T H E S H O O T I N G N E W S L E T T E R A Conversation FOR Great Shooting! By Tom Nordland, Shooting Coach Issue Number 64 -- August 2004 

IN THIS ISSUE

What about the USA Olympic Shooting Failure?
What are “Distinctions?”
Mike Burke’s Comments on Coaching -- ‘03

What about the USA Olympic Shooting Failure?
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The Olympics was an eye-opener for this country, I hope. Maybe coaches
and players will renew their search for a shooting method that can
really make a difference! The whole world sees the limit to a primary
focus on individual qualities like strength, size, speed and
“athleticism,” and the greater value of teamwork and the development of
team skills like passing, setting good screens, ball movement, defense
and, especially, shooting. In a great “team” game like basketball, a
good, solid “team” will almost always beat a team of “individuals.”

Our group of gifted athletes and remarkable coaches couldn’t field a
team to win more than the Bronze Medal. They lost three games and were
blown out by little Puerto Rico. The only blowout win we had was when
Angola tried to play match-up zone and man-to-man (I heard that was how
it was played -- didn’t see it).

There were many reasons given for the poor showing, some surely valid,
like the difference in foul calling (I could see that Tim Duncan got a
raw deal at times). Some even reasoned that the 3-point line was too
close! Or that the shorter 3-pt distance packed it in too much, and
other reasons like that.

But I feel that, despite all the problems of lack of practice time, lack
of team cohesion, different rules, etc., the failure came down to
shooting. The international teams could make the outside shots and our
team couldn’t, except in occasional streaks. We didn’t have the offense
to pull away when we had our full court game going, and we were always
susceptible to our opponents hitting a bunch of 3’s in a short time and
catching up or getting ahead.

We chose a team of bangers and fast breakers, tough, strong players,
great leapers, but we didn’t stock it with any true shooters. There
aren’t many left in the game, but we have a few.

When our guys had open outside shots, they usually missed. Shots hit
all over the place at times, including airballs. Then a player like
Marbury would get hot for a few shots, then cold again. Marbury was hot
for a whole game and we won, then was mediocre the next. Iverson shot
the best overall. No one else could be relied on. Duncan’s great
inside presence was limited by the tight zones and the fouls (deserved
or not).

IT’S THE RELEASE!
People think that just because you can make shots when you’re relaxed in
practice that you should be able to make them under pressure. But those
shots you’re making, where are they landing? Are they consistently
coming into the center of the basket, Swish? Do you really have control
of ball flight? Or are they hitting all over the place, even if going
in? Is the Release complicated or simple? Can you make 5, 6, 8 shots
in a row any time you want? Can the stroke go on “automatic?” None of
the Americans we picked for this team had a stroke to get excited about,
except maybe Carmello Anthony, but he didn’t get enough time to prove
that. When pressure increases or confidence is shaky or shattered,
imperfect strokes get worse and it gets harder and harder to put the
ball into the basket.

Iverson has a such a high level of confidence and self-trust that he can
make his throw-flip motion work fairly well most of the time. He makes
a complicated stroke work, but it’s usually flat and hot. I think he
just “wills” it in with a high degree of confidence. I heard it said of
Tim Hardaway, who had a very flippy stroke with spotty success, that he
made shots because he was so tough the ball didn’t dare NOT go in. I
think Iverson is sort of in that category, willing the ball in. I think
he’d shoot worse if you’d back off from him and dare him to shoot over
you. Kobe is like that, too, I feel. They’re pressure players, they do
better under pressure.

The failure, I saw, is in the Release. Our team was mostly wrist
flippers and throwers. They didn’t have the simple, uncomplicated
pushing action with relaxed wrist and hand that I recommend. They also
shot mostly late in their jumping motions, which leads to wristy, upper
body strokes.

But Jasikevicius for Lithuania has a great Release. And Ginobli does.
Basili, the Italian, seemed to have it, too. For most players who made
their shots pretty consistently, their wrists were usually relaxed, not
powering the shots like the Americans. They shot on the way up, not at
the top of the jump. A few of the international players took the ball
way overhead, and a couple of them had some success at times, but you
just knew it wouldn’t hold up, being too complicated. I got a clip of
Jasikevicius shooting off a pick in slow motion, catching about 90% of
the leg power with an arm-straightening release action, relaxed wrist,
follow through held on line, Swish!!!

