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----------------------------------------------------------------- T H E “S W I S H R E L E A S E” N E W S L E T T E R A Conversation FOR Great Shooting! ----------------------------------------------------------------- By Tom Nordland, Shooting Coach Swish International, Inc. Issue Number 108 -- April 2008 Tel: 888/SWISH-22 (888/794-7422) or 831/338-4647 Email: Tom@swish22.com
============================================ IN THIS ISSUE ============================================
1. Welcome from the Coach 2. Purpose of this Newsletter 3. What About Game-Speed Shooting with the Swish Approach? 4. We Need to Dip the Ball for Heightened Accuracy! 5. New Associated Press Article on Swish 6. More Testimonials 7. KIDS’ KORNER (GROWNUPS, TOO) 8. Shooting Clinics & Camps 9. You Can Republish Articles I’ve Written 10. Get the Swish Videos 11. Some Powerful Testimonials/Photos/Video clips for Swish 12. Please Bookmark this Website 13. How to Subscribe / Unsubscribe 14. Contact Information
************************************************* PLEASE NOTE: For these archived Newsletters, I'm just including the heart of the Newsletter, those sections that are instructional, not contact information, outdated clinic info, etc. *************************************************
------------------------------------------------------------ 1. Welcome from the Coach ------------------------------------------------------------
Welcome to my free Monthly “Swish Release” 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!
------------------------------------------------------------ 2. Purpose of this Newsletter ------------------------------------------------------------
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. -- Tom Nordland
------------------------------------------------------------ 3. What About Game-Speed Shooting with the Swish Approach? ------------------------------------------------------------
I get this occasionally, people saying my Swish Method is okay for 1/2 or 1/3 speed, but that it doesn’t address how to shoot more quickly ... in a “game” situation.
My reaction is this: Any new skill must be learned slowly, in a shorter, smaller, closer-in environment before it can be expanded. If you can’t do something well in a smaller environment, you can’t do it well consistently in an expanded version. You might get away with performing something well in a fast, competitive way a few times, but eventually the technique will break down if it’s not deeply learned. And the deep learning takes time and awareness and repetitions and slowing things down at first.
If you watch my video clips (http://www.swish22.com/videoclips.html), you will see kids working on their shooting in a slow and regular practice environment. That’s the first step. And the more you groove and then “master” the movements, the greater the chance you can raise the bar (increase the speed, work off the dribble, add a defender, etc.) and still maintain the performance.
IT’S DIFFICULT, TAKES YOUR ATTENTION AND PATIENCE To shift from a slow to medium-speed individual practice environment to a competitive game-speed environment will require you learning to do things faster. There is more of what we might call “chaos” as you increase speed and distance and learn to work off the dribble, off picks and screens, etc. The variables of movement left and right, up and down, and rotation make things more challenging. But if you approach them slowly, gradually upping the speed, distance and energy, you can learn to perform in such an environment quite quickly.
My Swish Method is so simple, you mainly have to adjust to the quicker pace and fairly soon you’ll be hitting a higher and higher percentage of such shots. The principles of the Method become more important now. “Catching” the UpForce (as I call the leg action) is more important than ever. Aligning the ball with the eye and basket becomes more critical. Adding the idea of Inertia becomes more important as the body is more in motion. And, of course, the Release -- the “delivery” system -- is more critical than ever.
Try it. Up the speed as you start to move left and right to shoot and see what happens. You’ll have to learn to do things more quickly, the footwork for example.
Keep the principles the same, but just get them to work quicker for you. The final action, the Release, is still the same and makes it all work.
IF YOU START TO MAKE MISTAKES... If you start to miss shots as you increase speed and distance, find out what misfired and redo the same shot over and over until you “get” it and start making them. Treat it as a learning process, learning to increase speed and distance and energy and keep your coordination working.
DON’T COMPROMISE! Don’t sacrifice alignment or dipping to get your shots off more quickly. You need the ball aligned as long as you can with the eye and basket and, if it can be moving on line and that energy captured to drive and stabilize the Release, the odds of success go way up. (See next item, on dipping.)
