Teaching Shooting Form

I've read a couple of threads about teaching shooting form, but I wanted to ask our expert coaches at what age children should begin to learn shooting form. I work with fourth and fifth graders. I would love to see them shooting jump shots with good form instead throwing the ball at the basket with two hands. At what age is a child develped enough to shoot a jump shot.

A lot of it has to do with the kids themselves ..... size and strength will determine what they can and cannot do.

. We had shooting camps for kids of all ages... and the little one are NOT going to be shooting jump shots... it will be more of a set shot. We taught proper form to all ages but didn't worry about the J. Some of the other coaches will have different opinions on this as far as form goes and what kind of shot to shoot when.

Teach your kids proper form... and let the jump shot develop at their pace - they will work on all kinds of shots when you aren't looking. Did you ever walk into a gym and see these little kids HEAVING the ball up from the arc? I laugh but it sure messes up their form. But when we started working on their form again, they knew how to shoot properly. JMO

Thanks coach. Teach them the form, but don't expect too much.

I had our courts repainted and requested that they not paint a three point line. So my kids heave it from the half court line. :O

They love the three ball don't they? They all want to be like Mike!

It sounds like you’re experiencing a lot of the same things I experienced in my first few years coaching youth basketball. If you have not already, I would take a look at this thread. A lot of experts from the youth level to the pro level have posted. viewtopic.php?f=63&t=343

From my experience, it's relatively difficult to teach shooting form to kids under the age of 11 or 12. It's not only difficult because of size and strength, but it is also difficult for kids because they are not mentally capable to take much instruction. Because of the accelerated speed that the child's brain is developing, the child is easily stimulated and distracted. For that reason among others, it’s difficult for kids under the age of 11 or 12 to take much technical instruction. Granted, it does depend on the kid. There are 10 year olds that are receptive and there are 12 year olds that are not.

If you're going to do some shooting, I would eliminate the focus from the basket. I would take them to a wall or have them focus on form shooting to a partner. If they are shooting at a basket, they only care about one thing, if the ball goes in the hoop. Whatever helped them reach that success will be what they repeat over and over. Now, if you have a 10 year old and they're shooting at a 10 foot basket with a normal sized ball (which we don’t advise), the only way they'll be able to make a basket is by turning their body and launching the ball at the hoop or shooting the ball with two hands.

I’m currently working with a group of soon-to-be 4th graders and this is what I focus on:
- Ball Handling – Among ball handling, passing, and shooting, this is the easiest to teach to younger kids. And the more comfortable they are handling the ball, the more success they’ll have at the younger levels. Spend plenty of time on this.
- Pivots
- Quick stops (some people might call this a jump stop, but I like to differentiate the two now. On the jump stop, players focus on jumping. Quick stops, they focus on coming to quick stop.)
- Lay Ups – 1 foot and off a quick stop. If you can teach kids to drive the ball hard under control and make a lay up off one or two legs, you’ll win a high-percentage of youth basketball games.
- I’m teaching this offensive progression the kids through 3v3. I’ll run the rules without a defense, then I’ll progress to adding a defense.
o Week 1 – Catch and Turn into triple threat on every pass. Otherwise, automatic turnover.
o Week 2 – After every pass, a cut needs to be made.
o Week 3 – After every pass, a screen needs to be made.
o Week 4 – No dribbling
o Week 5 – 2 Dribble Maximum

Trying to teach an offense at this age is a waste of practice time. I learned the hard way. You can read this blog article on that topic if you want: http://www.breakthroughbasketball.com/blog/index.php/should-youth-coaches-avoid-plays-and-patterned-offenses/

I also like to incorporate athletic development into practices. This article explains it in more detail: http://www.breakthroughbasketball.com/blog/index.php/should-we-teach-basketball-skills-to-kids-under-the-age-of-10/

I would also highly advise to check out the youth basketball section if you have not already: http://www.breakthroughbasketball.com/coaching/youthbasketball.html

Sorry, I rambled on more topics than about shooting, but I thought the other information may be helpful too.

Oh yeah. And Bob Knight would love the fact that you didn't paint the 3-point line. That's a great idea.

I taught form by putting the kids on a line and shooting to a partner about eight to ten feet away. I didn't think it was going very well, but the two handed set shots drive me crazy. Out of 29 kids, I only had one kid change his shot. It's kind of funny, but this is a left handed kid with mild cerebral palsy. He didn't play as much in the first half of the season, but once he learned to drive and shoot that's all he did every time he got the ball and he scored a bunch of baskets in the second half of the season (with his right hand).

Thanks for the extra info Joe. I was planning on creating a basketball curriculum for next season and teaching things in a progression. The info you've provided will be very helpful.

Oh yeah, and I like the term quick stop. When we worked on jump stops the kids would try jump halfway across the court on the first whistle like it was a competition to see who could jump the furthest. Then they would shuffle their feet because they weren't able to stop properly. I will definately call them quick stops next season. You mentioned that you differentiate between the two terms. Is there a time when you would refer to them as a jump stops or do you always call them quick stops now?

