When I started kicking around the idea of re-learning how to shoot a basketball for my next first-person sportswriting story, I soon began to wonder if I had born too soon.
You see, I did play basketball back in my schoolboy days — at least until I wasn’t tall enough to be a 4 or a 5 anymore.
Then it was pretty much learn to handle the ball or spend more time in the weight room getting ready for football season (I chose the latter).
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Little did I know in a few years we would see the the rise of the so-called “3-and-D player” able to lock down a scorer at one end and make a spot-up shot at the other — no dribbling required!
Defense and rebounding are more about effort, so that I could handle.
Surely I could have picked up the other half with enough practice, right?
Well, maybe… maybe with practice.
Yes, a lot of practice…
Previewing my next project about to drop pic.twitter.com/cnTILzOlZ0
— Marcus Hartman (@marcushartman) February 12, 2019
At any rate, I enjoyed my time at the University of Dayton basketball shooting camp, where coach Anthony Grant and his assistants and players teach kids of various ages how to shoot the same way the Flyers do.
>>READ MORE: Want to learn to shoot like the Flyers? Here’s how
They didn’t get real technical with the arms and hands and overall structure, but that’s not really necessary.
The basics are universal.
Repeating them is the secret.
I knew I needed to snap the wrist and hold it but remembering is another thing entirely.
(Of course that’s been a big takeaway from my stories so far. Learning vs implementing is a matter of muscle memory, and that takes time to develop.)
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Step into the shot.
Plant, get square.
Flick the wrist and follow through.
Easy right?
Maybe eventually…
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