------------------------------------------------------------ 4. We Need to Dip the Ball for Heightened Accuracy! ------------------------------------------------------------
In my second video, Swish 2 (Dec. ‘05 release), I introduced a new idea, that of Inertia to drive and stabilize Accuracy. About three years ago I had an epiphany when I discovered how Newton’s “First Law of Motion” (“An object in motion and in line tends to stay in motion and in line until affected by an outside force.”) relates to shooting a basketball. This Law, also called the “Law of Inertia,” shows that if a ball is moving and on line PRIOR to the Release,* and you shoot quickly so that you "catch" that Inertia and keep it going, Accuracy is greatly enhanced.
If you bring the ball to the Set Point** off line, or if you bring it there but then stop the action (hesitate), there is either no Inertia to catch (the first option), or you missed it (the second option). From what I see, most shooters who are always on have figured out to get some Inertia into their shots, either by the way they bring it to the Set Point (getting it on line with the eye and basket as early as possible) or by "Dipping" the ball down and back up on line before they shoot if they received the ball high. Some coaches tell players NOT to Dip the ball in order to shoot quicker, but if you don't dip it, you won't have the marvelous Inertia that's needed for accuracy and consistency. If the defense is that much on you, don’t shoot. If you can’t dip it, the odds of missing go way up.
* The Release is what we call the action from the shoulders and up (arm, wrist, hand, fingers) that delivers the ball to the basket ** The Set Point is where the Release starts from.
------------------------------------------------------------ 5. New Associated Press Article on Swish ------------------------------------------------------------
I just got back from a six day, 8-clinic trip to Minneapolis, and had the opportunity to coach a sports writer for the Associated Press, Dave Campbell, as part of his writing a story about me. He had heard about me and Swish in the past and came to watch a little of one of the clinics, then agreed to spend some personal time on a court with me. What was supposed to be a half-hour experience turned into two hours as he “got” more and more what I teach and could “see” it in his own stroke.
An avid recreational player, he had the typical squared-up stance and flat, hot trajectory to his shots with tight wrist and hand. He was good at the flat trajectory, but not great. Pretty soon his shots started to have the upward look and feel I teach, and a relaxed wrist and hand gave him more and more repeatability. He began to get more swishes as his shots started to come in from higher and higher angles. Gravity now had a chance to slow the shots down and the higher arch created a bigger target. He was hooked.
His story can be read here: "Teaching the world to shoot is a weary pursuit."
I’m not so keen on Dave’s use of the word “desperate” to describe my intentions to hook up with a prominent client or maybe a major sponsor. I’d rather he had said “ready to be discovered” (or something like that). And saying I’m “nearly 70” and that agents, players and coaches usually don’t return my calls makes it sound like I’m on my last legs.
Nonetheless, the story has some impact. I hope you like it.
----------------------------------------------------------- 6. More Testimonials ------------------------------------------------------------
“Tom, ‘amen’ about Stephen Curry.* My youngest son and myself were watching Davidson's first game and I immediately said, "Look, he shoots it with the Upforce method." Cameron watched for a few minutes and told me I was right. It was a beautiful thing to view and it further reinforced your method, especially with my youngest.
“The youngest boy was in a four day, 5th-9th grade shootout tournament this past week at a local AAA high school, so I got to see many teams play. Almost immediately I was ready to pluck my eyes out with a fork.
“I witnessed some of the worst shooting and form that I had ever seen, especially in the girl's games. Some 9th grade girls scores were in the single digits at half-time and the crowds were talking about how good the defenses had been. Having been a disciple of your method for about six years, I saw what the problem was ... they couldn't shoot ... couldn't hit the ocean from the beach. One team was coached by an ex Div. I player. His girls squared up at the free throw line, put the ball in their shooting hand, elbow under the ball, elbow pulled in from the side so that the hand and ball were in the middle of the face. They then proceeded to slowly squat, held the squat for a few seconds (just watching that made my knees hurt!!), then popped up, flipped the wrist, then stiff fingers down. Clank! You are so correct, shooting is a lost art.
