The Fundamentals of Shooting a Basketball Correctly - Tip #1 - Your Feet
Imagine you are shooting a gun and instead of facing the target, you turned your back on it and had your feet facing the other way.
What are the odds that you'd hit the target? Not so good.
And that fundamentally is why the placement of your feet is so important when you are trying to learn to shoot the ball in a fundamentally sound way.
Of course no one would ever think of pointing their feet in the opposite direction if they were shooting a gun at a target.
However I see players all the time with their feet pointed every which way when they shoot a basketball.
So what is the correct way to position your feet when you shoot a basketball?If have listened to many speakers and been to clinics since I was a boy that said your feet should face perfectly straight toward the basket.
And for many years that's what I tried to do...
and told others to do when they asked me as a coach.
However I've come to believe that this is not good advice.
Here's why:It's important (as you will see in other shooting tips in other articles) to have your elbow under the ball (not literally under, but not out like a chicken wing either).
However if point your feet perfectly straight toward the basket, you will find that its slightly more difficult to have that elbow in where it should be.
Your body wants to pull your elbow out a bit to make it comfortable.
Not sure why, but I know its true.
So in order to allow the elbow to move into the correct spot and the shoulder to relax, you want to have your feet slightly pointed to the side; maybe just 5% off center.
If you are a right handed shooter, your toes will point slightly to the left of the straight line that goes from you to the hoop; if you're a leftie, your feet will be 5% toward the right.
If you were standing on a clock, your feet would be pointing at about 1:00 rather than straight ahead at high noon (for a leftie) and toward 11:00 (for a rightie).
The next point is that if you are right handed, your right foot should be just slightly ahead of your left foot...
maybe 2-3 inches or so is about right, plus or minus a half inch (decide based on comfort).
If you're a left handed shooter, your left foot should be slightly ahead of your right foot b 2-3 inches.
Players who "square up to the hoop" as most coaches say, will of course still make shots.
And they will do better than the kids who have their feet in a bunch of other crazy directions.
But they will not be in the prime spot for shooting...
feet slightly off center, strong foot slightly in front...
just enough to loosen up the shooting arm and allow it to move freely.
The difference is subtle, but significant.
What are the odds that you'd hit the target? Not so good.
And that fundamentally is why the placement of your feet is so important when you are trying to learn to shoot the ball in a fundamentally sound way.
Of course no one would ever think of pointing their feet in the opposite direction if they were shooting a gun at a target.
However I see players all the time with their feet pointed every which way when they shoot a basketball.
So what is the correct way to position your feet when you shoot a basketball?If have listened to many speakers and been to clinics since I was a boy that said your feet should face perfectly straight toward the basket.
And for many years that's what I tried to do...
and told others to do when they asked me as a coach.
However I've come to believe that this is not good advice.
Here's why:It's important (as you will see in other shooting tips in other articles) to have your elbow under the ball (not literally under, but not out like a chicken wing either).
However if point your feet perfectly straight toward the basket, you will find that its slightly more difficult to have that elbow in where it should be.
Your body wants to pull your elbow out a bit to make it comfortable.
Not sure why, but I know its true.
So in order to allow the elbow to move into the correct spot and the shoulder to relax, you want to have your feet slightly pointed to the side; maybe just 5% off center.
If you are a right handed shooter, your toes will point slightly to the left of the straight line that goes from you to the hoop; if you're a leftie, your feet will be 5% toward the right.
If you were standing on a clock, your feet would be pointing at about 1:00 rather than straight ahead at high noon (for a leftie) and toward 11:00 (for a rightie).
The next point is that if you are right handed, your right foot should be just slightly ahead of your left foot...
maybe 2-3 inches or so is about right, plus or minus a half inch (decide based on comfort).
If you're a left handed shooter, your left foot should be slightly ahead of your right foot b 2-3 inches.
Players who "square up to the hoop" as most coaches say, will of course still make shots.
And they will do better than the kids who have their feet in a bunch of other crazy directions.
But they will not be in the prime spot for shooting...
feet slightly off center, strong foot slightly in front...
just enough to loosen up the shooting arm and allow it to move freely.
The difference is subtle, but significant.
