Guidance in Shooting Is a Killer

I really mean it. Guidance is a tricky thing for coaches and players. As parents and coaches, there is a natural tendency for us to become "owners" of your players and therefore gain "control" of them. What is intended as guidance to coaches/parents is something helpful to players. But, what most players want is not guidance, but FREEDOM and once players hit the age of about 12, the very last thing they need is guidance.

I'll give you an example. How do you get a horse to enter your trailer. You can start shoving its bottom as hard as you can and get your butt kicked by the horse.

Or, what you can do is lead the horse in by dropping a carrot in the entrance of your trailer. That is why I like to use the term OFFER or EXAMPLE. When we, as coaches, give out instructions and orders instead of just letting the player figuring out what works for them and them only through different examples that we implement, we are literally programming them like robots! This literally hinders their performance b/c this takes away from the awareness that is needed to understand what is going on with their shot.

I learned this concept the hard way! When you see players shooting with flawed mechanics, they literally don't want any more instruction blasted into their ears.

What they want is something different that they want to implement and play around with. This way, mistakes opens doors to new ideas instead of punishment. This is especially important for younger players along their journey of discovery. They'll learn not to judge their shooting, but instead use whatever feeling that occurred in their process as it is.

You must approach it as no right or wrong/ black or white. It is the student who is the creator and they are intelligent enough to see what works for them. We are simply there for them as a tool for new ideas to further add a new movement pattern for them to work with. A really good example is a child riding his/her bike. They literally learn from their bumps and bruises that shaped how they ride their bikes presently.

So, give them a different IDEA and move out of the way. They most likely never have felt that different movement pattern or way of shooting, so therefore let them become the catalyst to their system. You'll definitely reap the benefits like me and my brother have.