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By Tom Nordland, Shooting Coach Swish International, Inc. Issue Number 109 -- May 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. The Swish Method Rocks! 4. How Establish Credibility? 5. New “Trouble Shooting” Document 6. Remarkable Testimonial 7. KIDS’ KORNER 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I'm just including the heart of the Newsletter, those sections that are instructional, not contact information, outdated clinic info, etc.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. The Swish Method Rocks! ------------------------------------------------------------
Let me just flat out say that what I teach is the way of the great shooters! I have a large number of slow motion clips I’ve recorded from TV the last 8-10 years that show over twenty of the greatest professional and college shooters we have (and had) shooting the way I coach it. Their stances are open, they shoot on the way up, the wrists and hands are relaxed (so much so that often the hand bounces or “flops” in the Follow Through). Their elbows are out a bit as they realize that where the center of the hand points is important. (If you try to have both the hand in line with eye and basket AND the elbow under the ball, you will see you can’t do both. You have a choice: hand facing where you’re going or the elbow directly under the ball [for what purpose I don’t know]. Try it both ways and you be the judge.)
They shoot with the ball in line with the shooting eye, not off the ear or shoulder. That one little item makes accuracy a lot easier. They align the hand/ball with the eye and basket as early as they can. They also dip the ball when they catch it high, at least a little. Some coaching I’m hearing these days says NOT to dip because you don’t have time. My reaction is, “Then don’t shoot because you’re going to miss most of those shots.” We NEED to dip the ball to get what I call the INERTIA flowing, the movement of the ball in line before the Release.
My discovery of how Newton’s First Law of Motion (the Law of Inertia) applies to shooting is that getting the ball moving and in line before the Release is critical to accuracy and consistency. The idea is to generate Inertia ... and then “catch” it, just as you want to catch the energy of the legs, the UpForce, as you go to shoot (for most shots).
DON’T BELIEVE ME! As with all of my coaching, I ask that you please do not believe what I say. (Nor should you disbelieve what I say.) Instead of belief, make your knowledge of what I say based on your own experience. See if it’s true or not for you! If it’s true, then adopt it. If not, then discard it.
------------------------------------------------------------ 4. How Establish Credibility? ------------------------------------------------------------
I just met with a major college coach to offer my coaching services. He was open but naturally skeptical, even when I mentioned some other coaches he knows and respects who are big fans of my work. I told him of my background and what I’ve accomplished in the last 18+ years of studying shooting. I asked that he consider letting me work with his worst shooters to show if I can make a difference.
At the end of my sales pitch, he said he wanted to experience it himself before he would let me work with any of his players, and that, of course, makes sense. An outside coach can easily screw up a player with careless words, and this coach wouldn’t want to confuse his players if I wasn’t as good as I say I am. He said if I would come back in August he would find the time to work with me on a court, and that was a very kind offer (and I’ll be doing that).
What struck me is the question of how credibility is achieved. As the saying I came up with just recently -- a new “tag line” for my business and website and method --says it, “You gotta experience how simple great shooting can be!!!”
I was in Minnesota talking with and coaching kids, parents and coaches, and I realized people don’t “get” who I am just because I say so. Without direct experience, it becomes more like hearsay, little more than a rumor. But when something is experienced (assuming it’s a positive experience), then doubt disappears and confidence and trust can enter in.
HOW CAN I DIFFERENTIATE MYSELF? Eleven years ago one of the top coaches and broadcasters in the game viewed my first Swish video and told me, in person, at a Nike Clinic in Las Vegas, “Nice job! But the problem you’re going to have is differentiating yourself from all the poor shooting coaches out there!” Later, on national TV I heard him say, “Shooting coaches don’t make a difference!”
From what I see in many of the other coaches who teach shooting, whose videos and writings I can view and read, I can see that what this top coach said is true! Almost everyone out there is saying the same old tired, ineffective stuff: Square up, flip the wrist, elbow under the ball, etc. The bottom line is that whatever is being taught these days isn’t making a difference. Shooting is still deteriorating, or at best staying at its current low level. The performance of the Memphis men at the Line in the NCAA Finals proves that. (For the season the Tigers were one of the worst free throws shooting teams in the country, around 58-59%, so the performance in the Finals could have been predicted.) And the often mediocre shooting in the NBA and WNBA adds further evidence.
