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and respect your privacy. 1. Welcome from the Coach I've been watching some high school games and a college game recently in person, and the usual college and professional games on TV. Shooting is still very disappointing in most games. Occasionally you see a game that includes several really outstanding shooters and the game is extremely enjoyable to watch. But usually neither team is that lucky and scoring is sporadic at best. You'll see periods of no scoring or no field goals for 3, 4, 5 minutes at a time. It seems that almost everyone is "guessing" how many muscles to use and has erratic control of direction and distance. I think we could call this the "Shoot & Hope" way of shooting. Have you noticed how many different "styles" of shooting there are in a single game? It's usually as many as there are players. They're throwing and flipping and pushing the ball up there, one-handed, sometimes two-handed, some with a Set Point way overhead, some half way back, some way out in front, some shoot off the shoulder, some with a Set Point too high, some too low, feet and elbows in different positions. I even saw a high school player recently who took the ball way overhead in line with his weak ear and, somehow, imparted "forward" spin on his shots. Needless to say, he missed almost every shot he took in warmups (and didn't get in the game). The wrists and hands are usually tight if they play a major role in power and direction. The trajectories of most shots these days are usually quite flat. If you see a player with high arch, it's usually indicative of one of the better shooters on the floor. WHAT ISN'T WORKING? YOUNG KIDS NOT GETTING HELP THE LOST ART IS REALLY LOST! My guess is that, because of this lack of knowledge of both how to do and how coach the skill, most coaches are reluctant to try. They understandably don't want to "mess" kids up, so we have the situation we have today in the Game. THERE ARE ANSWERS! But there ARE answers. With my website, my articles, this Newsletter, my DVD, video and personal coaching of players and coaches, I'm giving out answers, I'm showing what works! And there are surely other coaches who make a difference with this skill. However, the overall level of shooting in the game today suggests a problem with the usual way it is taught, so don't just accept any way of teaching you bump into. Check it out. Does it make sense to you physically? Is it simple, so anyone can learn it? When you play with the ideas yourself, can you feel and see that it has possibilities? Can the person who's telling you how to coach the skill DO it? Can he or she "Walk the talk?" Can you "see" the beauty and essence and the coachability of what's being said or demonstrated? Or is it just "theory," not backed up by practical application? AN EXAMPLE -- THE ELBOW DIRECTLY UNDER
THE BALL (1) With a Set Point above the eyes, align the center of your shooting hand with your shooting eye and an imaginary (or real) basket. (An open stance or seated position makes this more comfortable.) Above the eyes is best for this exercise, though it can be done with a lower Set Point, too. Focus on getting the whole hand (the center of the hand) oriented in the direction you choose, with the three main fingers basically pointing vertically. Now look at your elbow. Isn't it about 5-7 inches to the right of your shooting eye, depending on how long your arm is? That's how we're physically built, with our arm coming out of our shoulders 10-15 inches to the right of our noses (more for bigger players). (2) Now bring the elbow directly under the ball and see what it does to your hand position. Isn't the hand now facing perhaps as much as 45 degrees to the left of the target? Would you want to shoot that way and have to turn the hand as you shoot (imparting sidespin) to allow the hand and arm to drive the ball in the chosen direction? I don't think so. A reliance on "Elbow under the ball," which is, I believe, part of the "B-E-E-F" Method, is not physically justified. Instead, make the hand position matter and forget the elbow! The hand is where the ball is. How it's aligned is a critical component of shooting. Some say that, then, the elbow will be "flying." That won't happen if the hand position is in line with eye and basket. Again, check it out yourself. Try it all the different ways you can think of and I'm sure you'll agree with me. EXAMPLE #2: POINTING THE ELBOW AT THE TARGET I wonder where this instruction came from. To me it's entirely irrelevant and actually screws up the stroke. First of all, it requires that you take the ball overhead to shoot, and young players need to