Keys to help shooters work through a slump

Shooting is the most important skill in modern basketball.

At the the NBA level, if you can't shoot you can't play. If you don't play you don't make any money so a shooting slump can significantly impact player performance and team success and frankly your families future. That adds a lot of pressure to any player.

At the youth and high school level shooting is less important but it can be the great equalizer for teams. It is a vital skill for young players.

I have seen the number of 3 pt shots increase dramatically at all levels over the last ten years mirroring the increase at the pro level.

Over the last few seasons teams we have played against have averaged 27 3pters a game. They don't hit them at a high level 27-29% over our last 3 seasons so we feel ok letting most of them keep shooting. I don't think this is unique as every game I watch across Canada and at AAU tournaments in the States features endless drive, kick, swing, swing three-pointers, seldom do I see teams that really shoot it well from the outside.

There are some skills which I believe are far better than when I started coaching. Dribbling for instance. It is rare to see a kid who doesn't have the ability to bring the ball up under moderate pressure. A real change from 30 years ago.

But shooting ability has not improved at the same level. Why?

Kids seem to hoist nothing other than 3pters in practice so why are they struggling to hit it at a respectable percentage? I have a few theories

1. Less Dedicated Practice Time: Kids are playing hundreds of games a year instead of dedicating hundreds of hours to practice. In a game the best player might get 20 shots, a role player might get 2 or 3. A player practicing on their own could get up a thousand shots in the same time. Also few players practice shots with someone closing out or at game speed.
2. Lack of Consensus on how to teach shooting: When I grew up most of us taught ourselves how to shoot. It was seldom textbook but it became effective (see Bird, Larry) with thousands of reps. Today's players receive more instruction on how to shoot but does it create an effective shot for that player, or just a shooting robot? There are so many different schools of thought on how to shoot (dip, no dip, one foot approach, two foot etc), I know I get overwhelmed because there is no consensus. This has to trickle down to our players.
3. Constant tweaking of form: Players have access to all of the internet's shooting coaches, millions of highlights and Tik Tok's and I find that players are always tweaking with their form. Instead of making simple changes and practicing, they make whole sale changes and rebuild their whole shot frequently. This is compounded by not practicing enough to fine-tune any shooting form.

There are also a number of mental strategies that coaches can utilize to help players handle the mental side of becoming a great shooter in games.

Self-confidence is fickle, great shooters understand that they must embrace failure. The best 3-point shooter on earth misses 6 of 10 shots in a game. They are going to miss a lot of shots. Steph Curry missed 370 three pointers last year.

Here are a few tools coaches can use to help shooters break through a slump or boost their self-confidence.

1. Mindfulness & Stress Management.

Shooting a basketball is a fine motor skill.

Stress, anxiety and adrenaline all will have a negative impact on a shooter's performance. All three cause tightness in muscles which will negatively impact any shooter's performance.

Coaches can help shooters by providing strategies to handle stress and stay in the moment.

A key is to teach shooters how to diagnose tightness in their muscles and strategies to relax when feeling tighteness and stress. Stress tends to build up in the shoulders and neck which definetly will have an impact on a jump shot.

A recent study (Fang et al, 2023) explored the impact of teaching athletes to observe mindfulness by determining how their muscles feel as they shoot. Each day athletes were asked to practice a series of shots and explore how their muscles felt. Those athletes who were the most proficient at being present and recognizing tightness saw their shooting improve in these drills.

Deep diaphragmatic breathing is a great way to help athletes relax under duress.

2. Confidence is earned not given.

One of the main sources of self-confidence is past performance. As humans when we gain confidence from being successful. If I have never had a game where I have shot well it is hard to be confident that I can do it. However, once I have had one I can rely on the knowledge that if I have done it once it can be done again.

Confidence is also earned through hard work. Players who have not put the work may find it difficult to trust in their shooting accumen.

Coaches can help build confidence by reminding shooters of great past performances

3. Creating Pre-Game Routines that build confidence

Building a solid pre-game routine is an important component for great shooters.

Automating the run up to game time helps make games feel routine and lowers stress and adrenaline while also priming the brain for performance. A good pre-game routine should be structured and include; physical preparation, equipment preparation, tactical preparation, imagery and breath work.

The routine our team follows starts one hour & a half before tip off with the team getting into uniform, going to the washroom etc. This is followed by imagery work for 5 minutes. At this point out we should be 40 min prior to be on the floor. The next step is our tactical prep with reminders about our opponents and key points for the game plan. This is followed by a dynamic warmup with the goal of activating our bodies prior to stepping on the court. Athletes have also built in a last bit of breath work and imagery and then we hit the floor.

It helps athletes be physcially, strategically & mentally ready to play. For shooters this is a great way to ensure they (and any player) are ready to be their best.

Visualize Success.

Stephen Curry is arguably the most confident shooter on the planet.

He is the career leader in 3 point makes and by the time he retires it will not even be close. But even he struggles with his confidence from time to time.

In those moments Curry visualizes successful shooting scenarios, mentally rehearsing. Coach Steve Kerr supports this approach, integrating visualization exercises into team practice sessions. Kerr encourages players to visualize successful shots and feel the correct shooting form, contributing to on-court performance (Munroe-Chandler et al., 2011).

It helped him recover from a disastrous first half against the Houston Rockets in Game 7 of the 2019 Western Conference. Curry was held scoreless in the first half before pouring in 33 in the second half.

Borrow Some Confidence

One of the sneaky ways to trick the brain is to borrow the success of other great shooters.

Athletes can do this by priming their brains by watching other great shooters. YouTube has countless hours of the best shooters at work. A great tactic is for shooters to watch highlight compliations of their favourite shooters.

One of my better shooters saw a significant boost in performance when he started watching five minutes of Klay Thompson highlights prior to our games.

Being a shooter is a difficult, athletes have deal with wild swings in performance and deal with a lot of failure.

Providing them with some of the simple tools above well help them handle the swings in confidence and improve consistency.

Thanks for reading and have a great week.