Being a 7th grade coach I like the tips. I will use after football ends and baketball starts.

Nice drill. Good for partner shooting and competitive. Like how shooter catches pass with knees bent, hands ready, and steps into each shot.

Fix the offhand and so not fluid.

Hi,
I am a 12 year old basketball fanatic and have seen some videos that are used to improve shooting. My problem for my shooting touch is my shot always drifts to the right side of the basket. Most of the time I have trouble hitting my threes, but my mid range game is unstoppable, what should I do to fix my shot from long distances?

Hi Daniel -

Glad to hear that you love this great game.... you are saying that your shot is drifting to the right... we cant see your shot but it sounds like you are not holding your follow through. I'm sure that you have heard " put your hand in the cookie jar " well do that and HOLD your follow through until the ball goes in the basket.

If I were you, I would spend some time working on your form... shoot 25 shots against a wall concentrating on your follow through. You need to develop what we call MUSCLE MEMORY..... which will help your form to become automatic... you wont have to think about it. This is problem that you have to fix now before you move on, you are young enough to correct this with a little practice.

As for shooting 3s, it could be that right now a 3 ball is a little out of your range? Look at the video here and watch as you see the shooter step back after he makes a shot... If you miss, step back in a bit.

Play to your strengths right now and work on increasing your range every day. That doesn't mean that you shoot 15-16 footers well and then jump back to the arc. Work your way back a foot at a time. I know, every kid wants to shoot the 3 ball or dunk it but play YOUR game right now.

You are young and you WILL realize your dream IF you work at this.... 12 years old and a great mid range game, I believe you WILL achieve your goal. Good luck and let us know how this goes.

Dan -

Here is something that I used with my players and what I have written to many other players on Breakthrough Basketball...

As I talk to a lot of players, they are looking to correct their shot, dribbling, passing etc. Mostly shooting..... there is no quick fix for this, you have probably been shooting that way for a long time and have created a bad habit and its in your muscle memory.

To correct this problem, it is going to take 100s of shots to create a new muscle memory - so the shot becomes automatic.

The first thing you have to do is correct your form... that can be done by shooting against a wall so you don't have to worry about making the shot... only using correct form -

Shoot 100s of shots a day until you have correct form. Then you can go to the basket and do what we called BEEF check going from Block to the Middle to the other Block.

Step 1 - We started this with the SHOOTING HAND ONLY.... maybe 12 shots in all.
Step 2 - Then you can bring your guide hand up but NOT on the ball and do the same thing. 12 more shots.
Step 3 - - 12 more shots with your guide hand in the proper position. ( your guide hand has nothing to do with the shot other than to keep the ball in the proper position on your shooting hand.)

The next thing to do would be to step back several feet... 6-7 feet? Now repeat Step 3, don't move any further back until you have mastered this distance. Once you are shooting with a good percentage, you can move further back. Don't move to the three point line if you are shooting 30 percent from 10 - 15 feet.

Don Kelbick says that a good shooting percentage is around 46% and in game situations that is good... in practice, from short range, I would like to see it a little higher.

From the free throw line... depending on your age and ability level, 60 to 80 percent is what I had my kids try to achieve. ( High School Varstiy Players )

To explain BEEF for those who haven't heard that term.
B - Balance ( staggered stance, one foot slightly in front of the other )
E - Elbow under the ball ( the elbow might be SLIGHTLY out )
E - Eye on the target (keep your eye on the target until the ball goes in)
F - Follow through..... ( keep your arm extended until the ball goes in)
I hope this helps.

Hey Ken
I have started doing this since you told me, my shot had been great. In 5 games I shot 89% free throw percentage and 65% from the field. Thanks!

Hey Dan -

That is great! Keep up the good work. Those are some amazing numbers..... You ARE becoming almost AUTOMATIC...... I love to see guys that are willing to work at the game and then see some success.... but 12 years old with those numbers.... you could have played for me any time. :-)

Keep us informed as to your progress..... and, by the way, when you make it to the pros or some big time college program... I expect some good season tickets. LOL

~Ken
Haha thanks xD I'll keep working hard so I could get that far. I have another game in a couple hours for playoff seed in my league. I'll let you know the results as soon I get the chance too!