keep it below the eyes (looking over the ball) until they reach a certain age. Thus the instruction shouldn't even be applied to kids under a certain age. And look at what this instruction does for players who are strong enough to take it overhead. It creates a big elbow bend and the ball winds up way overhead, often beyond the back of the head. From way back there, the only way you can release the ball is with a throwing motion (maybe with a wrist flipping motion added). One of the reasons a lot of big players can't shoot is for just that reason. From way overhead the shot becomes a complicated, mostly upper-body action. It's becomes a "Throw," which is difficult to do well, especially under pressure. It complicates things, it adds variables. Sure, you can make a few this way, but it isn't ultimately repeatable. Too many muscles are involved, and some of them are the smaller muscles of wrist, hand and fingers. It "sounds" great -- POINT the elbow at where you're going -- but I think, with investigation, you'll discover as I have that it's a very questionnable way to shoot. Again, my instruction is, FORGET THE ELBOW! It will be just where it has to be. We don't hit the ball with the elbow. If we did, where it points before, during and after the shot would be important. Obsession with it has messed up a lot of shooters. These, then, are two examples of how to check out a coaching instruction. Other distinctions of shooting you could, likewise, investigate follow. Ask your players to do this work on their own, as well in organized workouts: · STANCE (square or open) At the very least, your players will have more fun with the game because they know, at least a little, how to shoot and what to practice. Those with good work habits will progress at a fast rate. All will experience "learning," and that's a powerful thing. Good luck. Following are some of the amazing testimonials I'm getting. More and more people are having success with the simple things I teach. If you have a special "story" to tell, please write it up and send it to me. People LOVE to read these kind of anecdotal stories. In some cases I've added my comments in ALL CAPS. ------------------------------------------------------------ "After the first ten shots she started
to get the feel. She kept on shooting with me reinforcing her
to lock the elbow and relax the wrist. It was kind of funny when
she missed a shot and I asked her how many she shots she had
made in a row. She had no idea and I told her she had just made
28 in a row, with a majority of them swishes. I realize she was
only 2 or 3 feet from the basket, but it sure sold her and I
could see the confidence immediately. I quit counting after that,
but I had her shoot at least 100 more shots and she had to hit
95 of them. I then had her move out another 3 or 4 feet and shoot
a little jump shot. I personally was amazed with the back spin,
nice arch, and the percentage of shots she made. She would even
tell me when it left her hand if it was a bad shot, just by the
feel. She wanted to shoot some free throws after that, but I
told her I wanted to keep in close for the first few times. --------------------------- "I did notice when she started to get a little tired, I had to stress to use a little more leg power, and also when she got out a little farther her follow through wasn't as straight and was moving to the left a little bit. Once I corrected her, the shots would start going right back in. I think she is sold on the system. Thanks." - - Don L., Reedsburg, WI --------------------------- "My younger son, who has always been one of the bigger kids in his class and has always been successful, only watched the video once and was a little skeptical because he thought he already knew everything. Now that he has seen his older brother's success, I see him out practicing your video more. It was a perfect time for my older son to buy into your philosophy and have success as next year there will be about 25 kids trying out for 12 freshman spots. "Thanks again!" - - Tony P. --------------------------- "Hopefully one day I will be able to have enough money to order it and learn more about shooting. However, your newsletters still help a lot. I really enjoy reading your kids korner articles. Even though I am not a kid (I am currently a Senior in College) I still learn something from it. This past months issue was very helpful and reminded me that we need to be students of our bodies so that we can fix our mistakes and work towards perfection so that we can not only be better basketball players but better people. Thank you for all the encouragement I have gotten from you through your newsletters. They have been