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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 105 -- January 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. A High School Girls’ Team Struggles 4. Assistant Coaches -- Enhance Your Career! 5. More Testimonials 6. Great System for Defense -- Bob Kloppenburg’s “SOS Defense” 7. KIDS’ KORNER 8. You Can Republish Articles I’ve Written 9. Get the Swish Videos 10. Shooting Clinics & Camps 11. Some Powerful Testimonials/Photos/Videoclips 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I'm just including the heart of the Newsletter, those sections that are instructional, not contact information, outdated clinic info, etc.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. A High School Girls’ Team Struggles ------------------------------------------------------------
Last week I attended a girls’ high school game here in Santa Cruz, Calif., because I had recently had a private session with two of the girls on one of the teams. Though that team had upset the opponent just a week or so previously, this night it was a rout for the opponent, 73 to 40. What was most evident to me was the resistance to shoot of my two players’ teammates. There was obviously a lot of fear in their heads. Most of them didn’t even look to shoot or score. It’s like the coach had told them to pass only.
HOW COULD MY COACHING HAVE HELPED? So, I reflected on what could have helped them. The “other” 9-10 players surely did not have much confidence in their shooting abilities, whereas the two I had coached did, and shot whenever they had an opening. I can’t claim much responsibility for their “wanting” to shoot since they were already shooting a lot and averaged 13 and 12 ppg, but my coaching made them more effective and one of them scored 23 points in this game. My main player could have shot more, but she was also the point guard and the coach instructed her to run the offense and get others involved. Since most of the “others” couldn’t shoot, the teams scoring was thus very low.
WHAT MIGHT HAVE OCCURRED If I had been able to coach this team a few times earlier in the season, here’s what might have occurred. Each of the players would have learned something about how to shoot, what’s needed to create and use power and where accuracy and consistency come from. Their technique would have been at different levels, depending on how “athletic” they were, how much they worked at it, how good at learning they were, etc. But they would have known SOMETHING about shooting.
A SENSE OF “HOW” WOULD GIVE SOME CONFIDENCE With at least a little confidence in their heads, their fear of failure would have lessened with time, practice and game experience. I can see that if they had a sense of how to shoot, they would have developed the courage to do so, and shots would start to be taken and, eventually, made, the offense would run more effectively, and they would have had more fun.
As of right now, everyone is frustrated, even the leading scorer. She feels too much responsibility and pressure are on her shoulders. Her teammates probably feel like drags on the team, holding down the team’s performance, in large part due to spotty shooting.
If, meanwhile, through some effective shooting coaching, everyone “had a clue” about shooting and took more chances to shoot and actually started to make some shots, everything could have changed.
SHOOTING IS THE MASTER SKILL IN THE GAME Once shooting is starting to be learned, players have incentive to learn the other critical skills of dribbling, passing, setting picks and screens, using picks and screens to get an opening to shoot, etc.
COACHES: LOOK FOR WAYS TO IMPROVE SHOOTING I invite coaches who have this kind of situation (and I feel it’s a very frequent situation -- just today I talked to another coach, a JV girls’ coach, and he has the same kind of problem), to look around for a more effective way to coach the skill. Look for videos and clinics and camps. At Coaches’ Clinics, seek out people who really understand shooting (they’re few and far between).
Google “basketball shooting” and “basketball shooting videos” and see what comes up. My “Swish22” website will be high on the list for those search words, so look my site over. See if you can tell what the other shooting coaches teach.
Do their websites say what the fundamentals of shooting are for their way of shooting? Or are there just generalities, like names of players who have been coached, how long they’ve been doing it, percentages for one or a few teams, etc.? See if you can tell if the coach teaches a squared up stance or an open one, like I advocate. Does power come from wrist flipping and arm action (maybe a throwing motion), or more from the legs? If not wrist flipping, then how should the ball be “released?” Does the coach advocate a relaxed wrist and hand, or a tight one, like a goose neck, or reaching the hand in the cookie jar?
