|
Return to Testimonials Index page
"I ran a search on google.com for "shoot basketball" or something like that and found your site among many others. What intrigued me about your site in particular though was the fact that it was more than just ad copy. What I mean is that most similar web sites will mention "become a better shooter in ten days" or offer some exciting testimonials and you don't get to hear the rest until you pay up. "Now this is certainly understandable but these sites all sound the same and there is really nothing there to convince me to try their method out. On your site however you actually give away a great deal of information about your thoughts and views on shooting, what techniques good shooters have in common, and most importantly what your program is all about - UpForce and your other associate teaching principles. When reading your article "A Lost Art Found!" I realized that what you said was very intelligent and made sense. "Yes Americans, or most people in general, seem to almost entirely learn basketball by playing games and not actually practicing fundamental aspects and thus spend their whole time reinforcing whatever habits they have at the expense of learning how to improve or do things correctly. This problem is compounded by the fact that when any instruction or drilling does take place it is often done incorrectly - squaring up, shooting with the wrist (or almost entirely with the arm), shooting at the top of the jump, etc. "Now it is just common sense, or physics anyway, that releasing the ball quickly as you are still jumping up will impart more upward momentum to the ball, thus increasing the arch of the shot and easing the ability of the ball to drop straight down into the hole and thus also easing your ability to shoot greater distance (as long as your release is not too high) since legs are pretty powerful and can even enable small girls to shoot three pointers if they do it right. And at the same time shooting this way allows one to shoot with a more relaxed and accurate arm motion since the arm no longer has to provide much of the power for the shot - ideally this would be the same arm motion every time, learned to the point that it is unconscious and perfect. "However, it is one thing to "know" something and another completely to apply it. The real genius in your system, and the reason why your video is more valuable than just your newsletters alone, is that you are teaching something that is basic and obviously true but is almost universally overlooked and you are doing so in a step by step easy to follow manner. Basically I think I understand exactly what you are talking about and have even seen incredible results trying out shooting what I believe is the way you are describing but I want your video for the drills and just to make sure I have an adequate grasp of everything you mention on your web site, and because I share in your enthusiasm for basketball and feel that this is more of a contribution to a good cause than anything :). "I could go on forever about the thoughts I have had regarding shooting and probably bore you completely but from what I have seen your method of shooting is better than others for these reasons: "1. It gives a quicker release "You are right in that this is something that can be learned almost overnight, and that is the most amazing part. My shooting improved so much in one afternoon after trying out what I believe your methods are that it was almost funny. I was actually laughing while I was shooting it was so absurd how much better my shot just became. The people in my gym thought I was nuts because I was just laughing and nailing shots from all over the place. I mean shooting used to be frustrating and painful but this was fun, partly because when you use mostly your legs in that springing type motion with the quick release, it is just a much more relaxed and easier way to shoot. When I tried to tell my friends the secret though they would agree and expressed the fact that they "already knew that" and then they would go back to their old mostly incorrect methods of flinging the ball up in the air with their arm. The only drawback to shooting with your legs this way is that my legs eventually get tired and my shot will then go flat and that the quickness of the release sometimes makes it hard to maintain good form. The first problem will be solved with better conditioning and the second with some good drills. "I also noticed that most good female shooters in my gym employ much more of the principles that you discuss than the men do, and the best shooters combine this with a shot that has obviously been practiced so much that it is the same release every time. "One other thing I wanted to add was that what I am most interested in would be some real empirical data comparing different shooting methods and an actual physics based and bio-mechanical based breakdown of everything that is occurring in the shot and why this way of shooting is therefore better than another and so on. What would be ideal would be to have two groups of adults that have never shot a ball before (women maybe since they are less likely to have played ball and are probably easier to teach since they don't have the whole manly pride thing that so often interferes with learning) and have them taught your method and the "traditional method" whatever that may be - squaring up, shooting mostly with the arm and wrist, and see which group ends up shooting better and then analyze the results in a controlled scientific fashion. Maybe even have the results reported in a scientific journal, that would be great. In addition to this you would of course want to determine the ideal way to teach the correct method which is what I assume you spend most of your time trying to figure out since teaching can always be improved and is probably incredibly difficult when trying to overcome very old learned behaviors. "Well, I think I should stop writing now. I can't believe how much time I have spent analyzing this stuff, it's crazy. I can only imagine what you could write. You could probably turn something as simple as shooting a ball into a 400 page book if you were so inclined, but then that would go against your methods I believe. "I look forward to that