The Swish Method (now available in video and DVD) can help players at
all levels. My personal coaching can help individuals and teams
understand and execute the simple, effective principles of great
shooting performance. My articles and Newsletters constantly describe
what’s needed. It’s not hidden. It’s given freely. The whole world
needs this simple technique!

CONGRATULATIONS TO OUR WOMEN’S OLYMPIC TEAM!!!
Meanwhile the women’s team achieved the highest expectations we had for
them. They had great skills and teamwork. And they generally had good
outside shooting!

They worked hard and overcame some very strong opponents. One of the
reasons women shoot better than the men, as I see it, is that they don’t
have the upper body strength of men and they HAVE to shoot from more leg
power. I feel that’s a blessing when it comes to shooting. They’re not
seduced into using the smaller, less reliable muscles of the wrist and
hand. Using bigger muscles is one of the secrets of great shooting.
Shoot on the way up and the shot is more stable, quicker, higher.
Hesitate and use more upper body muscles and the shot is less stable,
less predictable, more affected by pressure.

I especially liked the strokes of Thompson, Riley, Taurasi, Swoopes and
Bird, and Johnson really shot well in one of the games I saw. The
injured Katy Smith would have added more firepower down the stretch with
her long range bombing, though I feel a stroke from off the shoulder is
inherently hard to keep accurate. She’s one of few what are able to do
it consistently. Overall they all could shoot fairly well so they
weren’t liable to falling far behind hot shooting opponents like the men
were. They could always get back into close games, and usually they
dominated the whole game.

What are “Distinctions”?
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In my coaching I often use the words”awareness” and “distinctions” when
talking about learning. In my understanding, learning comes from
awareness, and from the mastery of distinctions comes extraordinary
performance and coaching. Here we’re talking about basketball, a
physical sport, though I’m sure many of the same things would apply if
you were talking about bridge or chess or painting or Astrophysics.

Awareness is the word we use to identify experience. The function of
the five senses is accomplished by what we call awareness. You’re
“aware” of an arm movement, a smell, a taste, or a sound, etc. In
basketball, we’re mostly concerned with the sense of touch, some vision
and, to a lesser degree, sound. Taste and smell, probably not.

Awareness is defined by my dictionary as, “knowing; realizing;
conscious.” To keep it simple, let’s call it a knowing of an experience
by the senses. Some people are “super”-aware, and others are very
“un”-aware. But with practice anyone can become more attuned to the
senses and, thus, achieve more “awareness” and learning.

SO WHAT’S A DISTINCTION?
A distinction to me is a special, possibly a higher, form of awareness.
The definition is, “the act of making or keeping distinct; difference; a
quality or feature that differentiates.” It’s how we know one thing
from another, how we distinguish things. It’s how we can tell if a
basketball shot is a throwing motion or a pushing motion, or a stance is
square or open, a shot is flat or high.

But there’s a deeper meaning I’ve been taught to understand, that of
“embodying” the distinction, that of “being” the distinction. When you
truly “have” a Distinction, you know it on a deep level, you can execute
it in a variety of ways, you know it inside and out, so to say. I play
golf a lot and I can play to a certain level. I have a medium high
level of the distinction “golf,” but nowhere near that of the PGA
playing professionals.

One of my mentors is a golfer of the highest level. When we go into a
sand trap, the difference between his sand wedge shots and mine becomes
very obvious. He knows how to play these shots in many ways. I can
basically only apply one or two types of shots, and my accuracy and
control of distance are just fair. You could say he has the distinction
of “Sand” to a far greater degree than I do. To me it’s pretty much
just sand. To him it’s light sand, heavy sand, course-grained sand, wet
sand, etc., etc. He can make his shots spin this way and that.
Conversely, I have the distinctions of “Basketball Shooting” more deeply
than he does. We all have our areas of interest and expertise.

The point I want to make is that, when you realize the meaning and value
of these two words, you can take an area of interest to a deeper and
richer level. Tim Duncan has the distinction of “bank shots” more than
most players. Michael Jordan had the distinction of “air” (elevation,
vertical movement, motions in the air) more than just about anyone.

THE DISTINCTIONS OF SHOOTING
You can take on aspects of shooting with this in mind. What is the
distinction of “spin,” or of “trajectory?” “Release” is another. One I
coined is “UpForce” (also called leg drive, leg lift, etc.). When you
truly “have” or “own” a distinction like the Release, that means you
embody it. You live it. It is part of you. You could say you just
“ARE” the distinction. A “Master” is someone who has mastered many
distinctions in a particular art or skill.

