Basketball: Shooting Technique

Probably the most important aspect of shooting a basketball is the shooting form/technique used. The greatest shooters of all time had a good form that they mastered over thousands of shots. I will use the tips from Basketball Shooting by Dave Hopla to hopefully perfect my shot.

Here is a picture of Klay Thompson, who has a perfect textbook shooting form.

 

I used the hoop outside my house in the front yard to practice. It is not exactly 10 feet like standard hoops, but it is close enough. My goal was to have a better shooting form similar to Klay Thompson's. I warmed up by putting up a few shots before I started. In Basketball Shooting, Hopla says that you need to keep you elbow beneath the ball and don't let it stick out because it will make your shot much less accurate (23). I tried this technique, keeping my elbow tucked in as I raised the ball to shoot it. It felt uncomfortable at first because I was not used to it, but after shooting around like this for a while, It felt more natural and my shots were more centered on the hoop. Hopla also states in the book "Now bring the ball back toward the head to form the letter L with the shooting arm... This L-shaped positioning is key. If you bend the shooting elbow too much and distort the L, you will be slinging the ball... By maintaining the L-shape, you will properly lift the ball" (23). I kept shooting, making sure to pay close attention to me arm positioning as I shot. After a while, I developed muscle memory to this shot and it felt more natural.

A picture of me practicing my arm placement.

I feel as if my shooting technique has gotten much better after using the tips that I learned from Basketball Shooting, as my shots are going in much more often. Read my other blog posts for more on basketball.

Have you ever practiced using good technique on something?

Hopla, Dave. Basketball Shooting. Human Kinetics, 2012.

How To Stay Healthy By Exercising

Do you physically exercise on a regular basis? Maybe once a month? Or maybe once a week? Or maybe even more than once a week? Or maybe even not at all?

Well, it’s a fact that if you do not produce physical activity daily you will become unhealthy physically, internally, and in many more ways.

What I do to develop myself to produce physical activity is motivate myself by strengthening my brain to develop health strength. For example, I create procedures for my daily routines. Or I produce brain power by learning New ways to work out and exercise.

From the book “Change Your Brain Change Your Body” Daniel Amen states, “ physical activity is A natural part of daily life. Physical activity is the single most important thing you can do to enhance brain function and keep your body looking young. Physical exercise acts like a natural wonder drug for the brain. It improves the hearts ability to pump blood through the body, which increases blood flow to the brain. That supplies more oxygen, Glucose and nutrients to the brain, which enhances overall brain function.” (Amen 109).

I believe that I can relate six main exercises for your body and brain. The six exercises would be, exercise encourages the growth of new brain cells, physical activity enhances cognitive abilities at all ages, exercise enhances your mood, exercise calms worries and anxiety, exercise helps alleviate depression, and people who exercise regularly sleep perpetually better. The six brain exercises are truly facts due to my experience of exercising. I’ve noticed that all these six exercises can relate to making you intelligently smarter, gain higher abilities in strength, calms your mood, makes you happier about yourself and relax happier.

Exercising can be as easy as going to the mountains and snowboarding, playing sports, stretching/acrobatic apprentices, going to the gym, walking your dog, jumping jacks, and even sleeping. If you take the time to add exercise into your busy schedule it will definitely be a success and act leading to happiness for your life. 

One major concept that I’ve noticed you my experience of working out and exercising is The fact that it plays a major role on your health benefits. When I work out what I’m trying to do is gain strength and make myself stronger physically. I do this not only because it makes me feel better about myself but also physically is healthy for me.

If you develop the correct mindset to stay healthy it will indeed be progressed by your brain/minds motivation and dedication towards keeping yourself healthy. To do this I have realized that you have to have a lot of dedication. Dedication in a way of strength in your brain. It can be driven by motivation and just straight up thinking.

I will leave you with a comment/motivational question, it is, if you desire to stay healthy you will join me and develop a correct mindset to stay healthy by asking yourself, who do you really want to be strength wise, what will you do to make it there, when will it happen, where will happen, and why will you do it?

Amen, Daniel G. The Brain-Body Solution. Change Your Brain, Change Your Body: Use Your Brain to Get the Body You Have Always Wanted, Piatkus, 2012.