Youth Basketball Free Throws: Foot Position

Video Transcript

"Hi, this is Sean Hobson and we're talking about the proper mechanics in making you a good shooter and a good free throw shooter. Right now what we want to talk about is when you first come to the line to shoot, one of the most important things to make you a good free throw shooter is how you lineup for your free throw shot. If you lineup too far off to the right side or to the left side of the free throw, then you're going to shoot it too far off to the right or the left side. You also want to make sure and come up to the free throw line without putting your foot all the way on the line because that's a penalty. You can't go across the line. So you want to make sure your toe is behind the line. You also don't want to step too far back. If you're younger and you can't make the shot to the free throw, then you want to stand back enough so when you jump and shoot, you come down and you don't cross the line because again, that's going to cost your team if you make the shot. So you want to make sure and approach the line first of all depending on where you stand. The main thing is on almost every floor when you come to shoot free throws, there will be a dot and that dot is lined up with the middle of the rim so it shows you where to shoot. What you want to do is you want to put your shooting side, if you're a right handed shooter, you want to put your right foot on that dot because you want to keep your foot and your hand lined up with the middle of the rim. So you want to come up, you want to find the middle of the rim, you want to put your first foot there, then again, you want to go back to the form, you want to get your feet shoulder width apart, set your base and all that follows. But the main thing is coming and standing on the free throw line properly."