I just started coaching my twin daughters' 5-6th grade basketball team at the Y. Our first practice was last night and it was....rough, but such a blast.

Still, I'm kind of unsure about how to teach shooting to the smallest girl on our team. Smart, shy, energetic, extremely self-conscious--all of which makes it really tough for me to decide how to approach the simple reality that she may not have the strength to get the ball to even hit the bottom of the net this season if I stick with proper shooting form.

She's already showed signs of being easily discouraged, and it's such a shame, because in other areas she shows real promise. Right now I'm trying to decide whether to even focus on form shooting with her. I watched a Bob Bigelow video this week, where he said he wouldn't even teach younger kids form shooting if the league wouldn't give them lower rims. I wouldn't have even thought about lower goals for our age group until I saw this kid shoot.

But then I already know I won't be getting lower rims, they do it for the next age group below us, but defniitely not for the 11-12 yr olds (which is usually about right, right?). The general consensus in our league is that many of them will be going on to middle school, and this is a good transition time for them to adjust to the full size rim.

If it were up to me, I'd almost say hold her back a grade level (except then I'd be down to 6 players, yikes), but there's a strict rule about that, too. A player can play up a level, but not down. And what kid wants to be told you're just not big and strong enough to play with the kids your own age?

Anyways, in Bob's video he demonstrates a two handed method that's basically just like a chest pass, but up and over the rim, and I'm tempted to teach it to her. I'm just not sure how to know if I should. I'm not experienced enough to know if it's just an issue of form, mechanics and practice or if she would be better served just getting the chance to learn to love the game with a two-handed shot for now and learn shooting form later down the road.

And how is she gonna feel being singled out and taught a different way to shoot because she can't "do it the right way" like everybody else? Maybe I'm worrying too much, but I see something there and I really want to do right by this kid.

Whaddya think?

As I sit here thinking about this and that girl... its a difficutl decision to say the least. My thoughts are to let her shoot the best way she can. I had some varsity players that had terrible form but made their shots. You are worried about her being singled out.... don't think you can have this both ways.

IF you want to teach her the porper form, do it against a wall where she doesn't have to worry about making a shot. As for games, let her shoot any way she wants so she can get the ball up to the rim. Hopefully she will feel good about learning the proper form.... and doing whatever she has to do so the ball gets to the rim.

You say that she is pretty good in other areas, focus on those with her... a lot of encouragement and praise there, as for the shooting part, I wouldn't even bring it up unless you decide to teach her FORM against the wall. Thats just me.

Tough spot with a kiddo on the team like that. In practice, I'd get her lots of reps (with proper form if possible) closer to the basket so she can feel some success and get that confidence up. The reality is, she'll need to be closer to the basket when she shoots, so I'd probably work on that aspect along with her shooting form (e.g. dribbling closer before shooting, getting open closer to the basket). Also emphasize using more legs when she shoots. I'd also make sure to praise her other skills (e.g. dribbling, hustle, defense, passing, etc.) and her positive attitude.

I agree. Start close and use proper 1 hand form.

The bigger players should start close with form shooting too.

Thanks for all the feedback.

Yeah, so far (meaning about 15-20 mins total, since we've only had the one hour long practice) we've really only shot from the blocks. All of the almost hitting the net shots were from the blocks or closer.

But I did some more thinking about it, and from what I saw a lot of her shooting troubles may be coming from just having no mechanics at all. Right now her shot looks like a jumping soccer throw-in. I'm

I read what some of you wrote elsewhere, about how when you're faced with a tough call like this you want to be sure and go with what you really believe in. I really believe in teaching good sound shooting mechanics.

So I'm offering a couple of optional extra practices before our next official practice, and I think we're going to spend some real time shooting at the wall.

There you go, skill sessions. Great idea!

Here is something I wrote for another player -

Lets talk about the elbow on your shooting hand.... try this, take one dribble and bring the ball up with your shooting hand only... you will find that your elbow is NOT directly under the ball but it will be in a position to keep the ball on your shooting hand. (it will be slightly out from your body)

Here are a couple of links - one to another BK BB site which shows you hand placement and typical problems that some shooters have. There are a lot of questions from other players there that you might want to browse through after you read the article at the top. And the second link is a 14 year old using the swish method.

http://www.breakthroughbasketball.com/fundamentals/shooting/5-shooting-mistakes.html

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SfTxHGOQdEc

I taught the BEEF method to my players with a lot of success. We had George Lehman at our school for a couple of clinics... talk about amazing. He RARELY missed a shot.

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 - It could take 100s of shots a day until you have correct form, each person is different. This is all about muscle memory so you have to change yours.

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)

You can adjust the #s and distanced to fit your needs.... each kid is different... but when you are teacing form, everyone should start out against a wall.

Another thing we did was to have partner up.... maybe 12 feet apart.... shoot with the proper form straight out... to your partner. NO arc....

Then we had them shoot to the partner with some arc... this is all about working on FORM -- just a thought.