I CAN MAKE A DIFFERENCE! Well ... I can make a difference! It’s provable in the testimonials and endorsements I have. It’s observable in the development of kids who take clinics and camps with me. You can see it in the many players who were filmed for my Swish 2 video (see the video clips on the swish22.com website). No other shooting video I’ve seen comes even close to that kind of shooting by the kids. Notice how, as they swish shot after shot after shot, they’re all shooting the same way.
I NEED TO EXPAND MY PRESENCE! I talk to some agents, whose ears and eyes should be especially alert for a different, more effective, way to shoot for their players, and they say we’ll get together, but then they rarely follow up. I feel I can take an agent’s stable of players and help all those who want help achieve more powerful shooting skills, and the bottom line is increased value to NBA/WNBA teams and more income for players and agents, but it’s still not yet being done. It’s because the belief isn’t there. The art of coaching shooting still isn’t respected. The history hasn’t been there. Results speak volumes.
Of course I have to take primary responsibility for this not happening for me. I have to be more “persistent without being a pest,” as my #1 assistant, Ernest Johnson of Washington, D.C., reminds me. (Ernest recently served as the shooting coach for the Maryland Nighthawks of the Premier Basketball League.)
I will be “upping” the energy during this off season. It’s time for what I teach to reach the mainstream more successfully. I need help, I need some well known players and coaches to work with me and then vouch for me, and then I’ll need to expand my contacts and get results.
WILL GO ANYWHERE! To achieve the Shooting Renaissance I talk about as possible, I’m ready to go anywhere to prove what I (and my method and coaches) can achieve. If you see a powerful way to help me get out there, please call me: 888/794-7422 -- Thanks!
------------------------------------------------------------ 5. New “Trouble Shooting” Document ------------------------------------------------------------
I just finished/rewrote a “Trouble Shooting” document that will help any Swish shooters, whether you’re having trouble “getting” the Swish Method or not. It can serve as a powerful review of the Swish Method and how to learn/teach it. It’s available as a PDF at this location:
This coaching document reviews the key principles of the Swish Method and how to approach them. To correct a fault, go back to the basics of the Method and re-learn them. And keep it simple, always. The document describes the need for an “automatic” Release action, a motion that can be fully trusted. It also goes on to suggest that the player keep working to understand and be able to apply the key “Distinctions” of shooting, one at a time. There are many levels of understanding to a skill like shooting, and the player is encouraged to stay on the path, going deeper and deeper into it.
If this document is of value to you, let me know. Consider writing a testimonial for a future issue of this Newsletter and for my website. Thanks.
----------------------------------------------------------- 6. Remarkable Testimonial ------------------------------------------------------------
[EDITOR’S NOTE: Travis got Swish in April, ‘05, and Swish 2 in Dec., ‘05]
“Hi Tom, G'day from down under again. It's been a while since I've contacted you but I have been shooting so well lately I had to send you another update.
“As you know, I got immediate improvement by implementing the SWISH method but this season it's now at a whole new level. Quite frankly, I can't believe how well I am shooting at the moment and it's all thanks to the SWISH method.
“The main purpose of this e-mail is to emphasize that ANYONE can learn the SWISH method and I am living proof of it. At 34, and by my own admission, seriously unathletic and average at most aspects of basketball, I have taken my shooting to a level I didn't think I could achieve.
“I have been averaging over 20 points a game 7 games into the season and I have also hit shots down the stretch in 3 games to get us over the line. The best of them was last Monday. We were down by 5 points with 1 minute to go and I got a good look at the 3 point line and drilled it.
“I was heavily guarded for the next possession, got double teamed, so I passed to a wide open team mate who just missed the game winning 3. We were lucky enough to get the rebound, the ball got passed to me about 1 metre outside the 3 point line. I had to shoot with defenders closing and with 5 seconds left on the clock. I just got it off and it was even a swish.
“A first for me, I have never hit a game winning 3 point shot.
“I ended up scoring 30 points on 15 shots in this game. And they were all mid-range and 3 point jump shots. No layups or free throws. The entire team scored 45 points. Never have I been so pumped after winning a basketball game, we stole that one.
“Also just this season, I had my top score of all time which was 35 points as well as hitting the most 3 pointers I have ever hit in one game. That was 10, I seriously just couldn't believe it. Even the ref was looking at me by about the 7th 3 pointer with a ‘I can't believe you hit another one’ look on his face. It was priceless.
