Hi. whenever i shoot my elbow sticks to the side during the shoot making it difficult to follow through. I would be very grateful if you can tell me how to correct this ?

salman

All natural movements come from something called muscle memory. This was built by continuous repitition in the way you have been shooting. You now need to create new muscle memory. Form shooting is the best thing you can do. However, you HAVE TO start forcing your elbow in. Start with one hand shooting. Remember your body will only listen to your mind and if it doesn't tell your body to do it that way it won't. It will always go back to muscle memory. With enough (alot) of repitition it will become the muscle memory you want.

I agree with Coach Springer, its all about muscle memory and right now you have a bad habit that you need to correct. This will take some time so don't get too frustrated.
I had a few players like this and one in particular that was a great player but could NOT make a free throw because of the bad form
I talked to him about changing his shot or I would not be able to play him in the 4th quarter because everyone would foul him every time he touched the ball.
I gave him a very simple drill.... (don't need a basket for this) I told him to stand by a wall... take one dribble and bring the ball up with one hand into the shooting position, with his elbow under the ball ( his non shooting hand behind his back ) Then he was to "shoot" the ball off the wall, keeping his elbow under the ball, following through. This forces you to keep your elbow under the ball, if you don't, the ball will fall off your hand.
This was on Friday, the next workout we had was on Tuesday, he came and showed me how he had progressed... and asked me if he could play in the 4th quarters now. He had corrected the problem.... I don't know how many hours he put into the drill, but he had improved his shot 100%.
I suggest that you give this a try and let us know how you are doing.

Coach Sar

hi,
thanks for the help. initially my elbow is straight. during the shot it sticks out. im 16 5 ft 9'' and very thin at 56 kg. could it be because of this? is the method to correcting this habit the same as the one you mentioned already?

I would think that if you used the drill I wrote about... and concentrated on keeping your elbow in all the way through the follow thru... and holding it there.... exaggerating that.... it should correct that flaw.
Like Coach Springer said, this is about muscle memory.... you have a bad habit right now.. so you have to retrain the mind and muscles... you do this through repitition. PERFECT practice makes perfect.
I don't think its that you are thin.. unless you are shooting out of your range, then kids have a tendency to do whatever it takes to get the ball up to the rim. You have probably been shooting like this for a long time so it will take some time to correct it.

BUT, I would bet that if you really wanted to correct this flaw... and worked every day for a half hour or more, shooting the way I suggested against the wall, you will correct this.

Remember, go thru the steps I suggested, and hold the follow thru, then look to see where your elbow is..... concentrate on the form... and the reason you are doing this against the wall is so you don't think about making the shot. This is all about form. Try this for a week or so and let us know how you are doing,

Good luck,

Coach Sar

Muscle memory is certainly the answer to good shooting form. But I don't quite understand why your elbow sticking out would make it different to follow through?

Maybe it's your release that is the issue? Maybe you have a bad release habit?

If you can upload a picture or shot video of your shot, that would help us critique it. Here are some pictures of proper follow through and form:
http://www.breakthroughbasketball.com/f ... nique.html

The traditional method is to have your elbow underneath and tucked in. But I learned from Tom Norland that you don't necessarily need your elbow tucked in. The key is how you follow through. He prefers comfort. Now, I think you can become a very effective shooter either way. I think it's what you feel comfortable with. But no matter what you do, it needs to be consistent. That where repetition comes in.

I can stand here and keep my eblow out then follow through perfectly without a problem. So I'm just curious why it's causing problem for you.

Jeff,

We had George Lehman come in and hold some shooting clinics.... the guy never missed..... saw him at another school... missed one shot. His method of teaching shooting was B E E F .
Balance
Eye on the targer
Elbow under the ball
Follow through

I know there is more than one way to shoot, but this is one I believed in whole heartedly... and thats what we taught our kids.
From 4th to 12th graders in camp and our teams.

I think that having the elbow under the ball helps to control your accuracy, helps to keep the ball on line. I feel that it is very hard to follow through with your hand ( reaching into the cookie jar as we explained it ) and have the proper spin on the ball.

I had a couple of kids that had poor form... even side spin... but they made their shots and I wasn't about to fix something that wasn't broken.

I felt that this young man was having problems with his shot and thats why he asked us to help him keep his elbow in. AND, you're right, since we can't see his shot, we can only give him our philosophy about shooting and how we taught it.

Coach Sar

I went to a shooting clinic at a local high school held by a college coach. His philosophy was to shoot off the same pivot foot when shooting three's ....regardless of which way you were going. I don't agree with that either....

We taught to shoot off the inside foot going to the ball. I think that it automatically faces you up to the basket and gives you more leg strength.

That was also George Lehmann's philosophy and he was a pretty good shooter. That's the great thing about this game... there is more than one way to play it.

Coach Sar

I think 'elbow sticking out' needs to be defined, because people could be saying two different things, but mean the exact same thing.

If the elbow is sticking out a few degrees, it should not be an issue. I could be wrong, but I think that's what Jeff is trying to say. If the elbow is sticking out 45 degrees, then there is an issue.

With the elbow sticking out too much, I think most of the time it is an issue of thumbing the ball where the ball is sitting on the tip of the thumb rather than on the side of the thumb. It can also be a foot position issue.

I do believe the elbow should be under the ball like Coach Sars mentions. However, I don't believe it should be a straight-line if it causes your shoulder to strain.

Due to body mechanics, it's also easier to have the elbow under the ball with a slightly staggered stance (more importantly, one shoulder is slightly in front of the other). I have noticed in shooters that use a parrallel stance that they have adapted by twisting their torso slightly (not during the shot motion) to have the shoulder of the shooting hand in front of the other.

I learned from Tom Nordland that the parallel stance was developed for the two-handed shot.

I think all of the answers are in the post already. Shoot hundreds & thousands of shots against a wall with good form. Try just doing the upper-body mechanics first. Don't worry about using your legs. Once, you get that down, incroporate your legs into the shot against the wall.

I was talking about Geroge Lehmann and his philosophy of shooting. Check this out and he will explain how he went about being a great shooter.
http://www.hoopsu.com/coachingtips/art- ... hmann.html

At the end of his article he goes on to say this:
"Other than bad form with the elbow, fading away during the jump shot is probably the worst habit a jump shooter can create. When a jump shooter fades away he has two forces working against each other; the ball going one way, the body the other. The best habit is to go straight up and down; if you must move...move towards your target. This will keep your rhythm and help maintain concentration."

We were really sold on his way of shooting, it worked well for us.

It takes good basic form and hours of practice to be an outstanding shooter!

Coach Sar