a blessing. " - - Justin H. --------------------------- "This rapid improvement doesn't seem likely but I think many people, perhaps even yourself (though I doubt it), do not realize the effects that this video has on a player's entire game. For me my new shot was almost instant. After a week of constant shooting using your video's principles I was dishing up high arching consistent beautiful shots. My new shot inspired me to train harder in every other part of my game. It was like "man this game isn't as hard as I thought it was, if I just train hard and try to do things the right way i'll get better." So that's what I did. My new shot made me enjoy playing the game more, it gave me confidence. My training workload has increased by 6 hours a week since I purchased your video. I most definitely blame your video for inspiring my new found work ethic and love of the game. "I am currently 3 months away from my 17 birthday, i'm 6 foot 5 the captain of my high school team and I have a hunger that drives me to improve. For me there was no doubt about your video improving my shot, what surprised me was how confidence in one's shot can increase your passion for the game. I have probably watched your video close to 20 times to date. "Anyway now a question. In a recent game my high school team was down by 3 in the dying seconds of the game and I missed the game winning shot. Now don't get me wrong I have performed in the clutch before but mainly in situations where our team has been up and the opposition has begun to surge back in the last few minutes. In the past I have extended minor leads (1,2,3,4 points) to unachievable leads for the opposition to overcome. So initially my reasoning for missing that shot was lack of exposure to situations such as having to hit a game saving shot instead of a game winning shot. After the game though my coach started hammering me for not shooting with my elbow in. Personally I think he did this for 2 reasons, one it was the first game of the season our team lost and secondly I don;t think he knows his head from his arse. Now excuse my crudity but after witnessing my rapid improvement and viewing your video he still thinks your techniques "are fads". He is so ignorant he still thinks that it was his "brilliant" coaching that has improved my game, despite the fact I shoot nothing like the way he coaches. Now I am perfectly prepared to accept he is right but I wanted a true experts opinion. "So the first thing I did was check your video, which is by the way the first thing I always do when i'm going through a shooting slump. Now I know it doesn't say to keep your elbow in but it doesn't say to keep it out either. My coaches reasoning is if you don't keep your elbow in it is simply impossible to have your shot go straight under pressure. Now I just want to know your thoughts about this theory. "Anyway a reasoned explanation would be greatly appreciated." ( Editor's note: I told him to make the hand position matter, not the elbow! When you center the hand on the target in line with your eye, the elbow will be a little to the side, as it has to be, naturally. It won't be "flying," because then the hand would not be well aligned.) "Thanks again Tom for all your help." - - Kane H., Australia --------------------------- "I worked some on my jump shots, but the broken foot bone is limiting my practice on that shot. No big deal though as there is plenty to practice on from 15 feet in. I did focus some on developing an early release. But my guess is an early release will need the full power of the jump to really develop it, I think. The good news is, after spending an hour on my foot shooting yesterday, as well as working in the yard, and then playing some horse late last night with some of the high school boys team(they lost in the second round last night to Spartanburg High), my foot feels pretty good today. So I think my recovery is going along well and I can start working earnestly on jump shooting within the next two weeks. "During the session, I noticed my
awareness going up and was more focused, concentrating on the
fundamentals -- relaxed hands and fingers and shooting with power
from the arm. I am beginning to see the difference between sloppy
practice and "perfect" practice - maintaining an awareness
of my execution compared to the fundamentals, and using that
feedback to improve the execution. That was neat. So sloppy practice
is the opposite - little awareness and little knowledge of the
fundamentals. Does this make sense ?" "My awareness on alignment went up.
I think one of the focus areas of my next session will be getting
to the set point with good alignment until it becomes automatic.
