When to move on

I can remember wrestling with that question when I first started working as a shooting coach and had a decent amount of theory and no practical experience. When do you move on from working on one habit to focussing on another? The answer seems obvious, you move on when the first habit is in place. This is easy to say but hard to do when you don’t have the confidence or trust of the player you are working with, don’t have the experience yourself, or have spent numerous sessions working on the same thing. There is a natural desire to move on and get to something new but if you believe in the habit you are trying to build then you have to see it through.
Appreciate how difficult it is for a play to really break a habit. It isn’t just a matter of telling them what to do and then sending them out to do it. A better coach will put them in situations to see for themselves the bad habit, then put them in situations to work on that habit with some success. This doesn’t mean in game situations, but rather simple little drills where they are safe to slow down and do it correctly. This can take weeks or months or taking small steps forward followed by little ones back. Trust in what you think is right and stay on course.

Iso drill

The iso drill is a drill that I use a lot. The name is stolen from my mentor as he was doing a very similar drill with a player and using this name for the drill, and since I couldn’t come up with a good name for it theft seemed like the only option.
Basically the iso drill asks a player to isolate the last part of their shot, from their forehead (or shot pocket) to the release. I use it the most when a player brings the ball back behind their head. Start with your body set up, legs bent and bring the ball up to your forehead. Bend your wrist and elbow so that your upper arm is parallel to the floor, your forearm is relatively vertical, and your hand is close to parallel to the floor. Your elbow should be pointed at the rim and the ball resting on a nice platform of your hand.
This spot is the fork in the road for a lot of shooter, the point at which their shot starts hurting them not helping them. I ask players to stay at that spot for 3 seconds to feel the spot and re-wire what the first move from that shot should be. From this point the ball should move up, and slightly forward, but a lot of players will start to bring it backwards. From that isolation position think about popping your elbow straight up in the air, then snapping your wrist.
This should be a simple, short, compact motion without a lot of wasted movement. As you practice, make sure the movement feels simple.

Where do we go from here?

So here are my thoughts on where the blog will go. I’m going to try to start telling you about some of the work I’m doing with some of the players I’m working with. Obviously there will be some exceptions, like the pros I’m hired to work with. Most of the college and university players have agreed to let me talk about their shots and the work they are doing, which is very gracious of them. In return I will try to give them a certain level on anonymity by referring to them only by initials.
The player I spend the most time with is ML. We’ve been working together for a little over a year now. He is a construction worker type of player, meaning his game is to rebound, play good defense and make buckets around the rim. He would like to be able to consistently make a 15 footer, but first we need to be able to make free throws. Last year was 61% which is about what we expected. On the offseason we spent a lot of time working to get the ball to come off his hand correctly and to get under the ball to shoot it up. He’s now doing well with this on free throws, but still struggles to get under the ball at game speeds. It’s a work in progress and I’m confident we’ll get there, it just won’t be tomorrow.
Now that we are in season we are turn our focus more to his balance. ML is a big strong guy but we need to keep that energy that he can generate working for him, so we are doing a lot of drills to start on balance and maintain.

Developing as a Coach

I had a fairly inspired summer. I was forced to take a look at myself as a coach and see where I really needed to improve next, and what I came up with was a lot in the way of processes. When you step into someone else’s business a lot of the processes are likely set up already, but what I needed to do was start setting up some processes. When I work with a player there are usually a number of days, and sometimes weeks between workout. Where I figured I needed to improve the most was in helping players during those times when I can’t be in the gym with them.
The first thing I did was build a form of 12 short workouts, each with their own focus. This way when I leave a player for a few days I can now leave them with better direction on what they should be doing. I also built a form whereby I can take better and quicker notes on new players that I may be observing in a tryout situation.
Just these two little things, though they took a long time to build and remain works in progress, have helped my organization as a coach immeasurably.

Welcome back

Welcome back.
Sorry I’ve been in hiding lately. It was a busy summer for me but a very good one. I feel like I developed quite a bit as a coach this summer and I’m excited to be back in the gym.
I’m going to try something a little different with the blog this year. I’m hoping to update a couple times a week with some of the specifics that I’m working on with certain players. I think this will make it more fun to follow and help people learn more. Now we’ll just see if I can stay consistent with it!
I will hopefully talk to you in a couple of days.

Knees Over Toes -Part 2 (Video)

A follow up to our previous video blog.  If you have a friend that you think would be interested in learning from us please let them know about the Facebook group, the Twitter account, and blog we have set up to help you become a better shooter.

Knees Over Toes – Part 1 (Video)

Welcome back! Hope everyone is enjoying watching the great caliber of basketball the past couple weeks with CIS National Championships (Men’s and Women’s) and now the NCAA tournament. Here’s something to look for in yourself and in the great shooters you’ve been watching on TV.

Keeping Everything Level (Video)

Sorry about the hiatus here on the blog.  We’re back at it with another instructional video.

Index Finger on the Ball

Where and why do you place your index finger on the basketball? Find out in today’s video!

Q&A2

NBA Shooting Consultant Dave Love answers your questions from the Facebook group “The Love of the Game”, plus talks about his recent trip to work with the Tulsa 66ers of the NBADL.

Q&A2