video and to destroying the competition with the most overlooked
and powerful of basketball abilities - good shooting." "I don't play for any school team, to tell ya the truth I just began playing basketball two years ago. I play mainly pick-up game and various intramural leagues in the area. I might not play on an official team, but I am well versed in many aspects of basketball fundamentals and plays. In one of my 3 on 3 leagues, I play with two of my best friends. We have 13 set plays, which basically is a combination of post-up plays, backdoors, pick & rolls (a lot of these). I basically took elements of a 3 man game, and strung them together so if one option does not work, it can easily flow into the next, most plays have 4 options, and most of them are very dependent on the defense's reaction and such. We aren't the most talented bunch, but we hardly ever lose do to good execution. "In any case, I watched your video, followed it step by step, and I practice some of the 'drills' every time before I play. I am shocked by how great it has changed my game. Before you my game was basically low-post, high-post turn and face, or pick and roll. I felt very confident of most of my game except shooting from any considerable distance. I could drive good enough to get my man to play off me. After that my effectiveness dropped because opponents would play far off me on any pick and rolls, or screens to free me for shots. "After your video it has all changed. I now get the ball of the screen, jab step toward baseline and pop a jumper, SWISH. I will drive right, step back and pop. I find myself taking jumpers more then anything now. And making them with great success. And since I have proven my shot in game situation, my game to the basket has exploded. In a recent game I got the ball with my man playing off, I faked the shot, he respected, and jumped. With a wide open lane to the basket, probably forcing the man to come off my teammate and allowing a pass. I instinctively took a step dribble to my right and drained the jumper. "As you suggested I kept
track of how i shot on the floor before the video. And then i
just recorded myself earlier this week. I transfered it into
percentages, and I am hitting uncontested 3 pointers and just
inside the arc an amazing 48% percent better. From 32%, to 80%. "You know what, I give up, I CANT explain in words how happy i am over this video, it has changed everything and I enjoy basketball so much, no longer am i ashamed to shoot around. Thank you, this style is just amazing. The wierd part is, there was nothing to it. Just shoot early, same arm motion, and get that ball high. "It's amazing the look on
my opponents face, when i fling a jumper high over their outstretched
hand. I personally don't even know how these things go in, they
just come down and swish like i have never before." "To give you a little background
on myself; I coached girls basketball for 9 years at the high
school level and then retired, so to speak. I coached my whole
career at the same school, which was small in enrollment. I always
had some good athletes, but never very good basketball players.
Most of my girls played other sports and basketball was not their
first love. Most of the girls were terrible shooters and I always
struggled to make them better. I basically relied on a lot of
discipline and a good defense and we won quite a few games. Our
motto was "We're not going to out score you, we are just
going to make sure you don't score more points than we do".
We were not very fun to watch, but we got the job done. Two of
my seasons (as head coach) we went to the regionals. It was a
nice coaching career and the only regret I had is that I was
unable to get the girls to shoot better. I sort of took the attitude
that their lack of shooting capability was because they never
worked on it during the off season and it was too difficult and
time consuming to do it during the season. "I remember the first night of practice. I keep a log every practice of misses and makes for free throws and free shooting. The girls were 17% as team in FT's and 13% shooting practice shots. And it was not like this was the girls' first time in a while to pick up a ball. Most of them were coming to open gyms for two weeks before the season started. I thought, "Here we go again, I better get my defensive book dusted off." "Then I remembered seeing one of your advertisements a couple of years ago and I was intrigued by your approach of how to teach good shooting. Fortunately, I remembered it was "swish" something and eventually found you on the web. I bought your tape and even talked to you on the phone. You gave me some good advice too. "Inspired by all this I decided to focus more on shooting this season. It was an easy decision anyway because the girls were only freshmen. The toughest part was getting the girls to buy into your methods. They did and man did it pay off! We still worked a lot on fundamentals and defense, but we worked a lot of hours on shooting. I even video taped the girls shooting to help them see what they should or shouldn't be doing. "We play a very competitive schedule too. Like I said before, we are a small school and we compete against mostly bigger schools. We were, by far, the smallest team in the league. If we were to score it had to be from the outside. "We struggled at the beginning, but each game the girls shooting got stronger. Their form was coming together and their confidence was building. After seven games we had only three wins but then went on to win the next fifteen out of sixteen games finishing second in the league and we won the freshmen tournament. "The girls were so good and for me, well, I looked like a damn genius. We had nine games where the girls scored over 40 points and one game the girls scored 32 points in the first half and went on to score 24 more in the second half. That is awesome at freshmen level. The girls were so exciting to watch. We got a nice following of fans, too. "For the season we shot
39% from the field and 47% from the free-throw line. Not one
of my girls could make a three pointer at the beginning of the
season. They finished 18 for 45 from trifeccta land. My motto
became, "Just let it fly!" It was amazing. The parents
of the girls were so proud and they couldn't believe it either.