Questions When talking about alignment and release, you refer
to aiming with the center of the palm. I have used the index
finger as the point of reference on the hand that lines up with
the eye and the basket. Do I need to change my "hand point
of reference" for best alignment?" "Not sure what you were saying about "End of Rope" in relation to the arm extension on the release." IT MEANS TO JUST MAKE SURE THE ARM IS FULLY EXTENDED AT THE END OF THE RELEASE. "On page 5 of the workbook, you emphasize developing a constant release. I found that as I extended my range (without yet developing a good U/F connection with my release) I had a tendency to accelerate my release to get more power. But what I understand you to say - and if I understand it right, this is VERY important for repeatability - I must learn to develop and maintain a single, constant release force, regardless of whether I am shooting from 6 feet or 25 feet." "If that is key, then ALL the additional
power needed to shoot from 25 feet must come from the U/F. Is
that correct?" "I had my first session with my daughter yesterday. It went extremely well. Last night went we were playing horse, she was swishing many of her shots. She is very teachable, so we should see significant progress with her. "Thanks Tom." --------------------------- "Mikey, 6th grade, will start playing
on his school team soon and has shown great improvement. "The boys are getting to be 'automatic'!" - - Don V. --------------------------- "i used to associate perfect shooting with almost impossible. Well i hope you're glad to hear that you changed all that for me. "i really used to suffer from what i like to call it "young basketball player"syndrome and i guess everyone had it ... it's like they want to have the "looks" first ( = the easy task) and after that learn the basics of basketball ( = the hardest part); they want to have "cool" basketball shoes and wear 5 pounds of wristbands headbands and other accessories! "Me, i used to be an Allen Iverson
fan but after 5 months i realized that i was going nowhere ...
i just wasn't progressing with my game. I stopped and i decided
to take my own way, my own path and i realized that i progressed
in a month like no other. --------------------------- "Tom - Ryan is too modest to let you know, but he had 22 points in Cathedral's opener Saturday night - hitting five of eight threes and a couple of nice step in jumpers. He has worked very hard at trying to be true to your teachings, and really looked solid. Two of the three he missed looked great, but rattled out. Twenty two is a nice chunk of points for a sophomore, but neither Julie nor I really thought he did anything out of the ordinary. "He worked for a while yesterday, and I rebounded. He's changed his routine for practicing threes to allow for catching from the wing or top of the key while he shoots from the five spots they use in the three point shooting contests. Those are the places from which he is likely to receive passes. (In the past, I had rebounded and passed from underneath, but I noticed that his feet and shoulders were not consistently aligned when catching from the side.) During his last set, he hit 27 of 30. The arc was uniformly high, and everything was well-aligned for each shot. It's borderline silly to get excited about a 16-year-old shooting a basketball. He works so hard at it, I can't help but brag a little. I know you only worked with him once, but I hope you take some pride in a kid who was definitely helped by your instruction. "There is no doubt that the Swish
method has been responsible for a significant part of Ryan's
success as a shooter. " --------------------------- "Thank you." --------------------------- "I asked him continue to drive full speed to the hoop, but to rate his shots from 1 (very soft) to 10 (very hard) after completing the layup. It only took him about 5 minutes to learn the difference and adopt a method that allowed for a soft consistent lay up." - - G. L., San Jose, CA --------------------------- --------------------------- "Finally, on Christmas day I had enough and broke down and ordered the DVD. I had attempted to impart the "wisdom" I had gained from reading your articles earlier -- with little success. My son would not buy into the concept that his shot was way too flat and that his set and release points were not consistent and repeatable. Perhaps after having me as his coach for almost seven years he had begun to "tune me out" on some points. "After we (separately) watched the video and did the drills ... it sank in! The video proves your methods work to nonbelievers. With a couple of hours of extra work over the weekend, he started practicing, focusing on sustaining a smooth, repeatable, release with a higher arc. Four day's later the line for his next game: In a little over 2 1/2 quarters, 23 points on 10 of 12 from the field, primarily from long range -- including 1 for 1 from 3 point distance and 2 for 2 from the free throw line. 'Another Convert!'" - - Robert S., Tuscarawas County, Ohio "Hi Tom: Thanks for the DVD. I have
watched it three times, including once with my 12 year old son.