I’ve been studying shooting seriously now for 15 years. I have
distinctions far beyond most of you in this one area. I can stand in
different postures and still shoot well. I can release the ball in many
ways from different Set Points with whatever trajectory I wish. I can
bank shots in and I can swish them, either or, back to back. I can
shoot early or late in my jumping action. I can do things with my
opposite hand and with my eyes closed, even looking at the ground while
I shoot. When you don’t have the distinctions, your ability to perform
and learn are limited.

My coaching and my writings are explaining, describing, revealing,
opening up these distinctions to many other players and coaches. One
suggestion for gaining a greater distinction in an area of focus is to
play with it. Do shots right handed and left handed. Shoot with eyes
open, eyes closed. Shoot many different ways, all with the purpose of
expanding your knowledge of these actions, coming more and more to truly
“know” it. Shoot flat on purpose, then shoot super high, then medium
high. Play up and down the height scale. Then your shooting (or
whatever it is you’re studying and intending to master) will start to
truly develop. You “ARE” the shot, as some people have kiddingly
described it. In the classic golf movie, ”Caddyshack,” one of the great
lines was Chevy Chase saying to his student, “BE the ball.” It may
sound funny, but when you are truly “one” with the ball, your club, the
course (target) and your body, the game of golf becomes really simple.

Seek out distinctions. Go deeper than just (shallow) awarenesses.
Distinctions don’t come easy. They take time and practice and awareness
and inquiry and patience, but the rewards are great. They’ll improve
whatever activity you choose to do, from tiddlywinks to basketball
shooting.

Mike Burke’s Comments on Coaching -- ‘03
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“Hi Tom, It has been quite a while since I wrote, but I continue to
read your articles with interest and also applaud your decision to
develop a complete curriculum for teaching coaches your revolutionary
ideas on shooting.

“Just a few notes while I am on the keyboard:

“I took a year off from coaching after some disappointments in 2001. I
didn't get the high school job I wanted, but did have a successful year
coaching 5th and 6th grade girls.

“Being out of coaching for a full year was agony for me, though, after a
few months, and became unbearable when I went to all my Granddaughter’s
games last Winter and had to observe the team playing with almost no
shooting skills and no coaching to be seen either.

“Nevertheless, I began coaching Ashley, who began 5th grade last Fall,
late in the Summer and she made the 7th Grade team easily. I started her
on the Swish Method, and for some reason, she did well at first, then
didn't improve for a while. I then went back and tried some of the old
ideas I learned from Ace Hofstein, a shooting coach who uses the square
up method to teach shooting. Same problem....

“Then I read one of your articles that was on your site in the coaching
department and you said that the coach’s job was not to correct, but to
act as a guide to make players aware of their bodies, the flight of the
ball, and to encourage them to think about what happened when they shot
and how it felt, and to be aware of what was happening and to do what
seemed natural within the general framework of good shooting principles
relating to using a constant pure release, and using UP-Force from the
legs and body and the angle of the shot to determine distance for the
shot, etc.

“I had had a somewhat frustrating day (for us both, I suspect) with
Ashley that day and I decided to change my approach from saying "Shoot
higher!", "Use your legs"!, "Follow through!", etc, etc, and instead, I
told her that today we were going to just have her shoot and she would
think about her shot and say what she felt and what she thought might
fix the problem if she felt there was one.

“It was an amazing thing. She was relaxed and when she missed a shot,
she thought and then talked about what she thought happened. I nodded
and said nothing , or said "Ok", and she shot again. The only thing I
did was, from time to time, reinforce the ideas of simple pure release
with a relaxed wrist, catching the wave of the UP Force, and that higher
shots saw a bigger target. No suggestions were made at all about a
particular shot, I just listened most of the time and rebounded and
threw her the ball.

“The result was that she was swishing shots within 15 minutes with a set
point over her head at the free throw line. She just turned 11 and is
5' 3" and wiry and slim, unlike her ole Grandpa (me). I used this method
on a 10 year old the other day in a 20 minute session with a similar
result, though we used a low set point that allowed her to just see the
basket over the ball.

“Tom, you have found an important principle of shooting here. Not only
are your mechanics of shooting sound, but the more important thing is to
teach self discovery and the body's ability to learn if it is not
interfered with too much by a coach’s constant admonitions to do this
and do that and the other thing.

