How to Use Proper Shooting Form in Basketball

Every basketball team needs to have good shooters. In order to be a good shooter it is very important to use proper shooting form. Proper shooting form along with a lot of practice will lead you to become a very good shooter. This article focuses on proper shooting technique.

Instructions

Difficulty: Moderate

Things You’ll Need:

• Basketball
• Basketball hoop
• Partner

1. Your legs should be slightly wider than shoulder width apart and you should feel in balance with your knees bent.
2. Your shoulders should be square to the basket. To test this, make sure the center of your chest is pointed at the center of the basket.
3. The wrist on your shooting hand should be cocked back--it should look like you are holding a pizza.
4. The ball should be resting on the top pad of your shooting hand with your middle finger in the center of the ball. The top pad of your shooting hand is the part of your hand just below your fingers and above your palm.
5. Your shooting elbow should be tucked in. In other words, if you drew a line from your shoulder through the elbow it will go towards the basket.
6. Your guide hand (non-shooting hand) should be on the side of the ball. The thumb on your guide hand should make an "L" with the thumb on your shooting hand. These thumbs should not be touching, though.
7. Focus your eyes on the back of the rim. You should keep your eyes focused on the back of the rim until you see the ball go into the rim. You should not follow the flight of the ball.
8. Bend your legs, then rise up to shoot. The strength of the shot comes from your legs.
9. As you are rising up to shoot, extend your arms so that your hands are at or above your forehead.
10. Release your guide hand from the ball.
11. Propel your shooting hand forward by releasing your wrist from the cocked position. The ball is shot with this wrist release--it is not shot with your arms.
12. While keeping your eyes focused on the back of the rim, follow through after releasing. Your follow-throw should look like this:
    1. Shooting hand is at or above your forehead (finish as high as is comfortable for you)
    2. Shooting hand is pointed right at target with hand pointed slightly downward (looks like a fish hook)
    3. Guide hand is out to the side with palm facing you
    4. Eyes are focused on the back of the rim
    5. Ball should have backspin (spinning back towards you)
    * To check this, freeze your body after releasing the shot and have your partner check to make sure you have followed these five rules.

Tips & Warnings

• You can practice shooting technique while lying on your back by shooting the ball up in the air and catching it. (Practice while lying in bed).
• Shooting technique does not change as you shoot from different distances--the only thing that changes is the amount of leg strength that you use. To shoot a longer distance shooter, simply get more bend in your legs and more explosion when you rise up to shoot.
• Be sure to release the ball as you are nearing the height of your jump--you do not want to shoot as you are coming down. Younger players may need to shoot on the way up to maximize the power to get the ball to the hoop.
• NEVER practice using bad technique--shooting with the incorrect technique is a waste of time and encourages bad habits.
• It is a good idea to have your shooting technique reviewed by a qualified basketball/shooting coach--even slight technique errors can lead to poor shooting performance.
• Shooting is as much mental as it is physical--BELIEVE that every shot you take is going in the basket and forget about the shot you may have just missed. Good shooters believe that every ball is going in!