March 18, 2015

Basketball Coaches: Encourage Young Players to Shoot!

March 18, 2015/ Tom Nordland

A parent/coach who just ordered my Swish videos told me of his son's coach and how he restricts his boys from shooting:

"His 5th grade coach has restrictions and only certain areas of the court that they are allowed to shoot from (inside 15 feet all around). They get benched or even threats of game suspensions if they violate the rule. Not FUN!"

Please, coaches, encourage your young players to shoot, don't shut them down!

March 11, 2015

Learning Basketball Shooting: “Awareness” — A “Monster” or A Necessity for True Learning?

March 11, 2015/ Tom Nordland

After a recent set of clinics, my top Coach-in-Training, Ernest Johnson, from D.C. and I were talking about the value of Feedback. I've been taught by my mentors that physical learning occurs from in-the-moment "awareness of experience" much more than from being told what to do or reading about it or even seeing it. When you can FEEL something, like the difference between a tight wrist and hand and a relaxed wrist and hand, that feeling (experience) will teach you about wrist-hand tension and how effective or ineffective it is. The "idea or concept" of something is superseded by the "experience" of it, and a much deeper learning can occur.

February 25, 2015

Basketball Shooting: Watch the Learning Take Place!

February 25, 2015/ Tom Nordland

In a conversation with Coach Joe Waters from upstate New York, who wrote a great Review of the Swish Method you'll see at the top of my home page, he mentioned how struck he was with how his two boys, ages 9 and 11, learned the method so quickly, how they were able to coach themselves. Check out what he said.