“Thank you, many times over.
“My youngest, Cameron, is the young man you asked to write his thoughts on shooting a few years back and you published it. He had a good 7th grade year -- he played on the 8th varsity and averaged around teens per game, some games in the 20s, most of them being 3s. He had one game in particular, early in the season where he hit some threes that were about 5' behind the 3-pt line. The home team crowd was even oohing and ahhing.
“The home team's coach took him off to the side after the game, talked with him, hugged him and congratulated him. Of course the next time we played them she had him double teamed so that he could not even breathe! In this past week's tournament he averaged 14 points (must be something about that number) and was 10 for 10 from the free throw line. God bless.”
Kevin W., Morgantown, WV
[*Editor’s note: I just got a look on TV at the New Orleans Hornets’ Chris Paul’s Release on a free throw, and he, too, has the relaxed wrist and hand I coach. It’s the way of the great shooters, and I’m getting more and more proof of that. Check it out. Watch the follow through of the players. Best is the slow motion replays. The more mediocre shooters have tight wrists and hands, and the always-on, better shooters have a relaxed wrist and hand. That makes their shots more “repeatable,” which is why they shoot so well.]
---------------------------------------
“Tom, I've just ordered a set of both of your DVD's for two reasons.
“First, because it is priced right.
“Second, because of the way it is presented.
“As a coach and father of players, I've looked at several ‘improve your game’ sites. They are so full of hype-hype-hype it is virtually impossible to tell what they are really selling -- and it seems clear that that is actually their intent. I can't tell if they're selling a training program, or amazing shoes, or a magic ball, or flubber, or a self-hypnosis system. Their writers are truly amazing in that they can say the same thing over and over again without repeating themselves and without giving away their ‘amazing, secret, never-before-seen-by-human-eyes’ programs. In fact, they don't really give any useful information at all. They seem to be trying to talk their site visitors into a frenzied state of mind in which they'd buy anything at all, for any price at all. (One guy is offering a vertical leap system that he says after midnight tonight will be priced at nearly $2 Grand! It's about $300 as it is and the buyer has absolutely no idea what it contains.)
“Your site alone, on the other hand, has already allowed my son to improve his shooting in just a few practice sessions. I mostly appreciate the real information in the clearly written text, and the samples of the videos that provide so much useful information about exactly what you are offering.
“No hype. Real information. Informative content. That is truly refreshing. Thank you. I will recommend your system to anyone I see who is interested in improving their shooting.”
Brent P., Edmonton, Alberta ---------------------------------------
(A sequence of inquiry, reply, response from a coach/dad from Illinois)
<<< First, Todd L. wrote >>>
“Hi Coach. I just finished watching your videos and reading your FAQ's. My question is this.
“Do you teach your players a ‘standard’ amount of knee bending to create upforce? I guess you could vary how much upforce you create by how much you bend your knees.
“So should I teach players a fixed amount of knee bend for every shot to create a constant 100% upforce, or should they vary the amount of knee bend to create a variable upforce?
“Thanks!”
Todd L, Illinois Dream Team - 6th Graders, Clarendon Hills, IL
------------------------------ <<< Then I replied. >>>
“Todd, The UpForce is always varying. There is no "standard" amount of knee bending or leg action.
“I suggest ‘catching’ 100% of what's available to increase the power and stability, and then simply varying the arch (angle of the release) to control distance. It's that simple. Don't try to force a constant leg action. Play with it. You'll see what I mean.”
-- Tom
------------------------------ <<< And Todd’s reply back >>>
“Hi Coach. Just wanted you to know that today was phenomenal with your system. My son (6th Grade) tried the Swish method for the second day of your training and hit 70% of his foul shots and about 50% of his three pointers.
“His epiphany was feeling the UpForce. He never had range before this. Thanks!”
