Being a basketball player, there is no greater individual feeling than being in “the zone”. Shooting the ball into the hoop is not a challenge within the zone. Getting open is simple, the defense seems to moves slower than usual, and most importantly, there is an particularly high level of focus and confidence that is a part of being in the zone.

Although it may not happen often, basketball players don’t enter the zone by accident. This is a response to years and years of skill development, influenced by correct shooting fundamentals. The zone is the realization of optimum physical performance coupled with a very high degree of concentration and determination. It happens for athletes in other sports too, and it happens for the same reasons in other sports as it does in basketball.

Michael Jordan is known to have said that throughout his playing career, on games when he was in the zone, he frequently woke up the morning of the game knowing he would have an outstanding performance. In Game 2 of the 2010 NBA Finals, Boston Celtics’ shooting guard Ray Allen made the first 7 three-point shots that he tried, on the biggest stage in basketball while undoubtedly drawing extra attention from the defense after the first few makes. Allen is one of the best at his craft, and part of his game-day routine is to go through a shooting workout three hours before each and every game.

As a result of their work ethic and love for the game, Allen and Jordan have both been rewarded by entering the zone often throughout their careers, putting on shooting displays that dazzle the audience and frustrate the opponents. In reality, any aspiring basketball player has the chance to enter “the zone”. It’s all about learning how to shoot the ball, and then doing it a whole lot. This is the primary goal of our training DVD “Pure Shooting”. No matter your age, athletic ability, gender, or experience, learn and apply our 6 Principles to Pure Shooting, and you give yourself the opportunity to be a great shooter, hopefully putting on a couple of shooting shows on the way!

Billy Lewis & Jonathan Schneiderman

Aim High Hoops, Inc.

www.AimHighHoopsOnline.com

“Learning to play” basketball means a couple of things.

The first factor is the individual skill development; i.e. dribbling and shooting the basketball well. Resources and direction for correct skill development are what we provide at Aim High Hoops. Our skill clinics, training DVDs, and Pure Shooter’s Report Card help players learn which skills are required, and also proven techniques for maximizing those vital skills.

The next element of understanding how to play is playing. Players need to be on the court, in game situations, trying things out and learning from errors. Playing doesn’t always have to entail a structured 5-on-5 game with coaches and referees. In fact, when the players call fouls and it is a situation of either win or sit for an hour (no coach to make substitutions), players build up a toughness and hunger to win.

One without the other is inadequate.

Players that spend hours in the gym perfecting their dribbling and shooting, but don’t join up with competitive games in the off-season might be behind during the season. Why? Because in games is where a dribbler learns to uncover seams in the defense to penetrate, and in games is where a shooter learns how to use a screen against an opponent that trails, or cheats the screen, and it’s also in games when a scorer learns to utilize head fakes and draw real fouls for three-point plays.

Players who simply play games all day will no doubt develop very good instincts for the game, but without correct dribbling and shot development, these players can be pressured into dribbling mistakes and left open to shoot a shot they are uneasy with during clutch situations of games.

In the course of an NBA Summer League game, the announcers commented on #1 draft pick John Wall. They hit on both elements of the two-part process of learning how to play basketball. First, they said Wall needed to continue perfecting his jump shot (skill development). Following a dribble spin move that ended with Wall’s lay-up effort getting blocked off the backboard, they said that Wall will have to use the summer league to start getting used to the speed and athleticism of the NBA (playing).

Just a few possessions later Wall floated a lay-up off the backboard and got fouled for the three-point play attempt. It seems as if he’s learning quickly!

Billy Lewis & Jonathan Schneiderman

Aim High Hoops, Inc.

www.AimHighHoopsOnline.com

It turns out that building correct habits in the beginning is not just for basketball players! In the June 14, 2010 issue of Sports Illustrated, there was a story titled: “Tim Tebow: The Making of a Quarterback.” The subtitle says the Denver Broncos are “starting from scratch” with Tebow, a national champion and Heisman Trophy winner from the University of Florida, because his throwing mechanics are so inadequate.

Tebow’s NFL future relies upon whether or not he is able to master the throwing mechanics that his fellow quarterbacks mastered while very young. Examine a few of the quotes from the article:

“Most scouts saw him as a 6’3’’, 236-pound option quarterback with poor throwing mechanics.”

“He has to completely overhaul the way he throws.”

“The goal, of course, is for this new motion to become natural,…

“But he’s in a race to remake his delivery.”

The way Tebow manages this difficult task should be a lesson for every single young athlete trying to learn a whole new sport: “The mechanics—I’m going to be thinking about them for a long time. I’ve got to make the uncomfortable comfortable, and I’ve got to hurry.”

“Tebow treated every pass as if it were a game.”

Head Broncos’ coach Josh McDaniel’s and his assistant coach and brother Ben are on the front lines of the challenge for Tebow, and he remarks on not only the urgency of the situation but the very necessity of getting it correct, mentioning, “Imagine you’re throwing darts and your body is spinning like this. You can’t have the control you want. How’s your release point going to stay the same?”

