Some things happen by accident and great ideas emerge every day, while inventions make life easier and more convenient. Thank God for the dedication of the inquisitive mind to a cause and the determination to see dreams come true.
One such accident happened to me at a basketball shooting clinic while I was working with 2 separate people, namely a varsity girl and a junior boy. Both were working on the same free kick shooting principle which was ‘wrong’ and turned out to be a display of lateral movement of the wrist joint at the time of ball release. A definite no-no.
As I have said time and time again, when taking free kicks, any ‘lateral movement’ of any part of the body (especially the arm or wrist) or the body in general is not recommended as it only adds more calculations to the mind. at the time of launch. . I understand that all players jump, hang, move sideways (laterally) during a shot to avoid potential offensive fouls and there is nothing wrong with a display of track and field. I’m just saying that the chances of the desired accuracy are reduced.
Millions of players suffer from at least one or more shooting technical or mechanical dysfunctions related to shooting free kicks. Not only is it bad for the wrist or arm to move laterally during the throw, but it is also bad to lift or drop the wrist or arm once the ball has been thrown. The movement of the wrist is a very subtle movement and difficult for the shooter to detect, especially if he does not know the value of the wrist joint.
Common sense says that the forearm should be at 90 degrees to the floor, and in extension, the wrist joint can drop toward the floor, up and back, toward the head, to the right and to the left in various ways. degrees. It only takes 1″ of wrist movement in any direction to cause irregularities in range and direction, especially the farther you are from the basket. Another analogy is to imagine yourself shooting a rifle and after aligning the barrel with the target, try sneeze as you pull the trigger. Impossible to hold the barrel completely still. Same principle. Compare the sight or end of the gun barrel with the firing wrist. In both cases, a projectile is being fired and it is imperative to shoot the ball in a straight line although in basketball we have a small margin of error to deal with.
As I work on anyone’s free throw shoot, I always stress how important it is to have your forearm (wrist to elbow) 90 degrees off the ground and block it at 45-50 degrees after the shot. Remember Newton’s Law “For every action there is an equal and opposite reaction. Or in other words, “angle of launch equals angle of entry.” A flat shot is usually distinguished by the rattle of the ball inside the rim. means the shooting arc was too flat.An acceptable tackle is for the ball to only hit the inside of the rim once.
This is a mental, spatial recognition, and a physical awareness of where the doll should be. Another reference point is the inside of your wrist under your thumb, which should line up with the center of the hoop, if your shot pocket has the ball about 2 inches above your forehead and between your eyes. In this way, the front center of the hoop, the inside of the shooting wrist, and the eyes form a ‘straight line’. If your shot pocket is close to your chin, nose, shoulder, etc. or even on top or behind the head like Kevin Garnett, then you obviously lose your “straight line” sight down the barrel of your gun.
If your shooting pocket is not in the concept of “straight line” (edge, wrist, eye line), then your shooting tendency will be too “army” (verb), in other words, (excessive arm movement or unnecessary). Also, an incorrect ‘shot pocket’ creates a longer shot as measured from the elbow joint from the start of the shot to the end of the shot. For example, a high school hoop will inevitably shoot from the chest. Whereas if you’ve ever seen the Detroit Pistons’ Rasheed Wallace’s shot, you’ll notice that his shooting pocket is about a foot above his head, making the length of his shot very small as measured by the ‘lock’ of the elbow from start to finish. My personal shot length is 6″, Rasheed’s is probably about 3″, and generally a younger and physically weaker player will have a much longer shot, which means more chance for error. (More on this topic in another article).
Remember that the shoulder to wrist portion of the firing mechanism is responsible for most of the power, lift, thrust, trajectory, etc. Precision is generated from the wrist to the fingers, mostly fingers controlling the direction of flight by making each finger responsible. (More on this in another article).
So if your shot is too ‘army’ then you need to acknowledge it and become more ‘manageable’. Just remember the value of a ‘handyman’. He is good with his hands on many things. We want you to limit your fault for failing to the fingers and hand, which is easier to correct. “Your world is in your hands” literally. My Smartball shooting system teaches this. Basically, a simple method to improve free throws and field goals is to really focus on keeping the wrist joint “locked” at the time of the shot with no more than a quarter inch of movement in any direction. It’s almost impossible to avoid the move ‘100%’, but you should force the issue for best results. If you block and leave your arm up on the “follow-through” with fingers spread without knuckles bent in a firm dictatorial manner, then you’ll have a solid, well-conditioned shot.
Another crazy thing I’ve learned is that if any part of your shot is ‘soft’ or ‘loose’ or too ‘army’ during or after the goal, then the rebounds are pretty ‘bouncy’. If you learn to shoot with a firm or ‘practical’ but not stiff release, your shots will be smoother and more accurate and the rebounds, if any, will be softer on misses. This is a strange but very true concept.
Being more “army” definitely provides the power for the distance required, but being more “manageable” will result in better direction and accuracy, especially on free kicks. Since about 80% of shots are “off-center” or crooked. This is the result of poor directionality due to the lack of accountability to the respective fingers responsible for mastering the shot. Understanding this concept goes a long way to shooting efficiency and we all need it. How about for the Christmas season to ask for this gift? All I want for Christmas is a ‘sexier free kick’.
By Ed Palubinskas
shooting surgeon