Shooting

["Gene Kirkpatrick" <gkir@tjc.tyler.cc.tx.us>]

Good ideas, Bob, on shooting.  I taught myself how to shoot as a kid
without realizing what I was doing.  We had PE drills of making as
many shots in a minute as possible.  I learned the two foot jumper
from that.  Later when my son began to play, I developed the
Kirkpatrick method; certainly all coaches use it, I thought.  Start at
the hoop.  Make five or six baskets.  Back up two feet.  Make some
more.  Use the glass.  Repeat until you get to the three point line. 
Develop variations.  It's simple.  It works.  Teach the eye and the
hand to coordinate at various distances.  Then, when warming up for a
game, employ the same, stupid, monotonous method and see what
happens.

For shooting with the left hand, I put a stack of nickels on the
porch step.  Make one and get a nickel.  He learned pdq.  In sum: 
it's like tennis.  Don't just hit the ball.  Hit across court and down
the line.  Just going out and shooting or hitting the ball gains very
little repeatable skill.  Well, enough pedagogy.  But if I developed a
system that works, why not the pros??

Name withheld by request.  I'm afraid of getting offers to teach in
Clipper land.