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From Kate Starbird, WNBA player: "When I showed up to play basketball at Stanford in 1993, at age 18, Tara Vanderveer, the head coach there, told me right away that my shot needed to be changed. I'd never been really coached in that area and I'd developed my own form, which had some obvious faults. However, I had spent so much time working on it that I'd been able to achieve a reasonably high percentage and no one had tried to make me change. After a few weeks of practice at Stanford, Tara told me that it was probably too late to change and decided to let me keep my old ways. She told me I would never be a pure shooter, but I had good aim and that was enough. "I had pretty good results with that shot throughout college. However, the pros were a different story. As my competition got better, quicker, and faster, I found that I had less and less time to "aim." I had trouble getting my shot off at all, and my percentage had gone way down on the ones I did put up. "After two seasons struggling in the WNBA, I began looking for ways to improve my game. One afternoon in late 2000, I ran into Tom Nordland at Maples pavilion at Stanford while I was waiting for an evening pick-up game. He introduced himself and offered some advice on improving my shot. Recalling Tara's statement 7 years before that it was already too late for me to fix my shot, I was very hesitant to follow Tom's example. After shooting poorly the next afternoon while concentrating on the new techniques, I decided that I would retain my old ways. I went off to play overseas and didn't see Tom again for several months. "Lucky for me I ran into him again. In late February of this year, with just over 2 months before WNBA training camp, I saw Tom again and decided that I should give his shooting techniques another chance. We worked together about 5 times in two months, focusing on a quick, high release and using the energy from my legs to control my shot. I allowed myself some time for the adjustment, and tried not to worry about missing my shots while I learned the new form. "After a couple of weeks, I started noticing the results. My shot was much faster than it had ever been before, enabling me to get it off before my defender could get to me. My percentage began to climb steadily. I noticed that the spin on the ball was correct for the first time in my life and that I finally had a nice, highly arced shot. "I showed up for training camp in May with renewed confidence and a much improved pro game. My coaches quickly noticed that I was shooting more and shooting better. I've seen my minutes, points, and percentages all go up over the first third of the season. Yesterday, I started my first game in 2 years. I've improved a lot of areas of my game over the past off-season, but working with Tom and learning this new shot are the most important factors of my success this year. "I think Tom's coaching
can be extremely helpful to players at all levels. The techniques
he teaches can be learned and mastered quickly, with only a few
coaching sessions. He also coaches the mental side, how to be
more focused and how to trust oneself. And he works with you
to develop a practice routine. His "Swish" video can
be a great tool for individual players and for coaches who'd
like to learn how to teach this method of shooting. Finally,
and most importantly, it is never too late (or too early) to
learn the right shooting technique." |