- - Todd
------------------------------------------------------------ 7. KIDS’ KORNER (GROWNUPS, TOO) ------------------------------------------------------------
This week as I was driving to a dental appointment, I listened to the first of a set of CD’s I loaded into my iPod (and listened to many times) and it gave me an idea for this section ... the subject is one’s Life’s Work. May you find what this great teacher is talking about in your life as I have in mine!
The name of the course is “Vocal Awareness,” by Arthur Joseph, surely one of the greatest vocal coaches in the world with over 40 years of coaching (see his Vocal Awareness Clients Website, for page after page of the well known people he’s coached, including Sean Connery, Arnold Schwarzenegger, Edward James Olmos, Angelina Jolie and many hundreds more).
I invite you to read what I transcribed here, both for the analogy to my Life’s Work and for the information it can give you. Vocal expression is something few people do well. It’s been one of my biggest challenges for decades. Maybe you feel shy about speaking, or have a lot of fear when asked to speak, or have trouble expressing yourself at loud parties (or quiet ones). This course can make a big difference for you. I recommend it without reservation.
Arthur opens the course talking about how voice work became his passion and his Mission in Life. How he wants to change the world through voice.
I was reminded of how basketball shooting is MY passion and has become MY Mission in Life, and how I intend to change the basketball world in how shooting is taught. It’s not quite the context he’s talking about, but my intention does include teaching both players and coaches at all levels of the game and thereby shifting the culture of basketball. Voice is a truer expression of one’s inner self than shooting a basketball and much more complicated, but there are certainly parallels. Where shooting is less personally revealing than speech, there are tremendous learning and development and self esteem issues I can introduce to my students. If you can learn to trust yourself when there’s doubt or fear with a basketball shot, then your level of self-trust will be higher in other arenas.
Arthur’s approach to his teaching is the same as mine: he teaches his students to become more and more AWARE of what they do and then coaches them into the actions and habits that will lead them to more and more effective performance. It’s like we had the same teachers.
Here is the text of his introduction to this work. I hope this scenario is useful to you as you grow up and seek the Mission of your life, your life’s Purpose. A spiritual advisor of mine put it this way: If you don’t know what your Purpose is, then you have your Purpose ... to find your Purpose.
Note how from a young age Arthur just had a different way of seeing and hearing vocal work. It was truly a Gift, and I had a similar thing in my life with basketball shooting. I found it in high school, then I lost it, and then rediscovered it at age 50 and beyond. His life’s work started to manifest for him at age 4 when he “knew” music was to be his life. It later shifted into the broader category of vocal expression.
--------------------------------------- “An Introduction to Vocal Awareness” by Arthur Joseph
“People are often asking me, ‘How did I come to create Vocal Awareness?’ Why do I do what I do? Vocal Awareness is my passion and the dissemination of it throughout the world is my life’s goal. I truly want to affect the planet through voice, because voice is power.”
[From Tom: I want to shift the way shooting is taught at all levels. By learning how to shoot better and, thus, playing a game like basketball better, you will have a stronger self image of yourself and your capabilities, you’ll play more minutes, the game will be more fun, wo knows how far you can take it, and the “team” aspect of basketball improves when everyone can shoot.]
“From the sermon on the mount to Adolph Hitler, voice can change the world. In my studio on the wall I have a banner that I commissioned about 17 years ago, and on it are things of interest to me. But in the right hand corner of this banner, crawling up the vine, is a phrase, ‘The great use of a life is to spend it in something that outlasts it.’
“The gift that God has given me is the gift to know voice and to express it in a way that I’ve never met in any other person in the world that I’ve communicated this with. Whether it be a professional voice teacher, singers, actors, I hear vocal sound differently than anyone I’ve met. I hear the physiology of the voice, the potential, the locked. I hear the glory of the voice, I hear the terror. I hear the person, not just in the voice but in your being, in our breathing, and in the way you hold yourself.”
[From Tom: I see and teach shooting differently from anyone else I’ve encountered. I see the essence of it and can tell what everyone needs. I could teach a young player how to coach, to a certain beginning level, an NBA star who can’t shoot ... and who happens to be open to coaching.]
