Basketball Coaches: Encourage Young Players to Shoot!

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

As the man further wrote: "It's important for youth coaches to encourage shooting for everyone from all around the basket (up to reasonable range), encourage taking the risk of shooting, encourage failure as a learning tool, to understand that taking ill-advised shots is a learning experience as well."

THREATENING 10 YEAR OLDS!

Wow, a 10 year old being threatened with being benched or even suspended for shooting from the "wrong" spots. This is another example of the very damaging and destructive coaching that is happening to youth around the country. To learn a skill, you have to be allowed to fail. In fact, you can often learn more from a failed shot than you can from a made shot. You can learn about distance, height, direction, etc., and how to do achieve, and how NOT to achieve them. Failure becomes a friend, then, rather than an enemy. If you are afraid to fail, then learning is severely stunted.

I mentioned a couple Newsletters ago the boy who was told never to shoot during the Playoffs or he'd get pulled. What do you think that did for his self-image? Did it make him "tougher" to be so treated? I doubt it. Another season of such treatment will probably lead to him quitting the game.

YOUTH SPORTS

On a recent trip to New England for clinics, I met an amazing resource on the subject of Youth Sports by the name of Bob Bigelow. Bob lives in Winchester, Mass, and has been spending a lot of time the last 15-20 years speaking and writing about the subject of Youth Sports. He gives talks and clinics, stressing the need to, as his latest books states it, "Just Let the Kids Play!" He has studied and researched the subject upside down and backwards, and is doing his best to change the way sports are taught to our younger kids.

I recommend the book to all coaches and parents. He has strong opinions, and the research to back them up, as to when select teams are best introduced, about the height of baskets for different age groups, and many other aspects of Youth Sports. The book will illuminate you as to what's happening ... and to possible solutions. Bob may be available to come to your area to speak to coaches and parents, as well as do clinics for kids. He's spoken to companies like Nike about this and is offering specific proposals to help change the direction of youth sports.

POSITIVE COACHING ALLIANCE

I've been mentioning the Positive Coaching Alliance out of Stanford, a group that's focused on the same subject and has a network of coaches all over the country. Bob mentions them in his book with great admiration. Bob seems to know just about everyone in basketball on the East Coast and much of the country (he played in the NBA for four years), and I hope some powerful sports organization sees to appoint him the "Czar" of Youth Sports and gives him the support and funding he needs to truly lead and inspire change. Far too many kids are having their sports futures crushed by coaches who feel winning is the most important (or only) thing.

Getting cut from an "elite" or "select" team at a young age can be a devastating experience, and Bob quotes the statistics of kids quitting teams and sports because of such abuse. At a time when sports can take them on a powerful journey of self-discovery, challenge, opportunity, self image, teamwork, the value of hard work, etc., way way too many are quitting sports. That can be very tragic for those kids' self esteem and future. God speed, Bob!

Tom Nordland is a shooting expert and coach from California via Minnesota. His videos, coaching and writings are inspiring a Renaissance (a rebirth, a revival) in shooting around the world as players and coaches are taught the things that really matter in shooting. A great shooter as a youth, Tom was given a gift of seeing shooting like few have ever seen it. He sees the “essence” of great shooting and how to get there. The good news is that it’s very simple. The few great shooters of today and yesterday mastered simple things, not complicated motions. Improved shooting is now possible for everybody in the game, and mastery is available to those who sincerely dedicate themselves to it. Visit Tom’s website (http://www.swish22.com/) to read of his background and his articles and newsletters, and to view the remarkable endorsements and amazing testimonials for this approach to shooting.

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

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.

As we were talking about feedback, Ernest got into one of his frequent crazy and spontaneous moments and started yelling into the phone, "Feed me, Feed me, Feed me, I'm hungry, Feed me, I need feedback!" That gave me the idea of an "Awareness Monster" needing to be "fed" with feedback. It's like the Cookie Monster demanding cookies, this vision of a wild and crazy pretend monster that is after us to be fed. "Me want Feedback!!!" I think this analogy will be fun for kids: Feed the Awareness Monster!

FEEDBACK IS CRITICAL TO LEARNING

As I've written many times, much of my coaching background came from golf coaches and a golf school called "The School for Extraordinary Golf" (plus a book by that name). One of the truths that evolved is that "Awareness is how we learn," "Awareness is curative!" As put another way, "Experience is the Teacher." Words can lead you there, but it's the experience that does the teaching. Feeling (and seeing) the difference between one shot and another teaches you how to shoot more effectively the next time. It could even be missed shots (of course). Awareness of a mistake is more valuable than a perfect shot with no awareness as to how you did it. Awareness gives the body/brain/nervous system the feedback it needs to make changes, subtle or gross.

