Guest Post - Andrew Secor from #MakeShots
What Coaches Can Focus On To Improve Shooting With Their Teams
I asked Coach Andrew Secor (Twitter and Instagram) of #MakeShots to write a guest post about shooting and where coaches/high school coaches can look to take practical steps to improve their player shooting ability.
Take a look at this video to see what #MakeShots does (the YouTube channel also has plenty of drills, examples of Coach Secor working, and different things you could incorporate with your own teams).
Here’s what he sent over:
If I was a high school coach and working to improve my shooters this off-season, here are a few steps you could take:
Identify their most common miss (left/right/short/long)
The ball has to do 2 things to go in - it has to go up and it has to go straight. Try to identify if their issue is power or creating straight lines.
If the miss is to the left or right, the most common reason is hand placement.
Get the player to get the center of their hand, to push the center of the ball, at the center of the rim.
You really want to get the player to have their index and middle finger last off the ball.
The second most common reason for left/right misses is guide-hand pressure or impact.
Short/Long misses are often due to arc angle and power.
To improve arc angle, focus on starting with the wrist loaded when the ball is at the 1-position and make sure the hand gets under the ball/palm facing the ceiling, during the shooting process.
Short misses are often due to inefficient power creation.
Primary power doesn't come from your legs, that's a shooting myth.
Power comes from moving the ball straight, fast, moving the ball before your body, and without stopping it.
The sequence you are searching for to unlock the most power is: feet land, ball moves, then legs attach.
A few notes:
I think drills are really overrated when teaching mechanics. We have 100+ drills at our disposal while working with players and teams. However, what matters is the player conceptually understands the skill they're working on and can feel themselves doing that skill wrong and right. Whatever drill helps the player to be able to do that is the perfect drill for that player.
We believe that efficiently transferring power from their body into the basketball is the most important skill for a player to learn. If a player can do that, it will lessen so many of the other bad habits that a player picks up while trying to build power.
Shooting is just one of the hundreds of things that a coach needs to worry about. We understand that. We partner with AAU, high school, and college coaches to build realistic plans they can put in place in their programs so individuals can make shooting progress.
If you have any questions, please feel free to reach out to Coach Secor via his social media or email (andysecor@gmail.com)
Until next time!
P.S. - Whenever you’re ready, there are a few ways I can help you as a coach!
Hoops Companion Master Playbook/Drill Book with almost 500 pages of plays and drills
2023 NCAA Tournament Playbook - 3 sets/actions/concepts from each of the 68 NCAA Tournament teams (204 total) - in video AND diagram form!
Create Your Coaching Portfolio Course to help you organize your coaching, develop a portfolio, and focus your philosophy (self-paced course)
Join Hoops Companion Extra - for $5/month, you can get 5 links in your inbox EVERY weekend…and other perks