My daughter is entering the 9th grade and has been playing basketball since second grade. She will be the starting point guard on varsity for her freshman year. She wants to improve her shooting form so she can improve her accuracy. The problem is her shooting follow through. When she follows through on her jumpshots her wrist flicks to the left. She says she doesn't even know she's doing it. Shots up doesn't seem to help because she does it subconsciously. She even does it on her free throws. Can she retrain herself, and if so, how? Is there some drill she can do or or some shooting aid she can use to keep her from flicking her wrist?

Thanks for you help.

My daughter will be entering 10th grade this fall, she is also a point guard but can play the 2 spot also. I've worked on her shooting for many years now, I'm her coach in AAU, I hope this helps!
First you may want to video tape her form, especially her follow thru. Video tape it from the side, front and back. Have her watch it so she can visually see what she is doing. After watching it, while still in the house w/o a ball have her do her shooting motion, imagining she is holding a ball. Have her do this motion many many times with her holding her follow thru so she can see the direction of her fingertips.
Explain to her that her follow-thru should look like she is reaching up high into a cookie jar or some coaches call it "goose neck". She should finish high with her elbow above her ear line, wrist floppy and her fingers should be pointing in direction of hoop...not left or right.

Now go outside with a ball and have her do one handed form shooting. Her left hand will be behind her back while she is shooting the ball with one hand. These shots should be taken approx 3 feet away from hoop. 25 shots from each side using the backboard and 25 shots straight on(no backboard)..again just 3 feet away. Each time instruct her not to watch the ball but to hold and watch her follow thru.
As she gets consistent with this have her step back a few feet, bring in her guide hand and shoot from same areas. She must hold her follow thru until ball goes thru hoop or until you rebound. With each shot both you and your daughter focus on the finish, don't worry about how many shots she makes at this point.
Contniue with this regimen every other day. Eventually have her take foul shots remembering to "finish high , hold follow thru until it hits". Move on to shots off dribble, off the pass and continue to reinforce her follow thru. Even as she progresses she should always start every practice whether in a gym or in the driveway with one-handed form shooting. I have my AAU team do this before every shooting drill just to remind them of how important their shooting form is.

Best of Luck!!

Coach A

Does she make a high percentage of her shots? If she does, I wouldn't mess with it. Reggie Miller, Larry Bird, and Peja Stejakovic are three examples of "non-ideal" shooting form, but they could make a high percentage.

Now if she has an inconsistent shot, Coach A gave you some good advice.

Coach A
The things such as holding her follow through and shooting motion in the house we have tried and are still doing, but the video recording of her shooting is a great suggestion. Thank you.

Hi Joe,
What would you consider high percentage for a freshman? Right now, I'd say she's about 30% on her jump shots and she shoots about 70-75% from the free throw line. Thank you.

G Toliver

I like Coach A's suggestions... we did one handed form shooting before every practice concentrating on form.... put your hand in the cookie jar.

She has a good % from the line but the jumpers could use some improvement... and this is a good way to start.

Good luck.

Thanks again. She will continue to work on her form shooting, particularly the one-hand form shooting.

G Toliver

G T -

She can do this against a wall too..... with the one handed form shooting, have her
exaggerate the follow through, hold it longer than normal until it becomes second nature - muscle memory.

A lot of people talk about following your shot.... and thats ok, but my philosophy was to concentrate on making the shot. hold the follow through and let the other players rebound. JMO

The issue may not be a form problem as much as a strength issue, if she is not using her legs but pushing with her arm it will cause her muscles to over extend and tense up pulling her hand and follow through to the side, I suggest starting from the bottom of her stance and working your way up, does the issue exist on shots close to the basket or are we talking 15 ft and beyond?

Strength could be part of the problem; she is a bean pole :o). Her high school coach had the girls and boys teams begin conditioning yesterday. This was my daughter's first time ever conditioning. Weight training will be a part of the regimen, so hopefully she will become stronger by the time basketball season starts and her shooting form improves.

A couple of tips I've seen is after the release, have players hold their follow-through and wave at the basket with their shooting hand to make sure that their fingers are pointed at the basket and not to the side. It's very important to hold your follow through and check your feet and check your hands after every shot in practice. Another thing you could do to get more reps while working on form. Have players shoot at a line on the wall instead of the basket. If the shot is straight, it will hit the wall and come back to the shooter. No waiting for rebounds. Remember the rim is like 18" wide so the ball doesn't have to hit right on the line on the wall for the shot to go in, but it should be close.