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what I know about shooting. I see the game in deep trouble because
there are very few great shooters any more, and few people know
how to coach great shooting. Coaches and players everywhere lament
the decline in this master skill. Wonderfully designed plays
are run to perfection, a player is opened up for a 10-15' shot
or a 3, and then the shot is missed. It even happens so often
that coaches and players aren't surprised when the shot is botched.
Failure is kind of expected, but it's still disappointing. Articles
are written about this dilemma, and people are looking for an
answer. I wish to provide that answer. Both our teams, in my opinion, lacked outside shooting power and consistent free throwing. Our women's team matched their opponents with good teamwork, as the (former) ABL and WNBA demonstrate. The men's team lacked that aspect because the NBA game has become mostly a one-on-one type of game. This strategy doesn't work as well against zone defenses, and they didn't have the outside shooting to counter them. In the few games I got to see, the other nations' teams often had better shooters. But they didn't have the athleticism of the U.S. teams, the rebounding and shot blocking, the tenacious and intimidating defense, the power game. Many of our points were won through pressure steals and turnovers and running the break. When a game was slowed down, our teams could be matched or even beaten for periods of time because of a lack of good outside shooting across the team. Lithuania was a good example, in the semi-finals against the men. They were a strong, talented, disciplined team. When the U.S. team made a run and got 10-15 points up, the Lithuanians didn't panic. They kept playing good team basketball, with most of the team pretty good shooters, and got back in the game. They could have won. Right at the end, missed free throws and offensive rebounds by the U.S. turned the tide for us. Maybe our men's team wanted it more (or maybe the shame of losing got them motivated). Somehow they got it done, much to their credit, but better shooting would have made the Gold much easier to attain. The finals against France was a similar story. Throughout the first 2/3 of the game, the U.S. couldn't put it away. They got up 15-16 points, but that was all. And during a stretch of 6-8 minutes in the middle of the second half, the French started to light it up with six 3's and 4-for-4 FT's, and suddenly we had a game again as they closed to 4 pts with 4:30 to go. Our team didn't have that kind of outside fire power. The only great shooter I saw was Alan Houston, and he wasn't in during that stretch. Ray Allen made a couple key 3's and is a good shooter, but most of the rest of the team didn't have the stroke to put them up from long range. Though Alonzo Mourning has a nice touch, the other big men had to work it inside, and against a zone defense, that strategy doesn't work as well as it does against the man-to-man defenses in the NBA. For the women, it was a similar story in my opinion, but they had physical dominance over their opponents more than the men. They had only a couple consistently good outside shooters (Katie Smith, Sheryl Swoopes). The rest of the team relied mostly on strength and hustle. Australia was the best team they faced and they were beaten by 22 points. Though I feel Australia had better shooters, they didn't have the depth and power of the American women. Lauren Jackson was the obvious star, but they didn't have much else to throw at the Americans and got worn down by the constant pressure. Like with the men, rebounding, pressure defense and transition baskets took their toll on their opponents. Two different games: U.S. basketball has evolved into a physically dominating, inside-based game with more individual play and less teamwork (on the men's side). Shooting has taken a back seat, partly because it's so poorly understood and executed, in my view. The rest of the world is playing a different game, they're playing the game as it was intended, with lots of passing, team movement and shooting, both inside and out. Luckily we're stronger and more athletic or we would not dominant. The basketball commentators and Bob Costas
constantly reminded us that the rest of the world is catching
up. That is possible because their shooting remains better than
ours and their size and physical skills are developing. When
our teams start learning how to shoot and work more as teams,
we'll pull ahead again because we have the "physical"
aspects in our favor. I want to help in the new emergence of
great shooting in this country. Shooting has been deteriorating for the past 25 years or more. Some say it started with the introduction of the slam dunk and "jamming," and the evolution of "athleticism" in the game, with its associated spin moves to the basket. Others believe the 3-point shot (the so-called "home run" of basketball) has a big part to play in it, too, as kids dream of glory and winning games. [Addition: For more information on the
subject of why poor shooting has become the norm, read the article
I wrote in March of 1998 called, "The Trouble With Shooting,"
part 1 of a series written for "The Basketball Highway"
Website. Here's a link to it: http://www.bbhighway.com/Talk/Coaching_Box/Clinics/TNordland/Trouble.asp In the college scene [in `98-99], I saw stats about 1/3 way into the Pac-10 season in California where teams were shooting less than 60% as a team. Basketball broadcasters call players who shoot 70% from the foul line "good" shooters these days. Before the decline in shooting, 70% was a mediocre performance, and now it's being lauded as being quite good. Shooting in NBA, the premier showcase for the game, is experiencing the same decline. In an April 23, 1999 article in the San Jose Mercury News by Jesse Barkin, these stats are revealed: --The league average of 91.3 points per
