The Zen of Partner Practice
- Blog:
By Jim "Makevery" Schatz
I could be the luckiest free throw master in the world. When I was younger, in my late 40's and 50's, just starting to shoot a basketball, my practice partners were all great free throw masters. My mentors were: Kenny Kroft (1996-98), Dr. Tom Amberry (1998-2003) and for the last eight years (2002- now) my practice partner and mentor has been free throw master Fred Newman.
My first shooting mentor, Ken Kroft, was a 96% free throw master, originally mentored by John Wooden. John Wooden was also one of the best ever at the free throw line, owning the consecutive free throws made record in professional basketball competition at 134 in-a-row. Wooden, Amberry and Newman are considered the top three out of four all time and the best ever at the free throw line. Ted St. Martin is the other and he is a friend and always ready to help. With that kind of start and coaching influence, you might think, how could one miss?
However, it isn't really that simple. The better I got, and the closer I came to their shooting ability, the more competitive things would get. Making all your free throws requires total commitment, focus and concentration and things can start to get very sticky quickly if you start competing with each other instead of helping each other. You never want to mess with your practice partner’s mind, especially if they have a champion’s mind-set. It can come back to haunt you.
Become An Assist Expert During Practice Sessions
Things can get out of control and highly competitive quickly when you don't have the proper mind-set while practicing with a partner. The proper mind-set is to want to help your partner’s concentration by wanting them to make every shot. It's that perfect level of competence you are seeking to shoot against which will pull and push you to improvement towards the goal of perfection. The better your partner shoots the more pressure and better you will have to perform to maintain the proper practice environment.
It's very easy to distract the human mind. You will need to be rid of those urges for distraction, when it comes to your practice partner, because that attitude will ultimately hold you back and destroy your relationship and confidence for working together. Work together to develop a perfect field of focus and concentration for peak performance.
The Four Keys To Perfect Practice With A Partner
1. Pick a person who is dependable. Dr. Tom and Fred were glued to their rituals and routines which included consistent practice days and times. Be on their schedule and always be on time or early. Practice with the best shooter possible. What they do will influence you.
2. Practice with a person you admire and like a great deal. Hopefully, they will feel the same way about you. It's best to practice with a person who is also a close friend. If you are a good practice partner, you are also a good friend to have. When you are working well together, your friendship bond grows.
3. The element of a still and silent environment is so important during practice. When communicating with your practice partner, only speak between sets of shots, when neither of you are shooting. Since focus and concentration are so critical, keep the discussions on the shooting and what's going on in the ‘here and now’. Socialize after the practice session. Don’t even socialize much at the beginning of a practice session. This is the time to warm up.
4. When rebounding while your partner is shooting, you want to pretend you are a ball return system. A ball return system is never a distraction. It is just there, connected to the hoop and doesn't talk, move before, during or after the shot. The basketball goes through the hoop, through the return and bounces back to the shooter pretty much the same every time. The sound, force and rhythm of the bounces of the basketball helps to create and establish a consistent shooting rhythm.
Although I am teaching the art of shooting and free throw mastery, I am really using the medium of making every free throw as a means to teach focus, concentration and improve the attention span. When you begin to see the mental and physical health benefits derived from perfect practice you begin to realize how important focus and concentration are.
They are mental exercises requiring a peaceful state of mind similar to mediation. I approach the rebounding responsibility as just another exercise to develop my ability to be still and silent just as I do when I'm shooting.
There are no trophies for great assist making in free throw so it's a personal journey and while I'm working with my partner I feel like I'm part of his success.
Everything can become boring if done a lot, or all the time, but as Dr. Tom Amberry once told me, "Those that excel at anything that others find boring create their own zone." He also said, "The mental habit of focus and concentration help in not only improving free throw shooting but also in accomplishing other things in life".
When I am rebounding, I stand still and erect in the same spot, directly under the backboard every time. I stand with perfect posture, my hands held together behind my back. I breathe in a way as to coordinate with the shooters in and out breaths. Perfect assist practice requires perfect assist fundamentals.
