Shooting a basketball accurately is a skill that comes naturally to very few individuals. Luckily it is a skill that can be developed but this does take repetition and long hours of shooting the ball--whether it is in a gym, at a playground, or in a driveway. Improving shooting in basketball can be accomplished by paying attention to some details and by practicing.
Mechanics
Practicing a shot will do little good if the individual is repeatedly shooting the ball with flawed mechanics. When shooting a basketball the shooting hand should be relaxed and under the ball with the off-hand providing the basketball with support. The elbow of the shooting arm should be in toward the body and the ball should be held so that it is in front of the shooting shoulder and between the shooter's ear and shoulder. The knees should be bent a little bit so that when the player springs up to shoot the ball there is enough force delivered to help the ball reach its goal. Balance is also key, with the shooter's feet apart as wide as her shoulders and the foot on the same side as her shooting hand in front of the other foot, but just slightly. The ball should leave the shooter's hand with his shoulders, body and feet all square to the basket and the follow-through of the hands after the ball is released should end up with the shooting hand's palm facing downward and the hand balancing the ball with its palm in an upward position. The shooter's eyes should never leave the target, with the exception of bank shots off the backboard in which the eyes should be just over the edge of the basket.
Practice
There is no substitute for exhaustive repetition of a basketball shot once the mechanics are sound. Players looking to improve their shooting need to take as many shots as practice time allows from various spots on the basketball court. This could mean shooting the ball as many as 1,000 times during a session over the course of weeks, which will eventually make the shot come naturally to the player. A player should always start out practicing her shot from a makable distance and then try to expand her range outward. It makes no sense to practice a shot time and again if it is beyond the player's ability to accurately shoot it, and shots that are practiced from long distances can throw off a player's mechanics as he has to alter his form to reach the basket. Players can practice from different points on the court as well as practice shooting jump shots under varied circumstances. This means learning to shoot off the dribble, which can be practiced easily by a person all alone or shooting immediately after catching the ball, which requires another person to feed the ball into the shooter time after time. Shooting off of screens can be practiced with objects or cones put on the court that stand in for a defender.
Expanding Range
A player should make an effort to have someone film her shooting technique so that she can watch it and have an idea of what it looks like. Any mechanical flaws that may be obvious to others will be more easily corrected once a player watches how she shoots on film. Players should especially be filmed shooting from within 10 feet of the basket and then from beyond the three-point line so that any differences in form and mechanics can be noticed. Players need to remember that shooting form should be maintained and not sacrificed to add distance to a shot. Players looking to expand their shooting range need to first focus on becoming physically stronger, with the idea being to strengthen the legs, wrists and biceps as well as abdominal muscles. These parts of the body are all important when shooting the basketball and a conditioning program that makes a player stronger will make shooting the ball from beyond the three-point line much easier. Some players will practice with a heavier ball than a regulation basketball so that when the normal ball is shot it will feel much lighter.
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