game, heading into Thursday's games (April 22nd), is the lowest
since the shot clock was introduced in 1954-55. Included in my Swish video package is a 35 page Swish Workbook. In there I published statistics on shooting that I got from the Federation of State High School Associations in Kansas City, MO and from the NCAA in Overland Park, Kansas. These statistics show the gradual decline in shooting percentages from the 1980-81 season through the 1995-96 season. In the categories of free throws, field goals and 3 Pt. shots, there was a consistent decline in every category except free throws for girls and women. For high school boys, the decline in 3 Pt. shooting was especially dramatic, 9%, from 37% in 1987-88 (the first year stats were kept) to 28% in the 1995-96 season. In the collegiate ranks, men's field goals dropped 4.1% from 48.0% in 1980-81 to 43.9% in 1995-96. Three Pt. shots dropped for the men from 38.4% in 1986-87 to 34.2% in 1995-96, and for collegiate women from 33.6% in 1986-87 to 30.8% in 1995-96. An interesting statistic is that while the high school boys were dropping from 37% to 28% in 3 Pt shots as shown above, high school girls dropped only 5% from 34% to 29% in the same period and ended up shooting 3's better than the boys in the 1995-96 season. A Note: girls and women realize they don't have the upper body strength to get a basketball easily up to 10' from medium to long-range, so they naturally use more lower body action in their shots. In the 1999 NCAA 3 Pt championship, the women's champ, Amy Geren from Clemson, dueled the men's champ, Jason Terry from Arizona, at the end. Amy won! I mention this because a large part of my coaching is to shoot more from lower body action and less from the upper body. From what I see, that's why Amy won! Both were great athletes, but Amy had more control because, in my opinion, she used more of the large, stabilizing, lower body muscles. Girls and women at all levels need to learn
to go more upward with this strength, and when they do, they'll
get all the power they need to shoot from all distances. One
of my coaching suggestions is to "Never under jump!"
If you feel too much power, you can always aim higher, but if
you're under-powered, you'll have to throw or flip the ball with
arms and hands, and this flattens the arch, introduces more variables,
and reduces control and accuracy considerably. 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" (here's a direct link: http://www.swish22.com/GroupCoach.html) lists a number of areas to look at, and how to increase awareness. 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? ...Would it make sense to force your body
to square up? 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. Keep in touch with me. About 30 coaches
have already asked me to coach them in coaching the Method, and
we've started a process to do that. If you like what I'm saying,
tell your coach friends and parent friends about this inquiry
and the things I'm offering. Let's start a revolution!!! As the season approaches, I'll bet you're
getting excited and wondering a lot of things: If you worked hard all summer on your skills, you'll be best prepared for what's to come. If you've been goofing off, you'd better get going now. You've got at most a month to develop that extra move off the dribble, to learn better how to block out or play defense, or, most importantly, HOW TO SHOOT! I hope my Newsletters have been of help. Read them over again. Look at the articles I've written on "The Trouble With Shooting." (Go to my Website at http://www.swish22.com.) Get my video, if you can. If cost is an issue, Email me and we'll work out something. The video will show you how to coach yourself, what to look for in others, how to practice. It will give you an advantage. Most of all, enjoy yourself! Basketball is just a Game! It's a delightful and thrilling game, but it's still just a game. The values you learn on the court will help you in life. Winning is NOT the main thing here, despite what some coaches and parents may say. What matters is what you learn, who you BECOME in the process. You will encounter those old adversaries, Victory and Defeat. How you handle them is important. When you can handle them equally - neither being too proud in victory nor too humbled in defeat - then you've really learned something! When you lose, for example, can you stop making it all about you and your failure and, instead, feel (or imagine) the joy of accomplishment of your opponent ... and then go over and truly congratulate her or him? It's easier later, off the court, of course, to let go of the negative emotion, but if you can catch yourself feeling sorry for yourself right away and snap out of it and go over and truly congratulate your opponent, that would be awesome! It's rarely seen these days, but when I see a team (win or lose) pause at the end of a game and applaud their opponents, I get tears in my eyes because that's the true essence of sports. The New Zealanders did that in the Olympics after losing to the Americans by a ton! They asked the Americans to stay on the court a moment and did a Mauri (the native people of New Zealand) dance to honor the opponents. It shocked everyone who saw it, and it was incredible. May we all learn to do that. Winning is NOT everything! When you win, can you do the same thing, be less into self glory