Good luck Dan!

~Ken
Coach put me at point forward today since im 5'6. Probably the best game of my life as a point. 21 Point 56% fg percentage and didn't miss from the line. Broke this guys ankles twice as well.

Great job Dan!!

5'6 @ 12 years old.... I just reached that as a senior in high school... I was 16 going into my senior year.

21 points.... 56% and AUTOMATIC from the line. Great game! Sounds like you are a great offensive player... ok, let me bring you back down to earth a little bit... How is your DEFENSIVE? :-)

With these stats and your size you definately could have played on my varsity team. Where do I send the bill for helping you with your shot? LOL

Keep up the good work and you will be a great high school player as well... after that, who knows. Let us know how things are going. I like to hear success stories.

I can show you a game where my point guard was like 5'5 and had a lot of game... a ton of courage, wasn't afraid to take it at anyone.

Hi Ken
I love to play defense in the post to either grab a lot of rebounds or to stop the penetration of most of the guards. Our coach focuses mainly on defense, so the defensive side was no problem for us. Would you mind posting a link here so I could see that video you mentioned?

Dan -

Glad to hear that your coach emphasizes DEFENSE.... NOW you can play for me. :-)

Here is the link, that team was #8 in the State when we played them. They had a 6;11 kid who we pretty much took him out of his game. We are in the lighter uniforms..... I had a great game plan... its called " Make a lot of your threes and free throws. " LOL

We ran some different stuff but a lot of Open Post Offense. We were 8 for 9 from the arc in the 1st half - 9 for 10 overall, they took the 3 ball away from us in the second half, so we had a lot of back door stuff and a bunch of free throws.... 20 for 25 overall, most of them in the 4th quarter. This was back in the 90s when I was still coaching.

http://www.ihigh.com/osbornecardinals/video_886382.html

Hi from Mexico you guys,

Im a young coach 33 years old in Chihuahua Mexico. Im a big fan of this webside and I have practice a lot of these drills with my girls high school team. This is my channel on youtube so you can see many of the drill show here.

I hope you give me a comment there.

http://www.youtube.com/channel/UCVi37b381CrSJKd3cHrjyRQ?feature=guide

Hey, I'm about a 5'8 14 year old shooting guard or small forward in Australia, I play for the under 16 Sunshine Coast rip but I don't get much court time, I have changed my shot allot in the past year due to a growth spurt. I have stopped shooting from my chest and started shooting from my forehead but I don't have as much range as I would like, I feel if I improve my shot I can get more court time, and also I only haves about a 5 foot area from any angle of my hoop until I move to a house with a better driveway, any advice would be great

Cheers mate :)

Hello I've got couple question. (Im 17)

Just to make it quick and short. I played bball for nearly five years (first two years, bad couch n habits etc). I didn't play bball over summer about 2 months, then played two weeks and twisted my ankle (was off for another 3 months) Now im finally back at the league and started practicing month ago and now taking it seriously, trying to get better etc.

I got better at foul shots, but my mid range isn't really good, missed about mid/3 point 10 shots that i took altogether (was close though). Untill week ago friendly game, which I didnt make any mid range shots from the wing (only took about 2/3) but made about 3/4 jump shots off the free throw line. THEN I practiced my shots outside in the rain for like 1 and a half hour on monday and tuesday and on wednesday right before game i cudn't really make good shots, some of them were even air balls... but then somehow scored about 4/5 in a row (in practice). When the game come (15 min later) I didnt make any of my mid range shots or from the feee throw line and took about 4/5.

Question is, cud i actually got worse of shooting because i practiced in rain,? Or maybe im just expecting too much because i havent played for a while. My shot wernt bad, they were close but unfortunately not in. Well, some were air balls which i wa s dissapointed...

Is there also possible that i cud practiced it badly? (All i did was just shooting, 1 dribble pull-up, off the dribbl pass n shoot etc.

What would you reccomend me to work on to get better at shooting. Because i think i might be trying too much to learn, i do fade-aways, jumping to the side and shoot sometimes etc just to be ready when someone bumps into me and i can still make that shot but im not sure if it work that way... am really dissapointed about my shooting but maybe i just want to much to early, i dont know...

