DEVELOP A PURE SHOOTING SYSTEM
Shooting is basketball's most important and most difficult skill to master
The dunk is basketball's most exciting shot. The swish from three point land is basketball's most beautiful shot. Dunks move screaming fans to their feet. Three point swishes move fans to awe.
When Gutzon Borglum designed and crafted Mr. Rushmore he said if he wanted to reach the human intellect he would have put the five presidents on the head of a pin, but to reach man's emotions he built them on the side of a mountain. The pure jump shot inspires the intellect, the dunk impacts the emotions.
Pure shooting impacts the intellect because it is the product of the brain. Shooters are not born. They do not come from genes, raw talent, or muscle. Pure shooters are the product of hours of intentional skill and development.
Many programs will not take the time necessary to help athletes become pure shooters because it takes hours and hours of specific repetition and many times the shot must get worse before it can get better. Athletes who learn to shoot incorrectly have a huge disadvantage because of the tremendous amount of time it takes to correct bad shooting habits.
At camp, we have developed a shooting program which covers alignment, power source, accuracy, softness, arch, and back spin. If you don't have answers for the questions below, seek them out or get to camp.
9 KEYS TO DEVELOPING A SHOOTING PROGRAM
You need:
1. A clear example for pure shooting technique -- (don't be deceived, many pro players have hands so huge they make shooting a basketball seem like shooting a nerf ball. Their technique based on their hand size, height and so forth may look very different than what you need for your height and size.) Can you identify the keys to a great shooting technique? Who is your role model? What do you use as a visual to help you with your shooting form?
2. Repeatability. Can you repeat exactly what you do over and over again? Where are your eyes every time, where are your hands on the ball?
3. Understand Physics. Do you know the physics of how the ball is designed to rotate? What is the optimum arch angle?
4. Correction. There are four ways to miss a shot. Do you know why you missed and how to correct what is going wrong? You must be able to know why you missed and what to do.
5. Schedule. Shooting is a skill requiring daily work. Have a program that includes time without a ball, time without a hoop, specific shooting reps from spots on the floor.
6. Pressure. Shooting requires the ability to be calm and accurate under even the most intense pressure. Design your workout to include pressure. Put up consequences if you miss, play at game speed and put something on the line.
7. Game break. During the summer, get away from 5 on 5 for a little while and work solely on improving your shooting and offensive skills.
8. Be able to miss. Some of the worse shooters are those who are type A personalities who hate to miss. If they miss it is almost like poison to them. They stop shooting or they get down on themselves-- either way they have trouble. Shooting isn't like math. Getting 100% is not feasible. Focus instead on 100% accuracy of your form and having confidence. Make your 100% be for your courage, your shooting form accuracy, and quality decisions you make on when and where to shoot, not on whether it goes in.
9. Go to camp. All the answers to the questions above you can find at camp. We have coaches ready to help you create your pure shooting program. Come get better as an athlete, a student, a person and a shooter this summer.
