Coaching Youth the Fundamentals of Shooting a Basketball

1. Mental aspect. At no time is psychological conditioning more critical than when shooting the basketball in a game. Knowing when to shoot and being able to do it effectively under pressure distinguishes the great shooter from the ordinary.

   Regardless of how much he practices, or how well he conditions himself, only a modest amount of improvement is possible in speed, reflexes, or strength. History gives many examples of players able to achieve greatness despite mediocre physical talent. Usually, however, such successes are due to determination.

   1. Concentration: is the fixing of attention on the job at hand and is characteristic of every great athlete. Through continuous practice, good shooters develop their concentration to the extent that they are oblivious to every distraction. 

      Ability to relax: is closely related to concentration. You often hear great shooters have "ice water in their veins".

      Watch a good foul shooter as he approaches the foul line. They usually begin the ritual of adjusting the feet and bouncing the ball (nearly always a set number of times). As his/her eyes open wide in sighting the basket, the concentration is so intense, there is little wonder that he/she is undisturbed by the crowd or game pressures.

   2. Confidence: That is a "gut certainty" the ball will drop through the basket without touching metal.

   Although, a good shooter never takes a shot that he is not confident in making, he often misses. Therefore, the probability of making any given shot is somewhat less than 100%. Clearly, then, when we say, "Don’t shoot when in doubt," we have something different in mind than we do when we say, "Don’t take a low-percentage shot except in desperate circumstances."

   There are reasons why a player might lack confidence when confronted with a shooting opportunity having a good statistical probability of success. He may be off balance, had his confidence shaken by a string of misses, or have a lapse in concentration. As Coach David Hayden used to say, "one often contributes to the other."

   Every player experiences off nights when nothing works. An equally familiar phenomenon is that a player’s returning to peak form in the second half after a miserable first half. This ability to make a mental recovery is like the ability some players have of recovering in mid-air after an off-balance take-off.

2. Physical Aspect: Shooting a ball and connecting with the target involves the following factors:
   1. Sighting or locating the target: The difference between sighting and aiming is that in aiming, a device (for example, a gun) is visually aligned with a target; thus, visual attention is equally divided between the pointer and the target. In sighting, however, the eyes are used merely to locate, or fix, the target in space, and the computing of an intercept trajectory is left for the brain.

      Some coach once said, "To demonstrate the brain’s ability to determine a trajectory to a known location, close your eyes and touch either your nose or your ear lobe with a forefinger. To convince yourself of this ability in relation to a visually fixed target, focus your eyes on a nearby object and, without aiming, point your finger at the object. Notice that there is a strong tendency for your attention to shift from the object to your finger and that considerable concentration is required in order to remain focused on the object."

      Notice, too, that when concentrating on the object your eyes open quite wide. The reason it is so important for the eyes to remain focused on the target is that they, too, are a kind of computer, continuously updating a three-dimensional fix on whatever is being held in focus. Naturally, the smaller the area focused upon, the smaller the fix, and the greater the potential accuracy.

      This brings us to the problem facing a basketball player of not having as his real target not a concrete object, but an open area just over the lip of the basket. Since his eyes can not focus on an empty space, the best he can do is to select a sighting point as nearly on line with the intended trajectory and as near the real target as possible.

      When making a bank shot, the shooter solves the problem on a spot related to the painted rectangle above the basket. For all other shots, however, he must decide upon a sighting point somewhere on the rim.

      Personal preference determines whether the point selected is on the front or the back rim, but each player should decide on one or the other and stick with that sighting point for all similar shots. Then, for every shot, he should fix upon the same number of cords, while conscious that he wants to drop the ball either just beyond front of the rim, or just before the back of the rim, whichever point he chose to sight. The sighting point must be held in constant and clear focus from the moment the shot is begun to the completion of the follow-through.

   2. Body Balance: When properly balanced, a shooter can coordinate the efforts of each muscle to produce a force in the direction of the basket. Although the degree of balance may vary from the near perfect stance of a two-hand set shot to the last effort recovery of an aggressive drive-in.

      The shooter’s ability to control the trajectory of the ball is directly dependent upon his/her ability to control the acceleration forces generated by his own body. However, it is doubtful whether a shot ever succeeds unless, at the moment of release, the shooter has enough control to complete a smooth, continuous follow-through.

      Some players have such body control they can hit baskets from positions impossible for any other player. Each player must learn whether or not he is in a position to take a shot and complete a follow-through that will leave him in the position to rebound a missed shot.

   3. Generating the force: In their book, Basketball Concepts and Techniques, Bob Cousy and Frank G. Power, Jr., tell us, "From physics, we know that when several forces act upon an object, the effect is the same as that of a single force equal to the vectorial sum of the force components..." In simpler terms this means, the more horses pulling in the same direction, the greater the horsepower.

They go on to explain, "To a weightlifter, this means that it is possible to synchronize the efforts of leg, back, shoulder, and arm muscles to lift a heavier weight above the head (as in a jerk) than is possible with the arms alone (as in press). To a basketball player, it means that the force he can impart to the ball ranges from that required for a long two-handed set shot to that required for a tip-in a few inches from the basket."

Therefore, beginning at the ball, each of the following add to the total transmitted force:

• A forward action of the wrists and fingers.
• A sudden extension of the arm, snapping the shoulder and elbow.
• Rising to the balls of the feet.

"Since the force imparted by a muscle under strain is difficult to control, best results are obtained when all muscles can be brought into a smooth, coordinated effort that is within individual limitations."

Obviously, with a jump shot, much of the energy generated is converted to altitude. The remaining force required must be provided by arms, wrist, and fingers.

1. Timing or rhythm: The timing of a shot begins with getting the correct foot down for takeoff (jump shot) and ends with the follow-through and recovery. In a set-shot. Perfect timing results in a smooth, continuous thrust from the floor upward, developing a peak force at the fingertips, the instant before, and sustained through, fingertip release.

   In a jump-shot, body momentum decreases rapidly to zero and the shot must be timed so that fingertip release occurs just prior to the highest point of the jump. Any non-synchronized acceleration of the body, or its members (for example, jerking the head) will directly affect the path after launching of the ball.

2. Hand-eye coordination and fingertip control: All forces imparted to the ball by the shooter should pass through the fingertips. This technique allows the fingers to make fine trajectory adjustments at release and provides a soft natural backspin.

   By stating that the optimum trajectory is that which results in the ball’s entering the basket at the highest possible angle commensurate with the lowest possible velocity, we shall have said all that can be said about trajectory. Therefore, a high arching shot is recommended.

   Combined with a soft natural backspin, a medium to high trajectory results in the "soft touch" kind of shot that even if slightly off target, will either drop in or hang on the rim for an easy tip-in.

   In adjusting the hands preparatory to shooting, the shooter should space the fingers comfortably to hold the ball firmly in his fingertips and on the heels of both hands. The palms are held slightly clear and the three middle fingers aligned perpendicular to the seams. Players should practice their feel of this until this adjustment becomes instinctive as soon as they catch a ball.

3. Follow-through: Throughout the act of shooting, the brain continues to compute the precise amount and direction of the force needed to reach the target. Although these computations continue automatically in what computer people call, "real time," there is sufficient lag time to make compensations impossible for any abrupt accelerations at, or before, the instant of release.

Therefore, success depends upon the constant sighting and a smooth, continuous build-up of propelling force that reaches its peak at the instant the ball leaves the fingertips. This means that a follow-through period in which the forces generated are allowed to diminish is an essential part of the shooting sequence.

Related Articles: Two-Handed Set Shot