THERE ARE A LOT OF MYTHS OUT THERE There are a lot of what I call “myths” of shooting. Check it out. If there are video clips on the site to view, do so. What do they show? With mine, they show 20+ kids shooting “lights out,” not just my shooting. You can see they all shoot the same. (AND it’s the way the better shooters shot, almost everyone of them. Check it out.) Do you read the coach talking a lot about his or her own performance in the past, or is it more about the kids and about learning, coaching, self-coaching?
These things will give you a clue as to what is coached. My Swish Method could have taught the 9-10 kids who were basically paralyzed by fear, how to shoot. If they had an opening, it’s possible they would have remembered the sequence of things to do and maybe a shot or two would have gone in. (With more and more practice and experience, performance will rise.) Once one shot is made under pressure, the wall of “No, I can’t!” will start to disappear. And self image and self esteem will start to grow. And then performance rises some more, self image increases, more improved performance, more feeling of worth and value, etc., etc., an upward spiral of success and confidence. Plus there can be a greater sense of “TEAM.” It’s really a good feeling to feel like you’ve contributed to a team effort, that you are worth something as a member of a team!
------------------------------------------------------------ 4. Assistant Coaches -- Enhance Your Career! ------------------------------------------------------------
Assistant coaches, especially college coaches where there is more pressure to perform and be part of a winning team, etc., think what knowing how to coach shooting could do for your resumé!
Shooting is such a Lost Art, if YOU can coach it well, you will stand out like a sore thumb, and maybe that long sought-after head coaching position could be yours!
WHAT DO YOU TEACH NOW? Look at your beliefs now about shooting. Do you teach it? If yes, what are the “Fundamentals” of what you teach? Do you break it down into its parts and then rebuild it, or do you teach it as a whole? In your opinion, is it a skill that can be taught? Can it be learned? When kids get to high school or college is it too late to learn to shoot?
Of course it isn’t, but some people think so. I heard a head coach for a top-ranked Division I team say, in a coaches’ clinic 3-4 years ago, “There are bad shooters and there are good shooters, and bad shooters cannot become good shooters. They can ge a little better, but they an never really become good shooters!” That same coach later said his team does “not run the highly-effective ‘Motion Offense’ because it gets guys open to shoot who can’t shoot.”
A LIMITING POINT OF VIEW So his point of view limits his teams’ futures. He feels people can’t learn a skill like shooting, at least not by the time they get to college. It’s also a common perspective that it’s not smart to try to change someone’s shot during the season. That’s a limiting viewpoint, too. In other sports athletes are getting coaching all throughout a season. Think of pitching coaches and hitting coaches in baseball. In football there are many coaching specialties. In golf, the players return to the practice area after each round, often working with their coaches. And a golf swing is much more complicated than a simple shooting stroke. But not shooting in basketball??? What a limiting point of view!
I basically feel that’s ridiculous! We can learn things at any age, and mostly any time. Of course you don’t want to try to change a stroke in the middle of a game. I know how dangerous that is, as I’ve tinkered with my golf swing during a round, with disastrous consequences.
But between games, yes. Especially if you approach the learning and coaching as I suggest: using awareness and feedback rather than hard-and-fast “rules” ... do this, do that, don’t do that, etc. Invite your players to develop their sense of self awareness of aspects of the skill, like noticing how they stand, how aligned the ball is (or isn’t) with their shooting eye, noticing when in the jump they shoot (timing), how high their shots go, what kind of spin is imparted to the ball and how, how the ball gets released, etc. Once a player knows what s/he does, then subtle (or even gross) changes can be tried and experimented with and the results can be observed. When they work, they can be adopted. Learning to trust the changed stroke in a game is a different thing and will take time, but you can work on that. As a coach, invite players in practice to try new things, without worrying about the result (let it be “okay” to fail, to miss every shot for awhile, for example). As the coach, you can create such an environment.