We taught shooting FORM that way too... it was all about hand positioning - shooting hand and guide hand.... you might try this next year... have them stand by a wall... one dribble... bring the ball up with their shooting hand.... bring it up into the shooting position and shoot the ball off the wall - this way they dont worry about making the shot... and it teaches elbow under the ball - lift and follow thru.

Joe gave you some great ideas here to work with your kids.

I do have a question Coach Sar. What does BEEF stand for? I don't remember which thread I saw that in. I think I got it all except for the B. Elbow under the ball, Eye on the target, Follow through. But what about the B? Can you give it to me one more time?

Sure - No problem.

B: BALANCE
E: Elbow under the ball
E: Eye on the target
F: Follow through

Lol..jumping halfway across the court, are you coaching the same kids that I am, Jim?

I'm so accustomed to calling them jump stops that when I first covered quick stops with the current group of kids I am working with, I accidentally called them a jump stop a couple of times.

I think there is still a very low jump involved with the quick stop, but the terminology I think helps prevent the high, out-of-control jumps. I like to teach quick stops to get under control with the ball.

With that being said, I still do like to teach jump stops, because there are situations where the player is driving to the basket and needs to create space and/or change directions with the jump.

I'm still experimenting with the current group that I'm working with on quick stop/jump stop for lay ups. When I taught the lay ups last practice, I told them to use a jump stop and they did quite well.

I believe that when they get both of their feet planted before a lay up, the shooting percentage sky-rockets. The lay up is difficult shot for young kids, because they can't LAY the ball up. They have to launch it up. Then, you add running into the mix. Balls are flying everywhere.

I haven't seen the FLYING jump stop yet you guys but that is funny.... maybe not if you're the coach :-)

I know what you're saying about lay ups, I've seen that at the high school level from time to time.... told them we would have to replace the glass if you keep that up. I used to tell them to imagine that there are a dozen eggs up there... try not to break any.... lay the ball up softly.

The only time I taught the jump stop lay ups was when I coached the girls that one year... that seemed to work for them.

We were going across the court sideways so I guess that makes a difference. I demonstrated a jump stop. My demo was like, step, jump, stop. Went over bending at the knees and waist and all that. When it was their turn it was more like step, step, big step, huge jump, shuffle, shuffle, stop. By the end of the season, most of the kids had the concept down, but they were still trying to jump halfway across the court every time. I guess that's another one of those funny things kids do now that I think about it.

Joe, I thought about teaching jump stop lay-ups, but never found anything online to support the idea. Which lay-up would you recommend teaching first or would you teach both simultaneously? Or would you ommit the regular lay-up completely? By the end of the season, I had three 5th graders out of 17 that could do a regular lay-up with decent form and about an 85% success rate. Maybe I should teach jump-stop lay-ups first and then teach regular lay-ups to my more skilled kids once they have the jump-stop lay-up down. What are your thoughts on that?

I got the idea for jump stops on the lay up from my old high school coach. We always did this during practice when I played. Also, I like it because it aligns with Don Kelbick's mantra of success breeds confidence. I try to create as much success for the kids as possible. That's why we preach 3on3, lower rims, & smaller balls. On average, I believe kids have more success making lay ups off of the jump stop.

Right now, I'm having the kids do both type of lay ups. First, I had them do the lay up off of one foot. Then, I had them do the lay up with the jump stop.

I'm a little late in joining this topic, but I thought it is better late than never. The B in BEEF stands for balance. If you don't have balance, you are not going to get in the proper rhythm to shoot. This brings me to another thing you can do for working with players of all ages on their shot. Have the players stand in their universal basketball stance (knees bent near 90 degrees, back straight) and work on their footwork from this stance. First, you can have them stand with either their left foot or right foot forward. Then have them take a quick step to get in their shooting stance. It is important that they have their shooting foot landing in the same spot every time to learn consistency. You can put them on a line so they know if their feet are parallel or not. Have them do this and then look at their feet after they step. Then give them a ball and have them do the same thing. As you progress you can incorporate a whistle, ball and a hoops. On the first whistle they take a step forward with either their left or their right foot and get in their universal stance with the ball cocked and ready to be shot. On the second whistle, they take a quick step with their feet parallel. On the third whistle they shoot the ball. Vary the speed of your whistles so they don't cheat. you can also pause between the second and third whistles to make sure the players are balanced and that they are in their universal stance (now in the traditional triple threat). These are some easy drills players of any age can do but it will help establish a good, strong, quick base before shooting.

Here is a drill that I did with younger kids in my summer shooting camps.....

Standing on the sideline.. every player has a ball that is on the line.... we started with simple dribbling drills.... (lets start with a basic right hand down - left hand back) They would dribble to the other side line, come to a jump stop, do a reverse pivot and come to a triple threat position... I would they say "shot fake, pass fake, shot fake and each time they come back to the triple threat position..... then they would come back the other way dribbling with their opposite hand and repeat what they just did. We did that for all dribble moves so they got the idea of the JUMP STOP and REVERSE PIVOT.

Then we incorporated that into our lay up drills.... we taught the jump stop to them and the traditional move off of one foot.

The first year the camp ran 6 WEEKS, as the years progressed we cut it down to 3 weeks going 5 days a week. We developed some pretty good shooters, we needed to do that since we rarely had a post player. This worked for us.