Min-ticle #2 - Shooting a basketball.
Coming back to uni this year, I got involved in leading basketball sessions including beginner’s sessions.
Having played basketball for many years now, it’s a very insightful experience to go back to the basics. On top of that, I was reminded of the heart-warming feeling of teaching from my previous experiences in tutoring and swim-teaching.
How to shoot the ball.
Let’s face it, shooting a basketball is hard. To make the shot easier, we need to be as prepared as possible before we even take the shot.
(1) Stance
First, we want to be as stable as possible. And that starts at our feet.
Feet and Shoulders
We keep our feet wide (about shoulder-width apart) and we try to point our feet square towards the basket. Now, the upper-body. Keep our shoulders square - pointing our chest towards the basket.
Get Ready
Bring the ball to the centre of your body (around belly-button level) and hold it in close. This is called a ‘gather’. Now get low. Sit into it. Bend your knees a little. Keep your eyes on the basket. That’s your stance.
Feet and shoulders facing the basket
Ball to your centre
Get low
Eyes to the basket
(2) Hand Placement
Shooting form in basketball looks a rather unconventional way of throwing a ball. But it allows us to make accurate shots time after time.
When we shoot, we hold the ball with our dominant hand, ‘shooting hand’, on top of the ball and our non-dominant hand, ‘guide hand’, about 90 degrees on the side.
If you’re right-handed, that is the hand you shoot with. Your left hand is just a ‘guide-hand’. (And vice versa.) Strictly speaking, you shoot the ball with one hand. Your left hand comes away from the ball before you release and does not take part in the shot.
Hands: on top and to the side.
‘Guide hand’ comes away as you release.
(3) Release
Ball Path
We extend our legs (a small jump) and bring the ball up, ‘pull-up’ in one motion and we release the ball as we come up (not on the way down).
To shoot the ball as quickly as possible it should follow a path straight up in front of your body. Not out to the sides, not forward and back. Straight up. Try not to bring the ball behind your head like a football throw-in.
Elbow tucked
Aim to keep your shooting hand elbow tucked in. It doesn’t have to be dead-straight but definitely NOT out to the side. This helps us control the ball easier.
Flick the wrist
When we shoot, we flick our wrist forwards to impart back-spin on the ball. This gives us more chance of making the shot. - Imagine the basketball hitting the back of the rim. Back-spin will help guide it into the basket rather than bouncing away.
A useful que here is to exaggerate the flicking of the wrist as if you’re reaching for the cookies in a jar on top of the fridge. We call this follow-through.
Fingers
You should be able to feel the fingers you release off of. When shooting, you should release off of the first-finger or middle-finger or both.
High Arc
Finally, add some arc to your shot. When the ball meets the basket, the higher the angle the more likely it is to get it in
Summary
Feet and shoulders
Ready your shot - (Get low, bring the ball in and look at the basket.)
Shooting hand and guide hand at approx. right angles.
Small jump, pull-up at the same time.
Elbow tucked, flick the wrist, high arc and fingers.
I realise that’s a lot to take in at once. Focus on one thing at a time and put them together. Soon it will be second nature. Some find the acronym BEEF helps - Balance, Elbow, Elevate, Follow-through.
