Practicing Free Throws

In the old days when I was playing at the end of practice my coach would have us all fill in the spots around the lane and take turns taking free throws.  Everyone had to make 5 to go home and we took them 2 at a time.  In hindsight this was not a bad way to practice free throws.  As in every other part of the game, it is important for a coach to try to simulate game conditions when your team shoots free throws.


With this in mind there are a few rules you should follow when your team practices free throws during practice:
  1. Only have each player shoot free throws 2 at a time.  This is what they will experience during a game.  Any more than 2 and they will be allowed to find a rhythm which is just not available during a game.  At times have them shoot only one free throw to simulate an "and one" situation.
  2. Have players fill in the spots around the lane and rebound.  this will allow the shooter to get used to this environment. 
  3. Have them shoot when they are fatigued.
  4. Shoot free throws when they are not expected.
  5. Ice a shooter by calling a simulated time out before a simulated key free throw.
  6. Chart all the free throws taken and shot and mark the time during practice they were taken.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Drill: 5v5v5 Fast Break

Image
This is a nice drill that emphasizes a whole bunch of game like situations.  Here is the list:  Fast Break Secondary Break Offensive sets Transition Defense Transition to standard defense Recognizing and attacking odd man opportunities.
Read more

Burpees (HIIT) Bakers Dozen

 Below is a great burpee workout that you can use to challenge yourself.  This challenge is called the baker's dozen.  Below is the rep range for each set and rest intervals between each set. 13 burpees 1 minute rest 12 burpees 1 minute rest 11 burpees 1 minute rest 10 burpees 1 minute rest  9 burpees 1 minute rest 8 burpees 1 minute rest 7 burpees 1 minute rest 6 burpees 1 minute rest 5 burpees 1 minute rest 4 burpees 1 minute rest  3 burpees 1 minute rest 2 burpees 1 minute rest 1 burpee 1 minute rest During the rest period you should be walking and getting yourself ready for the next set.  Don't sit down. Once completed you will have done a total of  91 burpees in about 20 minutes. It should be noted that the balers dozen method to HIIT training can be used doing different types of exercises including mountain climbers, push ups, pull ups, squats, lunges, 20 yard sprints and others. If you are in outstanding shape then you can decrease your rest per...
Read more

Layups, Layups, Layups

Image
 When we go to youth games we like watching how the kids warm up.  To us youth basketball is an easy game to coach.  As a youth coach you need to teach your kids how to play good aggressive man to man defense and on the offensive end teach them how to pass and move towards the basket.  In a pass an move offense, layups are so important.  This goes back to our opening statement about watching youth level warm ups.  Most of the teams warming up spend a lot of time shooting shots, but the good ones are always working around the basket.  We've always found it entertaining that youth teams spend so much time working on jumpers and so little time on layups.  In addition, the little time they do spend on layups is spent doing basic layups using the right hand on the right side and the left hand on the left side.  There is so much more to it than this however and kids should be exposed to different types of layups in practice.  No one can predic...
Read more