They even called me a damn genius. I have been called a lot of
things in my coaching career but never that. Thanks again Tom.
Your help made my coaching season fun. I just wish I knew what
I know now when I first started coaching." "Shooting, especially in the U.S., is a joke. As coaches, we are all trying to figure out from where the problems stem. It seems to come from poor coaching. I have been guilty of that. In the past, I thought I was explaining things in a manner that was easy to understand, but the players would have these confused looks on their faces. Now I see how complicated I was making it for them. I had them trying to remember so many things. Players at any level have a very tough time trying to remember a lot of principles, especially while playing the game. Your shooting approach focuses on a few major components, and then lets the players simply REACT, and PLAY THE GAME. That's huge. "I appreciate your work,
and will continue to teach the SWISH method to my players for
many years to come." "Growing up and going through programs, I became known as a shooter. I practiced day and night on my shooting skills but never really felt very confident. My shots seemed to be sometimes on sometimes off without any real notion as to why. I always felt it was a matter of practice before and focus during a game. Coaches tried to assist by making the usual comments = square up, point at the rim, etc. But these comments did not mean anything to me and I did not feel they made a difference in my shot. "I expanded my love of the game by becoming a coach (at many levels both boys and girls). When I first began coaching, I would teach shooting by lengthy shooting drills especially from the foul line. Based on my past experience I felt it was a matter of practice and focus. I used some of the gimmicks such as BEEF (Bend the knees, Elbow in, Eyes on the target, and Follow through), but I never really felt this was particularly helpful. I would instruct my team to "think it in" in hopes that they would focus on putting the shot in. "As I was still playing in men's leagues and coaching, I kept up with anything I could on drills. In my search I discovered the Basketball Highway and read some articles from a shooting Coach named Tom Nordland (you). It was like a revelation. Everything I read was like an answer to my prayers. The articles explained what exactly makes a good shot and how to improve your shot, not some silly notion like "BEEF" with no further explanation. I waited in anticipation for each new article to come out to learn more. I incorporated all of the techniques as best I could into my own shot and had immediate great results. Not only did my feeling towards my shot improve, but I could also measure directly an increase in my free throw shooting. I would say I went from a 75 percent shooter to a better than 90 percent shooter from the line. The method also made intellectual sense. The physics of launching a ball had never crossed my mind until these articles. But think about it, the size of the target and the angle of approach are very much related. I will never forget the best notion for shot correction = "Shoot through the sun roof, not the windshield." After the last article, I was hooked. I immediately called Coach Nordland and asked for the tape on the SWISH method. This method is THE most powerful tool for developing great shooting habits. I had been using the method on my own shots from the articles, but the video made the method even clearer. "I used all the techniques in the video and began to share my new knowledge. I have held a number of clinics with my own teams and younger teams in our program (I coach at the High School level). Players really get a good sense of this method because they are required (and allowed) to figure out the concepts on their own. They make the changes and see the results as we conduct the clinic. I know this is a powerful coaching method because of the kids who ask me to help them with their shots. Also, an even better indication are when players tell other players that "I shoot so good because Coach Thomas taught me". "So once again - thank you so much Coach Nordland for providing the secrets to great shooting." -- Coach J. Thomas, Rochester,
NH (High school coach) "Hi, I am really improving, i was playing a game of "21" and I got the ball and scored with a lay-up. I then made almost the rest of my points with free throws. U don't how much of a relief it is to have a pure shot that always works. It doesn't choke even when your almost certain that you will. I almost consider shooting therapudic. when I was little, and i would have a problem, I would just go outside and shoot. I had lots of problems. "Family/School basketball
has always been a way for me to escape the constant "Do
it this way!" "No, you're so stupid!" "Use
your brain!" "You're not gonna be an NBA star!"
I look back at those comments that were said to me and now I
just laugh. Thanks to you I can laugh alot more. |