WORK WITH ME TO LEARN TO COACH SHOOTING! My invitation is to be in touch with me and let me train you in coaching this critical skill. One of my main projects the next six months or so is to develop a coaching manual to teach how to use the videos and how to coach this stuff. For now, read all the articles and Newsletters on my website. Get my two videos and view and dissect them. Do you think I can help you understand and coach it? Work on your own shot first, and then you can become a model for others. As you begin to distinguish the distinctions of shooting, you’ll be able to coach it more and more effectively.
Stay in touch with me and look for the training materials I’ll be developing. If it works for you like I know it can, you can add “Shooting coach” to your resumé. You’ll be able to make a difference with players at all levels. Wouldn’t that be fun?
----------------------------------------------------------- 5. More Testimonials ------------------------------------------------------------
[Ed. NOTE: This testimonial was about results obtained just from reading about the Swish Method, before even getting the two Swish videos! Post-receiving-the-videos comments are pending.]
“Tom, I will gladly forward success stories to you . I expect many. The reason I felt your DVD a ‘must have’ is that I read a detailed article on your philosophy. I got my best player to work on it. He had been using a 2-handed set until this past fall with a lot of success. Now in 5th grade he was struggling mightily with the 1-handed set shot. I worked with him for 2-hours and he took to your ‘open stance - relaxed wrist’ method immediately. For him, being able, again, to line up the ball with his eye and the basket was the answer. The immediate improvement was almost unbelievable.
“I look forward to the DVD. Take care.”
- - Mark G. - Carlsbad, CA -------------------------------------
[ED. NOTE: The following player flew from Massachusetts for some private coaching and a group clinic. This is the follow-up he recently sent. Can you see how beautifully he’s “coaching himself?”]
“Hey Tom, Up and down, although up more recently. When I first came back [from California], I was hitting everything I attempted, with both hands. It felt very fluid and I didn't feel as if I even had to aim in order to be successful. My body just seemed to "know" the arc required as long as I focused on full extension, and not robbing myself by over controlling and subconsciously holding back. I also became aware of the power inherent in the open stance you advocate, particularly the boxing analogy. For about a week I experimented with a motion that was more of a punch than a push. The first day or so it was incredibly successful, and my confidence soared. It was equally easy to shoot either left or right handed. However, after a few days I became more inconsistent, and grew frustrated.
“What I learned from this experiment was twofold; first, the value of thinking of the shooting motion as a punch rather than a push was in teaching me to rapidly go to full extension, every time. I was almost punching "through" the ball, in the way that a martial arts expert would punch "through" a board. This motion established a real consistency in terms of the initial upward "push" motion. It is nearly impossible to hold back on a punch.
“On the other hand, in order to truly ‘punch’ the ball upward, you have to manipulate the ball with your fingers and wrist in order to keep the ball from falling off line as you "punch" up and out. It's a subtle control, but it does make a difference and certainly affects your consistency, as it is something you have to be aware of. And so the most difficult part for me has been the Release, and letting go of the need to consciously over control the flight of the ball (which nearly always leads back to an over-involved hand and wrist structure, and thus, inconsistency).
“I've also had to fight the need to perform hundreds of repetitions and accept that it is possible to learn anything in as little as one repetition (provided an enhanced level of awareness and focused concentration). It's funny sometimes how when you are ready for a realization, the evidence seems to find you ... on New Year's Day I was returning from a meal at my parents' home when I picked up a book that was lying on the hallway floor that grabbed my attention. Ironically, the book was written by your mentor, Tim Gallwey. It was ‘The Inner Game of Tennis.’
“Tim's emphasis on communicating with your subconscious via its natural language, images (and also "feelmages"), and then letting go, as well as his discussion of awareness and focused concentration, resonated with me. Perhaps it is because I simultaneously have been exploring the principles of isometric training, and the value of focused concentration in building a more responsive mind/muscle connection.
