I don't know if anyone is still reading this, but it's all about your follow-through that determines the path of the shot. When you are within a close range, try to shoot high, and try to impart the rolling feeling you get when you make a shot with much backspin. This also trains your feeling in the ball, and what Ken said is absolutely correct.

Robert,

Do yourself a favor, have some confidence in your abilities... if you don't, you will never get better. YOU have to BELIEVE in yourself before anyone else will. Keep working with BEEF... and I am wondering IF you are holding your follow through on every shot. Some players have a tendency to jerk their hand back thus affecting the shot.

What glandensclub said:

I don't know if anyone is still reading this, but it's all about your follow-through that determines the path of the shot. When you are within a close range, try to shoot high, and try to impart the rolling feeling you get when you make a shot with much backspin.

Here is another little tip.. as you are bringing the ball up there should be a WINDOW between your shooting hand and guide hand - in order to get a nice arc on the ball your eyes should be somewhere under both elbows.... try this out and see if it works for you. This should help with your accuracy.. but if you are off left or right... that tells me that your elbow is not under the ball - check that out too. After that, its all about practice, practice and more practice... and it has to be PERFECT practice or you will be developing bad habits.

Let us know how its going.
Ken

Robert,

All great tips from Ken. He is right. Practice practice practice!!

You need repetitions when it comes to shooting. So many repetitions that it becomes automatic and natural.....like muscle memory that Coach Ken told you about.

Try to squeeze in as much shooting as possible...get to practice early...stay late after practice.
Throw on a hoodie and practice outside after school or on weekends. Shooters take anywhere from 200 to 400 shots a day!!

Make sure you "finish high" on your follow thru. Your arm extension should be "elbow to ear". For a nice soft arc you want an arm extension of 60 to 75 degrees. If somebody was watching you shoot from the side, your arm should be about 60 to 75 degrees from horizontal..........to simplfy....if you extend your arm and point straight ahead at somebody that is 0 degrees, if you extend your arm and point straight up to the sky, that is 90 degrees......so you want to finish high at about 60 to 75 degrees....

anyway...

you got some great advice from many good coaches on this site now get out there and practice!!

Good luck son!!

Coach A

hi, here is a short report of my progress

it's know about 3 months ago since i've asked you all for help, and every time when things were'nt working for my in practice or in a game i read your tips over and over.

since then i've gotten better, i'm now able to shoot 65 to 80 percent of my freethrows in practice and games, instead of 35 to 55 percent; and i've also increased my range by only using your tips to 3pt range, last game i shot from just inside the 3pt arc and knocked it down also hit 2 free throws in a row in a game for the first time in my short basketball career.

last practice we practiced alot on shooting and i hit 5-7 ft line jumpers, 7-10 corner 2's(just inside the arc), 3-10 straight-on 3pt's and 15-20 8ft baseline jumpers.

I'm happy now, because i can play with a smile on my face every time when i step onto the court knowing i will knock some shots down instead of only lay-ups :D

PS: my coach was stunned with how fast i've developed a nice jumper and asked my how i got that done, i said YOU guys helped me out. and with a little help of my U-20 coach, who told me to keep the ball in front of my head instead of laying my shooting hand down on my head and kept hammering it in.

Robert,

Glad to hear that things are getting better - and I am glad that I could be small part of helping you...... in the end.... YOU did it.... not us. WTG!

Thanks for letting us know how things are going.

How to Develop Supreme Basketball Shooting Confidence (Required to Become a Great Shooter)
Just ask any shooting coach or expert about the importance of confidence...

They will all tell you that confidence can be the difference between an AVERAGE shooter and a GREAT shooter. Confidence will greatly improve your shooting percentage!

So how do you develop supreme and unwavering shooting confidence?

Here are three few extremely effective techniques:

1 - GROOVING

Before every practice and game, face the basket and shoot 50 EASY shots about four to ten feet from the basket.

Not only does this improve your shooting form, but it helps to develop phenomenal confidence.

How?

You'll quickly become very good at grooving these shots over and over. You'll see the ball going in the basket over and over. You'll swish the ball repeatedly and probably shoot 60%, 70%, 80%, or more, which is great for your psyche.

Simply by seeing your shot go in over an over, you'll become more confident.

Why do you think that NBA players do this before games?

Why do you think that Tiger Woods starts all of his practice sessions by making 100 three-foot putts?

Because it works! So don't overlook this powerful strategy.


2 - CHARTING

This is another technique that you should NOT overlook!

Lots of coaches talk about it, but we give credit to Dave Hopla for helping us realize the power of charting. He has been preaching it for years.

To improve your confidence, start charting all of the shots that you take in practice. It's easy to do and you'll be absolutely amazed at how much it helps.

After every practice session, keep track of what kinds of shots you took, the number of shots taken and the number of shots that you actually made.

Why does this help?

It seems so trivial, but the greatest shooters in the world have discovered this secret and will all tell you the same answer.

Their chart continually reminds them of how great they are. They can see on paper that they shot 65% for all of their 10 foot jumpers. They can see that they shot 90% for free throws.

Then what happens?

You start believing both at a conscious and deep subconscious level that you're an awesome shooter!

And you have the proof right there on paper. It shows you that you've made thousands of shots. And you won't soon forget how to shoot because you've done this thousands of times and you can knock 'em down!

Take our advice. Start charting your shots, especially the shots that you groove.

The chart doesn't need to be complicated. It just needs to make sense to you and be easy for you to carry around, like a notebook, journal, or a binder.

Here's a simple example of a shooting chart, but you should come up with one that makes sense to you:

Date Shot Type Attempts Makes Percentage
3/21/2008 Form shooting 50 40 80%
3/21/2008 6' grooves 50 38 76%
3/21/2008 12' catch & shoot 100 62 62%
3/21/2008 Free throws 10 8 80%


3 - PRACTICE

This alludes to an obvious technique to improve your confidence...

Practice!

We all know that practice improves confidence.

If you're reluctant to shoot, not confident, and hesitant, then you're probably going to miss. Even though confidence is the mark of a great shooter, you can't invent confidence out of thin air. It has to be based on some evidence and experience.

This comes from practice. You will be able to relax and shoot with a confidence that has been earned.

No tricks or tactics here. You just need to get it done. For a little motivation, you might want to recruit a good partner. You can also set goals. Do whatever it takes. A high school player should be taking around 500 shots a day and charting them all.


We suggest that you implement all of the techniques above. You should groove your shots every day, chart your shots, and practice ALL the time.