“Your personality lends itself well to that style and it was natural for
you to adapt it, but in my case, I always love to correct and demand it
be done my way as a coach. I had to learn that sometimes it is better to
provide guidance than a detailed rote routine to memorize, specially in
something that is so tied to the state of the mind and one’s self
confidence like shooting. I know that you know these things, but I want
to encourage you anyway, because I have tried it both ways and have seen
how much wiser your philosophy is on this matter.”

-- Mike Burke, Illinois

Core Stability as a Measure of Injury Risk August 25, 2004  

The lack of core stability has long been thought to put athletes at risk for injuries. In Mark Verstegen's book, Core Performance, he says, "With Prehab exercises, we're going to strengthen the most vulnerable areas that get stressed in everyday movement: your hips, core, and shoulders. Strengthening your core will build up your most injury-prone areas before you're stuck with chronic aches and pain that may, in the worst cases, require surgery."

A group of researchers at the Kentucky Sports Clinic and Joyner Sportsmedicine Institute in Lexington have added to the evidence showing that core stability plays a role in injury prevention, particularly in female athletes. Their study, which appeared in the June 2004 issue of Medicine & Science in Sports & Exercise, compared measurement of core stability between men and women, as well as between athletes who suffered injuries and those who did not. Eighty female and 60 male intercollegiate basketball and track athletes participated in the study. The core measurements for each athlete included hip abduction (movement away from the body) and external rotation strength, abdominal muscle function, and endurance of back extensor/quadratus lumborum (which is in the lower back) muscles.

The Kentucky team found that males produced higher scores in hip abduction, hip external rotation, and strength of the quadratus lumborum. Athletes who did not sustain an injury during their playing seasons were significantly stronger in hip abduction. The investigators' statistical analysis of the data determined that hip external rotation strength was the only useful predictor of injuries. (The weaker the muscle group that controls external rotation, the more likely an injury.) They also concluded that core stability "has an important role in injury prevention" and that the differences in core stability may partially explain higher injury rates among female athletes than in males.

Various Prehab core stability exercises, including Physioball Pushup Plus, Side-Lying Adduction and Abduction, Quadruped circles, Pillar Bridge Front, and Pillar Bridge Side, Right, and Left, appear in Chapter 6 of Core Performance. The combination of Shoulder, Core, and Hip Stability combine to create PIllar Strength.The One-Arm Rotational Row Progression combines all of these movements.

Copyright Athletes’ Performance 2004

Dehydration, Electrolytes, and Cramps August 05, 2004  

Researchers at universities in North Carolina and Alabama* may have contributed to the solution of the puzzle related to exercise-associated muscle cramps (EAMC).

Dehydration, electrolyte (sodium and potassium) imbalance, environmental conditions such as heat and humidity, and fatigue have all been implicated as causes of EAMC, but little has been done in the scientific community to support those assertions.

The research team wanted to determine the role of hydration and electrolytes in preventing cramps. They recruited 13 men, all college age, and put them through two trials that had been proven to cause muscle cramps in the calves. Both trials were conducted in very hot conditions (98.6 degrees F) and relatively high humidity (60 percent). The volunteers drank a carbohydrate/electrolyte beverage two and a half hours before each trial. During one of the trials, they also consumed a carbohydrate/electrolyte/sodium chloride beverage at a rate similar to perspiration loss.

Here is what they found. Nine of the 13 participants developed cramps, and seven of them cramped in both trials. Among those who developed cramps in both trials, the length of time they were able to exercise before the onset of EAMC was approximately 36 minutes when they replaced fluid as it was lost, compared 14 minutes when fluid was not replaced.

The authors suggest that dehydration and electrolyte loss are not the only causes of exercise-induced muscle cramps because seven of 16 suffered cramps in both trials. They also concluded that consuming a carbohydrate and electrolyte beverage before and during exercise in hot weather might delay the onset of cramps.

[SPJ Comment: As with other research projects published in the Sports Performance Journal, no study is presented as the definitive answer to a scientific question. However, this study and others like it continue to provide bits of evidence that are useful to athletes, trainers, and coaches.]

* The researchers represented the University of North Carolina, Charlotte, the University of Alabama, Tuscaloosa, and the University of Alabama, Mobile. The results of their study were presented at the 2004 annual meeting of the American College of Sports Medicine and the abstract was published in the May 2004 issue of Medicine & Science in Sports & Exercise.

