We played the #1 team in our league today, and they are still undefeated. We took them to the limit the last game, and they switched their strategy this time.

They fouled us 29 times, and won by 18. We could not hit a free throw. We are typically an average FT shooting team, but was way below average today. The kids got emotional from the other team taking the game and turning it into a hack-fest. It was really sad to see such a quality team as the one we played turn to tactics that are such (to borrow a baseball term) Bush League.

With that said, I feel we need to improve our FT shooting at the next practice. Any tips? Games? Drills?

I feel that drills need to be game like, so I am thinking that during our conditioning style fast break/transition drills...Stopping for a bit to shoot FT's then going back to the transition drill....

Please help

Free throws are tough to practice for me as a team. In our league we only get one practice time per week (1 hr half court) and most of that time is spent convincing the other team practicing that you do not want to scrimmage. Luckily we are able to practice some at a church gym and get in some free throw practice since we can use 2 goals. Still it is tough to give up approximately 10-15 minutes giving 8 kids enough rotation shooting free throws. I coach 9-10 so we shot them a little and talk mostly about developing a routine etc. The other thing that makes it tough is that is seems every gym has a different length they allow the kids to shoot from. Our rules state 12-15 ft but some gyms dont have that marked off. We also encourage that to be something the kids practice on their own.

Not sure what age you coach but regardless, free throws should be apart of every practice. All the teams that I have coached, all ages, I have always found 5 to 10 minutes during every practice to have the kids practice their free throws. Usually at the end of every practice.

I agree with your conditioning then free throws. This "tired free throws" simulate game situations. Also have teammates line up on the blocks while they are shooting. Rotate the shooters quickly, have a player shoot 2 FT's then move for the next shooter. Keep going until everybody has shot 10 total. Have them keep track of what they hit out of 10. You should have a FT log sheet keep track of FT's from all players during all practices. This way you can gauge improvement and provide feedback to the players.

One last thing that is important that I tell ALL my players. When they step to the line during the game, focus on rim and take a deep breath. This deep breath is so important. It clears the mind and relaxes the body.

Good Luck Coach!!

Coach A

Tough situation.... when you don't have a lot of time to practice them...... as a high school coach we practiced them 3 times each practice... all after doing hard drills or situations..... that made it more game like - 4-5 minutes at a time.... FTs are a very important part of the game as you found out. When you have limited time, it makes it more difficult.

They talk about shooting as being a muscle memory thing.... so, IF you can get your kids to shoot against a wall (when they don't have a basket to work with) that can help them perfect their form....... PERFECT practice is important... doing something wrong all the time just makes for bad habits.. so make sure they understand that.... and IF they can find some place to shoot outside of your practice... so much the better. ( had one kid shoot a 1,000 a day over the summer, he shot in the high 80s for the season - amazing part.... in the 90s in the 4th quarters of games, so practice is the key)

Show them the correct form and then let them go to a wall and work on it.... since they don't have to worry about making a shot there... they can fix any flaws in their shot.

Coach A is right on with the breathing, that was part of our routine - they could do whatever they wanted to do at the line.. but the last part was always the same... take a deep breath, hold it for a second or two and then release it slowly. Try this, when you take the deep breath, your body will tense up a bit and when you release it... you become very relaxed. Good luck

Poor foul shooting is a tough thing at any level.

While as a coach, your desire is to improve your team, one truth I am sure of is you won't improve your foul shooting in 1 practice, 2 practices, or a season of practices. If you are a youth coach and only practice a couple of hours per week, I think you would be overreaching and other aspects of your teaching would suffer if you even tried to take the time necessary to improve it.

Another truth is that it is not possible to simulate game situations unless you are going to bring in fans, referees and score. However, you can simulate what happens during a foul shot and prepare for that. We had a team that was just a horrible foul shooting team. We tried to correct it in practice, going a couple of weeks and taking literally 1000s of fouls shots. We sacrificed everything else and it showed in our games, all the other aspects of our game suffered. After a while, we realize we were going to e a 60% foul shooting team regardless of what we did. Once realizing that, we decided to deal with the situation the way it was. We assumed that we were going to miss every foul shot and work on offensive rebounding on the foul lane. The results gave us 3-4 more baskets per game, which was far more productive than making the foul shots.

To improve foul shooting, it takes a commitment from the players to practice outside of practice time and especially outside of the season.

I disagree with the "practice while tired," after sprints or at the end pf practice theories. I think you practice when yo are fresh. Practice improves your skills 2 ways. Secondarily, it affects improvement by improving confidence based in success. If your practice is not successful, your confidence goes down and you get worse. Primarily, practice improves by creating muscle memory as a result of repetition, doing the same thing every time. Physiologically, muscle memory is built by creating "psycho-motor" pathways. these are actually the routes that the nerve impulses travel to affect the skill. When you practice while fatigued or tired, the pathways created are inconsistent as your body searches for ways to overcome the fatigue. By using high repetition practice while you are fresh, the pathways become deeply ingrained and and the skill becomes more consistent. When tired, those ingrained pathways are then the easiest way to for your body overcome the fatigue and the result is your shot unaffected.

Or, work it out so your best foul shooter gets to line more often than the other players.