“I first came to music when I was four. And knew that music was my life. In the sixth grade I auditioned for choir and couldn’t sing American the Beautiful” on pitch and they wouldn't let me in. But in the seventh grade, I found a teacher who let me in her choir. And I knew that singing was that musical expression. And God has taken such good care of me, by giving me the pain that I needed, and giving me the teachers I needed when I needed them. And this teacher was just the teacher that I needed for my whole life.”
[From Tom: I developed the skill of shooting when I was in high school, over 50 years ago, then lost it when I went to college and could not shoot the same for over 30 years. When it came back, out of the blue, I could shoot better than I could at my peak in high school. And I’ve now studied the skill and art of shooting for over 18 years. Like Arthur, I was also given teachers/mentors at the right times for me.]
“I’m 15 years old and she’s about 75 at the time, and within the construct of her lessons, she let me conduct my own lessons because I so dramatically said things like ‘Stop, no, I don’t want to do it like that, I hear it this way, my hands to my ears, my body tensing, my fingers extending.’ And she let me run my own lessons, because she knew something about me that I didn’t yet know ... and that was that I marched to a different drummer. Her permission gave me my voice. Her lack of dogma and her belief in me and her patience in helping me discover me changed my vocal life.”
[From Tom: See where you march to a different drummer. Trust your instincts on that and you’ll start to see things you’re good at or want to excel at.]
“At 18 I began teaching. And I’ve got degrees, and I’ve taught at major universities in the United States, etc., but what I really teach and know is what I’ve personally ‘discovered’ from taking life’s journey. And so my mission is to communicate it to the world. So that you can change your life, or so that you can have your life the way you want it to be, not merely settling for the way it’s been. It won’t necessarily happen tomorrow by 5, or next Thursday at 2, but I want to teach you through this work how to take the steps, how to take the baby steps, and how to know when to take the leap of faith.”
[From Tom: As he said he does, I get most of my ‘knowledge’ from experience, by spending time alone on a court with a ball and basket and just shooting. It’s not from analyzing or thinking or studying special concepts. I don’t need to read other people’s approaches to shooting. I just KNOW what’s needed, and it really works. AND ... and this is huge ... what I teach is exactly how the greatest of our shooters have always shot!]
“You’re about to embark on a remarkable journey. The goal of the journey is to discover and develop the natural voice, the voice which embodies and expresses your inner most self. Although you use your voice every day of your life, you may be amazed to find that your voice doesn’t really express who you are and how you feel. Our voice reveals us fully, carrying our moods, fears, tensions and emotion that represent us to the world and tells everyone every thing about us, even when we unfortunately don't want them to know it. Our voice is so fully what we are, as close as our own breath. It nurtures and envelopes us in a secure and meaningful way, yet at the same time, seems to threaten and distance us from our true selves.”
[From Tom: Do you see the power and relevance of what he says? Arthur then goes on to describe the vocal process with amazing understanding and knowledge. He is truly a genius in the area of voice and vocal expression. His extraordinary list of clients gives a hint to his unique understandings of this medium of expression and his ability to coach it.]
“As you begin to take this journey, you will discover the true magic and mystery of the voice. You will gain a deeper understanding of the power of your own voice in your own life and how it can help you live your life more fully, more successfully. You’ll also find that the benefits that you receive along the way are more profound and more far reaching than you could have ever imagined. Exploring your voice will also challenge and confront you, unearthing hidden feelings and awakening a fresh and enlivening sense of vulnerability and freedom, freedom to become you, to awaken to and discover new choices and make an unalterable commitment to yourself.”
[From Tom: As you learn to shoot better, you will come to appreciate the remarkable body-brain-nervous system you’re living within. There is both magic and mystery in the human body you possess. If you can see how to learn the highly-prized skill of shooting a basketball, you will see how you can learn (and coach yourself or others in) anything. Though the time frames are different, I hope you can see the similar life paths that Mr. Joseph and I have stumbled upon and developed into our life’s purpose.]
************************************************* End of archived Newsletter *************************************************
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