Before I ordered the DVD, I read your webpages and tried applying
your ideas and gained some personal improvement -- e.g. I had
never hit more than 4 free throws consecutively, and after trying
to use your approach, I got to 5 in a row. - - Tom G., Sheffield Junior Sharks, England --------------------------- "I took the time to view the DVD several times, worked with my younger son Oliver, and printed off and condensed down the lesson plans 1 and 2. The gym we practice in is pretty good -- it is at a school and has single court with two main baskets and eight wall-mounted side baskets. That plus plenty of basketballs. "Firstly let me say I was astounded by the session! I had every faith that the Swish method would work -- it makes great sense to me, it is consistent with the way I have tried to coach shooting in the past, and I could see that the simple approach would be readily understood. But the outcome was frankly amazing! As the session developed and we went through the progression, pretty much as your lesson plan advised, the improvement in the boys shooting was astonishing. I couldn't help smiling -- at first just inwardly, but then just a broad grin -- and everywhere on the court I could see players doing the same. "I have to give credit to the boys -- over a sustained four hour period without anything more than several water breaks, they concentrated throughout and showed great self-discipline. But they could see for themselves that the method works and they just kept working with it -- so it gave instant positive feedback. "'It works - it's amazing!' was the response from the boys. "Your advice in terms of encouraging them to be self-aware and to watch others and give honest feedback worked so well. I was very impressed -- as young teenagers they will chat to each other about so much (TV, school, NBA etc) and often at the "wrong" time (when the coach is talking), but trying to get them to communicate on court on D, etc -- they all clam up! But today they talked far more to each other about their shooting as the session progressed, particularly "yes/no" on the release. "On introducing the release, I used your "sitting down" approach from the DVD instead of standing in circles, but then moved onto that. It allowed me and a couple of assistant coaches to look at grip, set point, hand/wrist, etc. more easily. "But the real take off came with the Pure Release Distance. Once they started swishing it at the PRD (particularly with eyes closed), they were sold! Interestingly, one player took the instruction to find the PRD by trial and error to mean once he could hit swishes with no leg drive from a spot close to the basket, he next decided to increase the distance and try to repeat but going for the basket. Once I spotted what he was doing, I brought the group back together and emphasised that this exercise is the key one to the method and that it is not a test of strength, but of repeatability. Once this particular understood this, he went back and used it well and was one of the first to really express his astonishment - 'it works!'. "Once we had put it all together with jump shots from a variety of spots -- short, mid, long range -- each player choosing their own, I then went to shooting from their weak hand/arm. I reckoned that this would a) make them think and b) help them realize that the method is so simple. We went through the progression very quickly and I had players swishing 'wrong' hand shots -- again everyone was impressed. "Because they had concentrated so well, we had enough time to look at free throws too. Again, they understood quickly, took the 'down-up' advice and applied it with the rest of the method. We used your micro-mini-full progression with very good results. "The last section of the session I split them into four teams on a shooting competition we run usually in more relaxed sessions than our normal practices. Each team had to hit five shots from four spots round the key. Not unexpectedly, the added pressure/excitement/competitiveness had an immediate impact on their performance. Only four or five out of the 19 clearly tried to use their new shooting technique -- the rest reverted more or less! After one run through we repeated it twice more with reminders in between about how they should be shooting. Performance improved noticeably. But it showed just how fragile it can be. "I have had great feedback from my assistant coaches and from parents - one mum came in about three quarters the way through and said the atmosphere was buzzing and that her son has not been able to stop talking about it since (he was one who really took to the method - shooting 16/20 free throws!). "So, if it's not already abundantly clear, thanks Tom for this method! Now I have got to make sure we follow it through and reinforce constantly. I am sure we will see an improvement in our jump shots and free throws in matches. We are in our national age-group playoffs and we know we are going to come up against better and bigger teams. Most of our points come off layups from steals/turnovers generated by high pressure D. But we won't be able to rely on that to the same extent -- we will need to be able to hit open jump shots and free throws to win -- the Swish method