I agree with Coach Kelbick. I coach at the middle school level and outside of playing some mental games to sharpen their focus and routines you will not be able to improve a lot of form during the course of the season unless you can work with kids outside of the practice time. This is really and area that has to be worked on in the summer and then practiced in short bursts each practice.

One game we like to play is FT Golf. It is an old idea I stole, not sure from where but it goes like this:

You take the number of baskets in your practice gym and times it by two. At each of the baskets (or holes as we call them since this is FT Golf) a player needs to make 2 FT's. He will shoot at that basket until he makes two. We give the team a number that is par for the course. We base par on what we think is a reasonable shooting percentage for the team on average or you can give each individual a par.

So if we have 6 baskets, players will have to make 12 total FT's (2 at each hole). Par for my seventh grade team was usually 17 shots (70%). That meant that they would get 17 shots to make 12.

The game usually takes about 6-8 minutes. If a player gets par or better he gets out of running. If a player is over par, he runs sprints at multiple of his number over par.

Its is important to teach them why things like free throws are important. Its really important when coaching girls who seem to want to know why things are done they way they are. I usually tell them about the statistics that approximately 20% a games scoring is done at the free throw line. That said you should spend 20% of your time on free throws during practice and incorporate free throws in the warm up or shoot around.Then we talk about situations. Why are you at the free throw line? Some one has just pushed you, bumped you or otherwise prevented you from scoring. You may be mad, hurt or out of breath or all of these. Its important to get emotions and breathing under control. I stress that it is important to have a ritual at the free throw line. Concentrate on the ritual and not what got you there.

When talking about technique I tell them there are really only four ways to miss a free throw. Left, right, long or short. Its important to get them to eliminate the "left and right" misses by simply shooting straight. To shoot straight you need to get lined up properly. For wood floors I tell them about the painters hole which is centred on the free throw line. Its the nail hole used by the person who painted the circle at the top of the key. All they have to do now is shoot straight. Their ritual might include locating this point.

To shoot straight one of the key teaching points is to keep the elbow in. Mechanically this simplifies the shooting motion.

The ritual should not be too complicated. If it is then if they mess it up they can tense up. I talk to them about spin on the ball. One way to do this is to put your thumb in one of the channels on the basketball. If you get them to point their middle finger at the inflation hole, this should align the hand properly.

With younger kids they are usually not very strong in the upper body so its important to get them you use their legs to shoot free throws. Learning this early will pay dividends throughout their basketball careers. The big muscles of the body will usually be less tired and they didn't get hit by the foul. So make sure they bend their knees.

Make sure they don't spend a lot of time looking at the basket before they shoot. This builds tension.

And last but not least is the follow through. Failure to follow through is one of the leading causes of missed shots.

Once they develop a ritual they can practice it without shooting. I ask them to try to visualize their ritual with their eyes closed. All their steps right through the basketball going through the rim. Doing this actually reinforces the confidence that they can do this. And they can do this outside of practice. At first they may think this is silly but it will pay off. Make it homework to do this 5 minutes each day.

I think its is important to practice free throws both when fresh and when tired. When fresh teach them technique. Give them a hand out with the key points. After the teaching phase have them practice free throws after a conditioning drill and keep track. Have enough coaches to correct technique and also teach them to self coach. Why did I miss that free throw?

If you notice players with bad technique do a refresh session for all.

Everyone makes some good points here... but I can only tell you what worked for our high school team when it came to shooting free throws. Aside from shooting during the summer at camps and any exra shooting they might do on their own.

We shot free throws three different times during our practices.... 2 hour practices (until later in the year) every day we didn't have a game - no Sundays of course. We shot for 4-5 minutes at a time.... two of the those were 1 & 1s - running on any miss ( up and back ) the one time sandwiched in the middle was 5 in a row. ( NO running ) We shot free throws after hard drills or a scrimmage.

This worked for us ... and I like the GOLF game.....

Hey everyone,

This is my first post and I am new to the site, but thus far I have found it very good. I currently coach kids from ages 7-16, and these kids range from recreational players to provincial players. One of the drills that I think works great for my older more elite athletes is what I call the "Ladder Drill", basically this is how it works:

Pick a number that the ladder will go up to, I like to use the nuber of players I have on the team for my elite teams and a smaller number around five for my other younger teams.

All the kids will line up on a baseline, in what ever order they like but they must maintain that order throughout the drill

If you are using five as your number then the drill can only end on 5 or 1 once it starts

The first player steps to the line, having to make 1 foul shot, if it goes in great if not the whole team has to do one up and back ina specific time (11 secs), the next player steps up once the sprint is done and must make 2 foul shots in a row and both must be made....if one is missed then everyone runs two up and backs in a specific time (24 secs). This pattern repeats its self up to five, if one of teh shots are missed at five then they work back down to one, if the one shot is missed on one then they must go back up to five. The onlly way the drill ends is if shots are made on the one on the second time one or on the five at any time.

This drill may seem a little harsh but I have had great success with it, it teaches team how to shoot with pressure, and how to shoot while tired, it also bonds teams and teaches them toughness. I really think you should try it. I actually did it last night at a practice and it took the boys seventeen minutes to finish it, they were exhausted but they were so happy when it was done and even the parents that were watching stood up and clapped for the boys when they did it.......it was great moment for the team, and alot of parents actually took time after it to say how great they thought it was.

Take care and goodluck.
JAson