“Excited for the New Year, and new discoveries.”
- - Jonathan P., Cambridge, MA -------------------------------------
“Your swish video has helped me to better coach the players on their shooting fundamentals. You have produced a very top caliber product and I love teaching your style of shooting. Keep up the great work Tom.”
- - Greg B., Winnipeg, Manitoba
[ED. NOTE: When I asked Greg how he found my website, he wrote, “Google, but I have been here before and have told a lot of other coaches about this great DVD and site.”] -------------------------------------
“Tom, After reading your newsletters for the last three years and viewing both of your DVD's a number of times, I think I've finally put if all together. Yesterday was ‘Pay Day’ as I hit three 3-pointers plus a jumper just above the free-throw line in the first game. I scored 11 out of the 15 points. The second game was different as they put a good defender on me (he was also 20 years younger) so only got one shot off - a 3-pointer, which I hit. My defense needs improvement as my man scored two baskets off me.
“I still like to review your ‘Fundamentals of Shooting.’ I took the key elements of your method, made a copy on my computer, and inserted it in a plastic cover. I have it in my gym bag and take a look at it every now and then. It takes a few seconds and a good refresher course. I've attached it.
“Thanks for helping to make a 71 year old guy have his ‘20 minutes of fame.’"
- - David N., Portland, OR -------------------------------------
[ED NOTE: Allison and her dad drove from Kansas to Minnesota to participate in a clinic of mine in 2004. Then about six months ago her dad send me a video of her to analyze, which I did. Each time she got a little better. And then, 2-3 weeks ago Dad posted a little clip of her shooting on YouTube and I gave some more advice. Always she was encouraged to “coach yourself.” She finally got it! Awareness leads to self-adjustment (self coaching) leads to continual learning ... until the skill is mastered. Then you can make it beautiful!]
“Allison just blew up last night.
“As you know, she’s been struggling a bit with her shot lately. Last night her first three shots were airballs. They were bad airballs at that. We talked during the game about starting her shot with her legs, which really helps her flow though the entire shot.
“Three swishes in a row. I asked her if she could feel the difference and she just gave me a great big smile and a nod. She really got it.
“Then she airballed one, because she started that shot with her upper body and disjointedly jumped into it. She self corrected because she was aware of what she needed to do.
“Four more swishes. Every shot was just beautiful. The net just bounced.
“She ended 7 for 11 from the field, including the first two three pointers of her young career. Seventeen points for a sixth grader is a pretty good night.”
- - Mark H., Overland Park, KS
------------------------------------------------------------ 6. Great System for Defense -- Bob Kloppenburg’s “SOS Defense” ------------------------------------------------------------
Please allow me this one diversion from offense and shooting.
As you know, I’m hopelessly addicted to offense and, specifically, shooting. However, there is a system of defense I’ve experienced a couple times at Coaches’ Clinics I’ve participated in and wanted to make you aware of it. It’s the genius of Coach Bob Kloppenburg. Read this description of Bob from Championship Productions:
“Bob Kloppenburg's name is revered throughout NBA arenas nationwide. Pat Riley has labeled him a "Defensive Genius" and Tex Winter credits him as a "Great Mind" in basketball. For 40 years, Coach Kloppenburg has created and developed the "SOS" defense that is now used extensively in the NBA. His 12 years with the Seattle Supersonics made the basketball world stand up and take notice as he taught his 12 defensive principles to the world's best players. Now retired, he mentors young coaches and conducts "D" clinics throughout the world.”
As I’ve watched SOS be demonstrated and spoken about, I am most impressed. It is a system of defense so intense and powerful, I wonder how offenses get shots off, even if they know my Swish Method. (I have an answer: It is to run “fierce” picks and screens and you’ll find those openings and then, assuming you have my Method down, get the half second of time and space you need, and you will score. But, wow, does Bob’s defense make it hard work ... for both teams.)