may yet prove to be the crucial ingredient in our season - I'll let you know. "Thanks again." --------------------------- - - Tony G., Victoria, Australia ------------------------------------------------------------ TRAJECTORY AND ARCH -- LEARNING ABOUT HEIGHT OF YOUR SHOTS What can you learn about height? How do you get height in your shots? What does a higher arch do for you? I thought this month to write about the subject of getting the ball higher into the air so it comes down more softly and comes down to a larger (to the ball) target. Maybe you've been told by a coach or a parent to "Shoot higher!" But how many of those "coaches" told you how to do it? How many could tell you the things you can practice and learn that make high shooting easy and automatic? LET'S FIRST LOOK AT THE SUBJECT: What can create a higher trajectory for
you? Which of the following can do it? Wrist action? Not really. If you were laying on your back, then you could wrist a shot and it would go pretty much straight up. But if you're standing and raise your hands above your head and flip your wrist, I think you will see the action is horizontal, not vertical. Arm action? Yes, the arm motion can send the ball at any angle of arch you want. It could be straight up, it could be totally horizontal and anywhere in between. The action of the arm is what we call the "Release motion," and it can include some wrist action or not. In my coaching, I recommend that you use only the arm in powering the Release, as this makes the action simpler, more predictable, more repeatable. If you add wrist and hand muscles, they flatten the shot and add variables. (Note the wrist and hand can have a job to do: to cradle and support the ball and to keep it on line during the Release.) Leg and body action? Yes, definitely these muscles affect the trajectory of your shots. If you look at the muscle action of the legs and lower/middle body (the bending and straightening the legs, plus some energy from the hips, pelvis and lower back muscles) -- what I call UpForce -- you can see that it is a very strong source of power and the basic action is upward. But notice something, that you can "catch" the energy and use it or you can "miss" it to a greater or lesser degree. It depends on WHEN in the motion you shoot. If you shoot early in the leg & body action, there is a tremendous upward source of power. If you hesitate, that upward force is lessened, and you can even shoot at the top of the jump (or even on the way down) and lose all of that upward force. It's a choice you make. WHY MIGHT A HIGHER TRAJECTORY BE VALUABLE? TRY IT DIFFERENT WAYS Push the ball in an upward angle but then add a wrist flipping motion and see what happens to the trajectory of your shot. Can you see that any wrist action sabotages arch? Shoot with different amounts of leg power and different timing as to when you shoot. Shoot early and see what happens to the trajectory. Hesitate a little and see what happens. Shoot at the top of the jump and see the result. Then vary how strongly you shoot, with the various timings. From this experimentation and exploration, you'll start to gain a great understanding of how the different muscle groups affect the height of your trajectory. Shoot very flat, on purpose, and shoot very high. Play up and down the scale, so you really "distinguish" what trajectory means. YOU FIGURE IT OUT One the major things I teach is to vary the arch (or trajectory) to control distance, not the Release. These exercises enhance your ability to identify and to create arch, so when you shoot, your sense of distance and power and height will be sharper and sharper. Thus your shooting will get better. You'll still need to be able to control DIRECTION to make a lot of shots, and that's the other "biggie." I'll address that next month. But for now, learn as much as you can about trajectory and how to create the appropriate trajectory for all your different shots. The payoff will be higher, softer shots and a powerful way to control distance. ------------------------------------------------------------ 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 DVD/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 the new "Flash" clips, plus 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. The Dec. '04 issue indexes the prior 67 issues by Category, so it's easier to jump around and read what interests you from that Newsletter. Send your friends 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! Some direct links to my webpage: ------------------------------------------------------------ I'm beginning to plan clinics and camps and travel now. There will be sessions throughout the off season in the northern California area starting in April, so if you live in this area, email me so I can put you in my database. Or you can keep checking the "clinics, etc." webpage (see below). If you want to consider having me do sessions in your area, contact me. I can't get everywhere so will have to limit my travel to those areas who's "leaders" first come up with viable plans. Email: Tom@swish22.com I will send you my Guidelines and Pricing Structure. For the latest on my schedule, keep returning
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