help. Don't be shy. As a young person, it's expected that you'll be asking questions. But most of us adults know you don't want to be coached unless you ask. You don't want "uninvited coaching!" Keep notes on the things that really matter
to you, observe and analyze. Figure out exactly what's missing
and then seek someone who knows. Don't give up if the first person,
or the first TEN people, you ask can't or won't help you. Thank
them anyway and keep searching. The more you ask, the more you
will learn, and the more you learn, the more you will know. And
the more you know, the better the decisions you will make as
you go through life. In this example, your joy in the game of
basketball will explode as you shoot better and better, and that
will be because of your perseverance, because of your Inquisitiveness.
Good luck! I invite you to bookmark my Website (http://www.swish22.com) so you can go there easily to catch my latest comments on shooting. You can read about my Swish DVD/video there (including endorsements, testimonials, reviews and an overview), 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 DVD and 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. This great game of ours deserves a Renaissance in shooting! Direct links to my webpage: ------------------------------------------------------------ No clinics are being planned right now.
As you look forward to next spring and summer and wish to have
Tom do clinics or camps in your area, contact him: Email: Tom@swish22.com To SUBSCRIBE to this Newsletter, click
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