“And just today, a teammate sent me the following e-mail: ‘i would like to know what your 3 pt percentage is this season - it’s got to be between 40-50% !! Lucky we have one player on the team that can knock them down !!!’
“But without a doubt, the number one biggest improvement is WHEN I am hitting the shots. Not only has my consistency improved drastically, my accuracy towards the end of games and when defenders are closing in on me has increased incredibly. I can't explain how much more I am in tune with my shot and how much more of an understanding of why I miss when I do.
“In fact I went through a time where I thought I might be doing something wrong as the trajectory on nearly all of my shots is the same. But I realized that I was just using more UPFORCE for further out shots then close shots and hence the trajectory was the same for most shots.
“That realization came when I noticed that I would put extra arc on the shots when a defender was closing quickly. I had to get it off even quicker than normal and sure enough, the shot has quite a bit more arc when this happens. This also leads me to believe I can shoot even earlier which should lead me to even further improvement. Just incredible.
“Again, I want to emphasize, this isn't an e-mail about ‘Look at what I can do.’ It's 100% a testament to the SWISH method and how incredibly powerful it is. As I said above, at 34 and a most unathletic basketball player, I am the definition of average when it comes to most aspects of the game. But I just spent the time learning the SWISH method and it just flat out works.
“If I can do it, ANYONE can do it.
“In fact, I had to unlearn my old shoot of 15 years, so nearly everyone is at an advantage compared to where I started. And if anyone says the SWISH method is too slow to get off in a game or it doesn't work, just hasn't learned it fully yet.
“I implore anyone to stick with it, IT WORKS!!!!!”
Kindest regards - - Travis M, Wembley, WA, Australia
------------------------------------------------------------ 7. KIDS’ KORNER ------------------------------------------------------------
Trip to Seattle, Planting Seeds of Great Shooting
I just got back from a trip to the Seattle area where I put on two 2-day camps and two half-day clinics. It was a joy to see the reactions and the faces of kids who learned both how to shoot and how to continue the learning after I leave. Of course, not all were transformed in the moment, but all experienced periods of excellent, effortless, repetitive shooting and they now know how to get there.
You might call me a Johnny Appleseed* character, planting seeds of shooting wherever I go. The seed analogy is appropriate as it has to be nurtured with practice and awareness and patience (good earth and sunshine and water) until it sprouts and grows into a full-grown tree, rich with fruit.
When I put on clinics, I have three intentions for players: (1) That they come to realize great shooting isn’t that difficult, (2) That they experience they CAN do it, they CAN learn it, and (3) That they learn what and how to practice.
That’s huge! Knowing what you want, belief in yourself, and how to get there is half the battle.
Learning is a process, sometimes very slow, sometimes rapid, always taking some measure of awareness and patience. If you can be super-aware, then learning can be quicker than if you’re somewhat asleep (as most of us are most of the time). The classic “Learning balance on a bicycle” might have taken weeks overall, but the extraordinary moment of learning happened very quickly. The rider “got” balance in an instant, and it didn’t have to be remembered or memorized. That kind of “experiential” learning is never forgotten.
The act of learning to shoot is like that, lots of repetitions with observation and awareness by the relevant senses (along with patience and forgiveness of oneself, minimizing judgment, self criticism, etc.), and suddenly it’s learned. Errors are expected and welcomed, to be learned from. You can’t be perfect until you’re perfect, so expect a lot of ordinariness until such a time... A key is that, when you lose it, you know how to get it back, how to return to a high level of performance. Then it’s just a matter of creating it over and over and over until it’s learned and trusted, grooved, and then, perhaps, mastered. (Mastery is a special word, not easily achieved.)
(*From Wikipedia: Johnny Appleseed, born John Chapman (September 26, 1774–February 18, 1845), was an American pioneer nurseryman who introduced the apple to large parts of Ohio, Indiana, and Illinois. He became an American legend while still alive, largely because of his kind and generous ways, his great leadership in conservation, and the symbolic importance of apples. The popular image of Johnny Appleseed had him spreading apple seeds randomly, everywhere he went. In fact, he planted nurseries rather than orchards, built fences around them to protect them from livestock, left the nurseries in the care of a neighbor who sold trees on shares, and returned every year or two to tend the nursery.)
************************************************* End of archived Newsletter *************************************************
(c) Copyright 2009 Swish International, Inc. All Rights Reserved.
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