Beat "You-Yesterday" Shooting Chart
A simple tool and mindset to improve shooting from Dick DeVenzio
A few weeks ago, I came across a tweet by Andrew Secor (a great follow if you’re looking to improve how you coach/teach shooting) that reminded me of my summers as a player working on my game.
Then, just yesterday, I saw this tweet from Point Guard College:
It brought me back to carrying my pen and notebook at the playground/into the gym, charting my shots, and trying to beat what Dick DeVenzio called “You-Yesterday.”
I think it’s something you can pass on to your players.
The basic idea is this:
Choose the types of shots you want to work on this summer.
For example, you might want to spend your shooting time on three pointers, free throws, and pull-up jumpers (or floaters, step backs, deep 3, coming off curls, WHATEVER)
Commit to shooting a certain amount of shots EVERY day.
Maybe you commit to shooting 100 3-pointers, 100 free throws, and 100 pull-up jumpers every day.
Chart the number of makes each day.
Let’s say you made 237 shots today.
Attempt to beat “you-yesterday” tomorrow.
Your goal tomorrow is to beat 237.
Repeat all summer.
End up a better shooter.
It’s simple, but you’d be shocked if you knew how few players actively chart and track their progress as shooters.
Here are a few thoughts from DeVenzio’s book, “Think Like a Champion” on the idea:
During the offseason, you have to budget your time and have a schedule or chart of activities aimed at maximizing improvement. If you aren’t repeating some activity, you cannot expect to improve. If you aren’t charting daily levels, times, or scores, you are not working to raise the level of your performance.
What is so important about measuring? It fine-tunes your concentration the way mere playing or practicing cannot. Think about it. The best competitor, the perfect competitor for you, is You-Yesterday. You-Yesterday has the same size, speed, and physical attributes of you You-Today. You-Yesterday, assuming you did your best, has the same willpower, the same determination, the same amount of everything.
The player who goes out and shoots a basketball will make some shots and miss some shots. Despite his best efforts to do as well as possible, his concentration while shooting around will not nearly equal his concentration when he is competing against yesterday’s best effort. If a player makes 412 out of 500 shots on Monday, you better believe he’s going to concentrate on each shot on Tuesday to beat that score of 412.
As a result, the 367th shot will be taken with concentration, with full awareness that there isn’t much room for error.
I’ve made a simple chart on Google Sheets that you could share with your players, adapt as your own, and use as you wish. Also, notebook and pen will do the trick just fine.
Pass this idea on to your players - if everyone on your team strives to beat “You-Yesterday” on a daily basis, it would be hard to imagine a lack of improvement.
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