I GOT TIRED WATCHING PLAYERS DEMONSTRATE It takes considerable strength and stamina to run Bob’s defense; I got tired just watching the college players who were engaged to demonstrate it and had worked hard with it a day or two before the Clinic.
HOW GREAT TO HAVE TOUGH DEFENSE PLUS EFFECTIVE OFFENSE! I thought how great a team would be that had both, an “SOS”-like defense to stop their opponents from scoring plus the Swish Method for the offense. If everyone can shoot pretty well or better, and you can interrupt the other team’s offense, you’ll win your Conference title easily ... and more.
WEBSITE FOR HOOP TACTICS AND SOS DEFENSE Click on the following link for a description of the SOS Defense and information about how to order the DVD set via Championship Productions. If you do and purchase the DVD's, let Bob know you came from this website. I don't have any financial stake in this, I just want to support a great coach.
Hoop Tactics website: SOS Defenses
----------------------------------------------------------- 7. KIDS’ KORNER ------------------------------------------------------------ (Non-kids are welcome to read and apply this, too.)
A SUGGESTION FOR FREE THROWS -- START THE SHOT MOTION BY THE LEG ACTION, NOT BY “SETTING” THE BALL!
I just had a thought for what to write about this month for kids (of all ages). It’s the subject of when and how the ball is “Set” when shooting Free Throws.
A big problem for shooting at all levels, and especially for younger players, is the practice of SETTING THE BALL FIRST at the Set Point AND THEN starting your leg action to trigger and power the shot. Once you’re aware or this aspect of shooting, you’ll start to see it at all levels. Watch college and NBA games on TV and you’ll see many great athletes Set the ball first, stop their bodies, and shoot with all or almost all upper body. Some will bring the ball up from below, thus introducing some movement, but then stop the body and have to initiate energy from the Set Point.
And you’ll see them miss a lot of shots. And you’ll also see that the better shooters start their Free throw motion from the legs, not from the “Setting,” with the upper body muscles relaxed, the hands and ball starting from in front of the stomach.
I don’t know where this first started, but it’s become a sort of disease in shooting, and it’s a big part of the problem of poor free throw shooting throughout the game.
SET THE BALL FIRST AND YOU’RE DOING IT BACKWARDS If you “Set” the ball first, you interfere with the body’s natural inclination for generating and using power. The more natural way is to start the leg motion first, and then connect to that energy and stability by setting and releasing the ball in a continuous motion.
MORE NATURAL: START LEG ACTION FIRST! If you wait until the down-up leg action tells your body when to start the setting and release, the body will know how to connect to the power. I can’t tell you exactly when it is done or how to do it, but YOU’LL know! And then the whole motion will be more coordinated, simpler, easier.
INERTIA CAN HELP YOU I’ve come more and more to realize that this practice of generating what I call “Moving Inertia (Momentum)” before the Release is critical and a big part of Accuracy. When a ball is moving and in line when the Release begins, all you have to do is KEEP IT ON LINE and Accuracy is assured. (This is Newton’s First Law of Motion.) If you stop the ball’s motion at the Set Point and then have to re-start it, you’ve lost the advantage of the moving Inertia.
TRY IT BOTH WAYS As with all of my coaching, I suggest you try it both ways and you choose. Do the Setting first, and then all the other stuff (legs, Release, etc.) and see what happens, see how it feels. And then change it, have the ball low down in front of your stomach before the shot, then start the leg action first, and then connect the rest of the motion to that big muscle power. Which works best? Which makes Accuracy and Consistency easier? You be the judge.
When in Clinics I do an exercise of having kids observe when and how they “set” the ball relative to the leg action, comparing these two different sequences, they all report that their shooting was much better when they let the leg action go first, then the Setting and Release.
(If you have a remarkable experience with this, write it up and send it to me as a testimonials for a future Newsletter. Thanks.)
************************************************* End of archived Newsletter *************************************************
(c) Copyright 2009 Swish International, Inc. All Rights Reserved.
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