T H E S H O O T I N G N E W S L E T T E R A Conversation FOR Great Shooting! ----------------------------------------------------------------- By Tom Nordland, Shooting Coach Issue Numb 

WNBA Game
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I got to see a WNBA game July 25th in Sacramento, between the Monarchs
and the visiting Indiana Fever. It was a close contest, won at the end
by the Monarchs. What impressed me the most was the mediocre shooting.
Neither team had an edge in that area, though I felt the Fever had
better shooters.

Only one of the 24 players I saw warm up went in-close to start the
process. The rest all came out to mid-range and beyond to start
shooting. That one player went to about 3 feet away with a trainer to
rebound for her and shot a bunch, and then moved back slowly a foot or
two at a time, further and further. She turned out to be one of the
better shooters. She knew the value of working on her release motion as
a way to prepare for a game.

The best outside shooter on the court was one I had coached, Kate
Starbird, from Indiana. She shot early in her motion, had her Set Point
in line with her eye, and had a pretty constant, repeatable stroke. She
told me later that her elbow is bothering her from a weight lifting
injury a couple years earlier, so she couldn’t straighten her arm as
fully as she would like. Kate hasn’t been playing a lot but she got
some good time this game as her coach must have seen she was shooting
well. In the game she missed her four field goal attempts (made two of
two FT’s), but they were all really good shots, just barely missing. If
she had made a couple, her confidence would have probably kicked in and
I feel she could have made the difference for Indiana.

Both teams could have used more of the penetrate-then-kick-it-back-out
strategy so popular these days, but when your outside shooters can’t
make a high percentage of those shots, the strategy has to be used
sparingly.

MOST USING UPPER BODY MUSCLES
Except for Kate and a couple others, the rest were using a lot of upper
body muscles -- arm, wrist and hand. Those muscles create a flat and
hot trajectory with the shots which, if they go in, bang the back of the
rim. The resulting small target landing area isn’t very forgiving.

The problem with wristy, flippy shot motions is that with the flat
trajectory and hot action, sustained, excellent shooting is very
difficult. You can sometimes make them fairly well in practice, since
you’re relaxed and can get some confidence going. Plus you’re shooting
often from one spot over and over and get into a rhythm. But in the
pressure of a game, that kind of ball flight is susceptible to error, to
variation. If the ball is coming in very flat, say just 6” above the
rim or less, if you’re a couple inches short, the ball will skip over
the basket. If you’re a couple inches long, the ball will bounce out.
Left or right a bit and the ball will spin out.

And once you miss one or two, especially if you miss badly, your
confidence starts to get shaky and you’ll miss more. Then can start the
downward spiral of miss, doubt, miss again caused partly by the doubt,
then more doubt, more misses, etc. The doubt may even lead to fear,
fear of missing, fear of looking bad, etc. etc. Not a good space to be
in.

SOLUTION
The solution I see is shooting earlier in the jump and shooting FROM the
big muscles of leg and middle body rather than the flippy wrist and hand
muscles. That way of shooting will give you a higher arch and a softer
landing shot, thus making it all easier. This idea that using the upper
body is the way to shoot has permeated the game at all levels. And the
result is what you see, poor to mediocre shooting at all levels, streaky
shooting at best.

Sports Drinks, Protein, and Endurance July 28, 2004  

We have known for a long time that water is an appropriate drink to replace fluids in moderate exercisers for short (less than an hour) periods of time. We also know that serious exercisers and elite athletes get additional benefits from sports drinks that contain carbohydrates and electrolytes, particularly during endurance events. Now there is a growing body of evidence indicating that sports drinks containing protein may offer even more advantages.

Researchers at James Madison University in Virginia concluded that a sports drink containing protein might boost endurance more than a drink with carbohydrates only. The results of the study appeared in the July 2004 issue of Medicine and Science in Sports and Exercise.

Fifteen trained male cyclists participated in the study. They rode stationary bikes to exhaustion while consuming either the protein-added fluid or a traditional sports drink every 15 minutes. That test was followed the next day by a more challenging ride. Seven to 14 days later, they repeated the tests using the drink not consumed during the first trial.

Dr. Michael Saunders, Director of the Human Performance Laboratory at James Madison, and his team found that the cyclists were able to perform 29 percent longer on the first test and 40 percent longer on the second test when they drank the protein/carbohydrate drink. However, he pointed out that the extra calories in the protein-added drink might have accounted for the enhanced performance. Saunders also noted that there were signs of less exercise-induced damage, but that more research is needed to confirm both performance and muscle repair attributes of protein-containing sports drinks.