The Mechanics: For a quarterback, it is a consistent release point. For a baseball batter, it’s a compact swing with a great bat angle. In golf, a good grip and correct club angle at contact result in deep shots down the fairway. For basketball, Aim High Hoops offers The 6 Principles of Pure Shooting training DVD, to show what is needed for any driven basketball player: a balanced jump shot on line with the target and with a chance to go in EVERY time the player shoots. Many basketball players guess how to get to that particular point, while others learn it well through good teaching and plenty of practice. Let us help you learn to be a pure shooter!

Billy Lewis & Jonathan Schneiderman

Aim High Hoops, Inc.

www.AimHighHoopsOnline.com

Inside our previous blog posting about our experience at the FastPitch contest, we described the significance of young basketball players building correct habits early on in the learning process. Making a 3-point shot with defense on you, if the score is close, and in the last moments of a game is tough enough to do with GOOD mechanics developed correctly over many, many years. Trying to change poor mechanics that are already engrained in a player’s memory is a complicated challenge for the mind as well as the body.

With our training DVDs, Pure Shooter’s Report Card, and our Aim High Hoops shooting clinics, we give a clear picture for players who want to become great shooters, and we plan on offering equally advantageous resources for dribbling and advanced shooting techniques, thus providing players all they will need to maximize their individual offensive basketball potential.

If you’re still suspicious about the thought of an hour of mechanics drills on a daily basis, pay attention to what the very best player ever to play basketball, Michael Jordan said: “You can practice shooting eight hours a day, but if your technique is wrong, then all you become is very good at shooting the wrong way. Get the fundamentals down first and the level of everything you do will rise.”

Jordan was well-known for practicing, practicing, then practicing more, to keep his fundamentals at the highest level possible constantly. Only in those circumstances, he believed, could he reach his maximum potential as a basketball player. His career illustrates that “at his best” was the only acceptable level for Jordan, but the only reason he could get there and stay there was because he laid an extremely strong foundation in the fundamentals of the game at a very early age.

Our mission at Aim High Hoops is to help players learn both basic and advanced basketball fundamentals, using high-quality resources and customer service. We look forward to aiding players of all ages and skill levels arrive at their highest levels possible and remain there.

Stay in touch!

Billy Lewis & Jonathan Schneiderman

Aim High Hoops, Inc.

www.AimHighHoopsOnline.com

Last Tuesday, we participated in the business competition known as “FastPitch”. The format was for entrepreneurs to present both their service or product and their business model, all in three minutes. A 3-person panel of judges had three additional minutes to ask follow-up questions or make extra comments.

Although we didn’t win any prize money, preparing for the FastPitch speech allowed us to think about our reasons for creating Aim High Hoops, and about what we sought to provide to basketball players, parents and coaches. We were able to explain our mission—“Helping players learn both basic and advanced basketball fundamentals, using high-quality professional resources and customer service” —and how the mission is clearly the groundwork around which everything we do is centered.

We discussed our first training DVD, “Pure Shooting”, which we look to have on the market by the end of the summer. We feel that a competitive advantage in the DVD is in the presentation format. Many outstanding athletes do not become successful coaches, because they understand how to “do what they do” but not “explain what they do”, because their athletic talents always came effortlessly and without them having to think about it. As teachers, we know how to break content down into clear, logically-ordered pieces so that the audience understands the connection between everything. In this instance, our students are the training DVD viewers and the lesson is about becoming a Pure Shooter.

We also went into depth about the Pure Shooter’s Report Card, our shooting analysis that will allow us to connect to players across the nation with individual training, from their very own backyards. We wrote a bit about the Report Card back in an April 2010 blog and will continue to share developments.

The third product/service we feature, and have not yet blogged about, are our Aim High Hoops Shooting & Ball-handling clinics. Our objective with those is not to cram as many players in the gym as we can, but rather, keep the player to coach ratio at 8:1, guaranteeing individual attention for each player. The first clinic program correlates with our first training DVD on the mechanics of shooting and the way to become a “Pure Shooter”. We are going to have the DVD and Report Card available for purchase on site.

We are truly confident that what we provide can help players who would like to become great shooters become great shooters. The reason for the optimism is because the basketball knowledge that the Aim High Hoops team brings in, coupled with these products we offer, provides a very clear picture of developing the right fundamental foundation for learning to be a great basketball player. Obviously, it is up to the players to truly “build” that foundation of skills. The biggest thing to remember is: Players that understand correct habits in early stages just continue on the fastest path to basketball excellence, while players who learn poor habits have a great deal to “unlearn” before being able to reach their potentials, a lot longer process.

Overall, it was an outstanding experience at FastPitch!

Billy Lewis & Jonathan Schneiderman

Aim High Hoops, Inc.

www.AimHighHoopsOnline.com