and be more into sincere appreciation of your opponents and what they had to accomplish to be there that day ... and express it to them? I wish I had learned this when I was playing. I happened to be on winning teams mostly up to and through high school. And I spent most of post-game time feeling good about myself. It was, definitely, mostly about me. But looking back, I could have made some great friends and grown as a person by getting outside of myself in those moments. I didn't get any coaching in that process until much later. Maybe this coaching will help you. See if you can just appreciate being alive and healthy and realize how lucky you are to be playing this great game. Smile and greet your teammates and opponents with joy in your heart. See if you can meet them as long-lost friends. (I've heard that the Dalai Lama greets everyone he meets as if he or she is a long lost brother or sister, mother or father, grandparent or child.) You can change the game with your love and appreciation. Sure, you want to work hard and develop yourself so you can accomplish goals, be recognized, and make a contribution to the team (and victory), but it's the "process" of that development that matters - it's WHO YOU BECOME that truly matters! Who you become will affect your entire life. If all you can talk about with your grandchildren is that you won some games and achieved some fame, it will be hollow. If this touches a chord in you, Email me and tell me what you've discovered or noticed about this subject. Observe yourself in games and practice and watch how you behave. Do you get this idea of "getting outside yourself" and being with other people? I'd love to be in communication with you about it. Life is, hopefully, a long process for you. You don't have to be a success at every stage. In fact you can't. Failure and disappoint- ment are inevitable companions on your journey. Failure can serve to make you stronger, make you work harder, re-evaluate yourself, and make corrections in your life's path. See if you can find enjoyment in even the humblest things, in the "ordinary" things of life. As a mentor of mine put it, "Learn to appreciate the `ordinary' in life ... because there's a lot more of it!" Best of luck and great learning to you! I expect soon to add Streaming Video to the Site so visitors can click on links and see 20-30 second clips from the video. This new technology offers a tremendous way to show what a video is really like. Let me know your impressions once I get them up there. Please tell others about my site and my
video. Send them the URL (http://www.swish22.com) and let them
know there's hope for better shooting. (More than "hope,"
it's a proven Method.) Below are some of the sites being considered
for fall clinics. Call or Email me if you're interested in hosting
a series of clinics in your area. BAY AREA COACHES/PARENTS: I'm available to coach shooting clinics in the Bay Area of northern California. The price will depend on how long the clinic is and how many players. I can do anything from 1.5 hours up to a full 3.5 hour clinic, from 6 to 20 kids. Call me and I'm sure we can come up with something within your budget. OTHER AREAS OF THE COUNTRY: I'd love to come to your city to put on Clinics. My rate for 2-3 days of coaching is a minimum of $2,000 plus expenses. If we do at least 3 Clinics of about 17-18 players at a cost of $75/player*, that would pay for the visit. The Clinics would be 3 1/2 hours each, max. 20 kids, giving enough time for lots of individual coaching in addition to the powerful group exercises. Also, a school or basketball association could engage me to coach their team or a couple teams for an extended period for the flat rate. Call for details and to set up such a visit. While in the area, I can do private sessions and train coaches to coach the Method. (*Price includes the Swish video plus an administration fee for the organizer(s).) Keep checking my Website at http://www.swish22.com or call or Email me if you'd like more details. I'll update the schedule on my Website when it changes. TRAINING COACHES: If this interests you, please contact me. I expect eventually to have a Directory of coaches around the country who are skilled in coaching the Swish Method and to whom I can refer people who want clinics or private coaching. One way of beginning the process will be to add Coaches' Training sessions when I travel to various cities to put on Shooting Clinics. If you would like to help set up a series of Shooting Clinics and a Coaches' Training in your area, contact me. I will also have Trainings here in the Bay area eventually, too. PRIVATE COACHING: AUDIO TAPE ANALYSIS OF VIDEO: VIDEO ANALYSIS: Voice over will be used to assist the coaching.
Approx. cost $200 for up to 6 players. As I have to drive a long
way to do this and use a friend's digital video system, it is
not cheap or easy to do. When I have my own equipment and software,
then this will become more reasonable. Call or Email for further
information. Go to the Swish Website, find the section about the "Shooting Newsletter," key in your Email address and click on the "JoinList"graphic. An Email will be sent automatically back to you asking that you confirm that you want to be on the List. Reply in the affirmative and you will be added to the list and receive a password. There is no need to save or record the password because ListBot will always quickly Email it back to you when asked. It's needed only to change your Email address or to Unsubscribe. To UNSUBSCRIBE from this Newsletter: If you ever want to Unsubscribe, please
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