Sorry, i didnt make it short i know -.-... but i really need some advice please, at this stage i wont stop till i play how i wont to play (im really into it not)...

I appreciate your response, thank you.

Kaj --

I think you need to reassess your shooting routine. Fade away shots, leaning to one side or another is not a good way to perfect your shot.
You should land in the same spot you take off from ( or a little bit forward )

I think that you should start over and rebuild your shot so that you can become comfortable with your form. You are right, if you practiced your shot wrong..... you have build bad habits which are hard to correct... something we call muscle memory. Here is something that I wrote for someone else, but it fits your problem.

As I talk to a lot of players, they are looking to correct their shot, dribbling, passing etc. Mostly shooting..... there is no quick fix for this, you have probably been shooting that way for a long time and have created a bad habit and its in your muscle memory.

To correct this problem, it is going to take 100s, no, more like 1,000s of shots to create a new muscle memory - so the shot becomes automatic.
The first thing you have to do is correct your form... that can be done by shooting against a wall so you don''t have to worry about making the shot... only using correct form - 100s of shots a day until you have correct form. Then you can go to the basket and do what we called BEEF check going from Block to the Middle to the other Block.

Step 1 - We started this with the SHOOTING HAND ONLY.... maybe 12 shots in all.
Step 2 - Then you can bring your guide hand up but NOT on the ball and do the same thing. 12 more shots.
Step 3 - - 12 more shots with your guide hand in the proper position. ( your guide hand has nothing to do with the shot other than to keep the ball in the proper position on your shooting hand.)
The next thing to do would be to step back several feet... 6-7 feet? Now repeat Step 3, don''t move any further back until you have mastered this distance. Once you are shooting with a good percentage, you can move further back. Don''t move to the three point line if you are shooting 30 percent from 10 - 15 feet.

Don Kelbick says that a good shooting percentage is around 46% and in game situations that is good... in practice, from short range, I would like to see it a little higher.

From the free throw line... depending on your age and ability level, 60 to 80 percent is what I had my kids try to achieve.

To explain BEEF for those who haven''t heard that term.
B - Balance ( staggered stance, one foot slightly in front of the other )
E - Elbow under the ball ( the elbow might be SLIGHTLY out )
E - Eye on the target (keep your eye on the target until the ball goes in)
F - Follow through..... ( keep your arm extended until the ball goes in)

I hope this helps.

Hi Ken,

My name is Frazer and I''''''''m 14 and I live in Australia!
I love basketball and one day want to move to America and play Ball there! the thing is I am really bad, like really bad at doing layups under pressure I worry about the man blocking me and therefore trying to draw the foul : I also can''''''''t make easy layups which is really frustrating. My shooting could definitely be better but I am a lockdown defender, great rebounder, amazing ballhandler but my offensive game needs ALOT of work! any tips?

P.S I love your website

Hi Frazer -

So you live down under hey. I know that Australia is a big place, but have you heard of a coach - Tony Gall? He lives over there.... really smart guy & coach.

The first thing you have to do is change your attitude about YOURSELF. You are a young guy and you have plenty of time to get better at this great game. It takes a lot of work, practice and repetitions with those skills.

NEXT - stop worrying about someone blocking your shot, thats a recipe for failure - take the ball to the basket strong and concentrate on making the shot. 8 times out of ten shot blockers foul rather than make clean blocks.... so you go to the free throw line.... but don't worry if you don;'t get the call, your job is to try and score. By the way, you might think about the backboard / glass as being a dozen eggs... put it up softly so you don't break any.

As for your shooting.... go back and read some of my other posts.... that will give you some ideas as to form and what to work on.... remember, A LOT of repetitions..... 100s every day.....

Lets talk about a few other parts of your game, lockdown defender, great rebounder, amazing ball handler.... heck, you are way ahead of a lot of other players your age. I bet you start for the team you play on! You have already identified the areas you need work on.... so just get after, or as Nike says, JUST DO IT. :-)

By the way, thanks for the kudos regarding the website... but its not mine. Joe and Jeff Haefner own this site and YES, they do a great job. I hope I have given you some ideas and have helped you. GOOD LUCK