I believe most high school coaches make their players practice free throws. The problem is many high school kids focus more on style than repetition, limiting excess movement, and concentration.

 

When I say "style", I'm talking about; spinning the ball in their hands, bouncing the ball in front of them and spinning it back to them, odd little quirks that they think makes them look cool etc.

 

Shooting freethrows is all about repetition, concentration and limiting the things that make a player shoot inconsistent.

 

If the coaches would teach the kids not to worry about style, the freethrow percentages would most likely go up. JMO

 

Paul Cluxton was the best I ever saw shoot them when he was at NKU. He took one bounce and shot it. No spinning the ball, wiping your hands on your socks, etc.

 

Rythm and form is all it is.

If you shoot 100 shots at practice but do not shoot them correctly are you getting any better? I think the focus needs to start early on teaching kids the proper mechanics and fundamentals.

 

I think this begins while they are young. Not to get off topic but I think coaches of young kids (elementary and middle school) should focus on fundamentals and mechanics. If kids learn when they are young they can really improve while in High school. But what I see is far too often there is no focus on improving the players while they are young.

 

Okay, I am off my soapbox now!

 

Good point. If I hit a couple of buckets of balls at the driving range every day without any instruction whatsoever, am I simply ingraining bad habits?

FT's are things kids can do on their own but you cant get to the line unless you make something happen with the ball. I have that problem with my own son, he is a great FT shooter but needs to be more aggressive with breaking his man down and taking it to the hole to either draw a foul or score.

 

Scott Draud was very good at this back in the mid 80's. He would average 35 points a game and typically 12-15 came from the charity stripe.

 

Another kid I see doing this a alot this season is the Hatton kid from Dixie. He gets to the line a lot because he knows how to use his body with the basketball and draw fouls.

Ask Scott Draud how he became such a good shooter and he will tell you. His dad spent hundreds of hours rebounding for him while he shot. A few years back when my son attended an NKU camp that Kenny Shields put on Scott spoke to the kids about this. He also demonstrated technique and put on the most unbelievable exhibition I have ever seen in person. He started at the foul line shooting 10 free throws and stepped back doing this at each stop until he was at half court. He said going in he was a little rusty but made 47 of the 50 shots he took. He was shooting half court shots like they were free throws. Amazing exhibition!! It takes a lot of practice, practice, practice. Kids just aren't willing to put in the time it takes to become good shooters. Case in point remember the story on Jamel Riley from Holmes last year where he got to school early to work on his shooting. Time and effort. You should always be able to find someone to rebound for you even if it's your mother or little brother or sister.

Edited February 25, 201016 yr by EZ Living
spelling

Repetition. Time. That's all it takes. And a little bit of good form

Repetition. Time. That's all it takes. And a little bit of good form

 

And practice them under simulated game conditions. After running gassers, loud noise pumped through the PA system, etc.

Im sure your avatar could definitely show some kids a thing or two about FT shooting. :ylsuper:

 

Thats the truth! :thumb::thumb:

Some teams never ever practice free throws during their practice session: ylsuper:.

I think you can expand it beyond FT shooting. Like passing, dribbling, a lot of the fundamentals are missing

I think it is sqarely on the coaches' shoulders. Years ago free throw shooting was an art and kids practiced many hours on it. Coaches preached its importance.

We had a young man at our high school who graduated in 1963 and went on to play for Mississippi State. When he was in high school he would shoot 100 free throws every day after practice. He would usually hit in the high 90's most days. Some days he would hit all 100. And it paid off. He had the free throw record for consecutive free throws in the SEC (I think it was 44 straight) until it was broken in the 1980's by a Vandy player.

His high school coach didn't make them stay after practice to shoot free throws, but he made it very clear how important they were in winning games. Most of his kids put in long hours working on the mechanics and mental aspects of free throw shooting. I don't think coaches today encourage the players enough making the extra effort in getting better at free throws.

Honestly, I don't think any of it is coaching. People either are great FT shooters or their not. A player can improve but it's usually not a great deal. A guy might go from 70% to 75%, but not from 50% to 78% that often. Look in the pros. Guys like Shaq, Chamberlain and even Tim Duncan have been poor FT shooters for the duration of their careers. And these guys practice alot, even though it may not seem like it. An NBA guy is going to put in 50 times the amount of work and practice that high school kids can. It's just something that's natural IMO.