A phrase that describes the effect of this goes something like this: "The experience with high awareness of one shot can teach you more than taking 1,000 shots with no awareness." Some people believe you have to make thousands of "perfect" shots before you learn how to do it at will. That's pretty discouraging, because how can you make perfect shots when your stroke is imperfect. As I like to shape that line (and what may be the intention of many people who use it) is to say that perfect AWARENESS of thousands of shots is what you need to learn to shoot, not perfect SHOTS." And when awareness is high, it won't even require thousands. Perhaps hundreds. Perhaps 10's. Of course, you need lots of experience, but when your awareness antenna is raised high and tuned into your stroke, learning can be very quick.

The more the feedback, both by yourself to yourself and to you from others, the greater your learning. If you're not giving feedback, then no one knows where you are relative to your experience. You might be totally asleep; you might be totally aware. (Without great practice, it's probably more the former.)

When coaching someone, set up a system of feedback and learning will be enhanced. If working in pairs, teach them to give feedback to each other. It's effective for the shooter to speak first and then for the observer to give feedback. If the observer speaks first, the experience of the shooter is diminished.

From my experience, most players are reluctant to give feedback to a peer, probably not wanting to appear critical or contrary. Speak to this and maybe mention how the Awareness Monster needs feedback for learning. For kids who resist speaking feedback to a shooter friend, a less threatening way is to have the observer simply give a hand signal, thumbs up for "Yes, I agree," thumbs down for "No, I didn't see it that way," or the thumb at the halfway point for "I'm not sure" or "I missed that one." The point is that the observation of an outside party can help the shooter see and feel the shot motion.

Watch and Learn: However you do it, observe the interplay of shooter and experience (awareness) -- plus an unbiased third party, where possible -- and learning. The more awake everyone is the higher the level of learning. Learning takes time, but with high awareness, remarkable breakthroughs are possible ... and quicker than you think.

Tom Nordland is a shooting expert and coach from California via Minnesota. His videos, coaching and writings are inspiring a Renaissance (a rebirth, a revival) in shooting around the world as players and coaches are taught the things that really matter in shooting. A great shooter as a youth, Tom was given a gift of seeing shooting like few have ever seen it. He sees the “essence” of great shooting and how to get there. The good news is that it’s very simple. The few great shooters of today and yesterday mastered simple things, not complicated motions. Improved shooting is now possible for everybody in the game, and mastery is available to those who sincerely dedicate themselves to it. Visit Tom’s website (http://www.swish22.com/) to read of his background and his articles and newsletters, and to view the remarkable endorsements and amazing testimonials for this approach to shooting.

Basketball Shooting: Watch the Learning Take Place!

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. In his words,

"I purchased Swish 1 & 2 to test on my two oldest sons. When we received the DVDs we immediately sat down and watched them. Within 5 minutes something TRULY AMAZING happened! My sons, ages 9 & 11, immediately picked up on what was being taught. They instantly understood the mechanics and techniques that were being presented to them. I was absolutely shocked, amazed and impressed with how simple the instruction was.

"But, hold on, it gets even better! When we were finished watching the DVDs we went out in the driveway to shoot and the boys were using the exact techniques and mechanics that they just learned. They were even using the terminology that was used during the program. I honestly believe that at that point, they could have taught someone else the basics of the Swish Basketball Shooting Program."

LEARNING WAS HAPPENING!

I told Joe that what was happening was "Learning," with a capital "L." The thought I had was that, when things are presented well and the student is open to change, Learning will inevitably happen, right in front of your eyes. You can witness Learning!!! In this case, the Swish Method was very simply and clearly presented and demonstrated, and these two boys "got" it. Sitting and watching, they understood the basic principles and Joe could tell they were excited. When they went to a court in the driveway, they were able to translate their conceptual understandings into experiences that then taught them how to shoot.

The job of the coach in that situation is merely to GET OUT OF THE WAY! That's what Joe did and that's why he was totally amazed.

Learning is amazing, enjoyable and exciting. If a coach is in there saying too much, being critical or just trying to control the lesson, she or he is interfering with the natural process of learning. As I say in Swish 2 in the Appendix, Section A "A Conversation for Learning and Coaching," if what you are going to say isn't enlightening or empowering, maybe it doesn't have to be said!"

Find ways to increase the awareness of where the player (or yourself) is now, show the player what the desired goal is (the technique, in this case), and then get out of the way.

Tom Nordland is a shooting expert and coach from California via Minnesota. His videos, coaching and writings are inspiring a Renaissance (a rebirth, a revival) in shooting around the world as players and coaches are taught the things that really matter in shooting. A great shooter as a youth, Tom was given a gift of seeing shooting like few have ever seen it. He sees the “essence” of great shooting and how to get there. The good news is that it’s very simple. The few great shooters of today and yesterday mastered simple things, not complicated motions. Improved shooting is now possible for everybody in the game, and mastery is available to those who sincerely dedicate themselves to it. Visit Tom’s website (http://www.swish22.com/) to read of his background and his articles and newsletters, and to view the remarkable endorsements and amazing testimonials for this approach to shooting.