I watch my practice partner’s seven fundamental steps (see below) while he shoots, in order to detect any difference in his consistency. I think no thoughts other than making a perfect pop of the shot just like the shooter. I'm just a silent observer.
I watch the follow-through and release and track the basketball to see where it enters the net or hits the rim. My hands go up once my practice partner has finished his follow-through and I simply tap the basketball, after it comes through the net directly above me, gently back to the shooter. I don't catch it and hold it if it goes through the net. The shooter sets the pace and I help by being neutral and stay out of the way, just like a ball return system.
If a shot doesn't go through the hoop, I quickly retrieve it to help maintain the shooter’s pace. I can do that quickly by being totally focused and in deep concentration. You will never see my eyes or head turned, with my attention wandering outside of the field we are in, called, “perfect practice during partner practice”.
Keep Records
Dr. Tom Amberry taught me the importance of keeping daily records for setting goals and improvement. I have gone several steps farther in keeping track of my own progress.
I carry a daily journal for my free throw mastery practice. Then, I bring these notebook records home and transfer them to a free throw mastery file which I save in an email file. In this way, I've become much more organized.
Before each practice session, I make a practice plan and then carry out my plan. Before every basketball shooting season, I plan out my entire practice and tournament schedules. In 2011, I am scheduled to shoot in a minimum of 10 events. This will be my number one priority when scheduling my workout days.
Fred Newman and I will be practicing together once or twice a week from December 9th, until completion of the Huntsman World Senior Games and other national senior championships, generally held at the end of October.
I will be practicing on Tuesdays, Thursdays and Sundays at pre-set early morning times, until I'm strong enough to add a day. Adding another day may never happen, as I'm 63 years old and have arthritis in my right hip, which is my anchor leg for shooting baskets. I have been struggling with injuries, strength and recovery.
At 73, Fred Newman is 10 years older than me and he tells me he feels the difference every year in his coordination and balance. He hurt his adjustment foot, left achilles, doing jump squats, which he used to enjoy doing as a warm-up. I think he thought he was still 17. He is wiser now, but it pains him not to be able to do the things he used to be able to do so easily.
Maintaining athletic excellence becomes a problem as we age. It's just a fact of life and unavoidable. This is the reason for age division competition.
Fred finished the shooting season last year without any practice the last six weeks. He just shot the events. He is the most courageous competitor I know. He made 25 out of 25 in San Diego, 25 out of 25 in San Bernadino and made 23 out of 25 free throws in Utah, at the Huntsman. A remarkable feat with an injured achilles and without practice.
Fred only practices now for two days a week, 6am on Tuesdays and Thursdays. He is still in recovery. Our first competition in 2011 is Palm Desert, California, in early February. Neither of us is currently shooting very well in practice but in a short time should be back shooting free throw mastery percentages.
When I was in my 40's and 50's, I could practice every day for hours. Often doing two training sessions a day. Those days are behind me and now I am trying to make adjustments and have to accept the fact that I may not be as good a shooter as I was before.
Ted St. Martin has retired and doesn't shoot at all. Dr. Tom shoots but doesn't compete any more. Setting records is physically very demanding and it turns out to be quite a sacrifice later, physically. Who is physically the same after 80? We all live under different health conditions but my advice is to never give up.
No matter how old or sick I get, I hope to always be a shooter. It keeps me feeling young and healthy and motivated to be active and healthy.
The 7 Fundamental Steps For Shooting
1. Getting totally focused, balanced and in deep visual concentration during alignment.
2. Establishing the grip. Setting the off hand/guide hand and the shooting hand and gaining hand to basketball balance.
3. The initial move. When all body parts begin to move, remain in line, in balance and when the shooting force is initiated.
The following four steps (4 - 7) all coordinate and blend together into one fluid motion subconsciously after the initial move.
4. Knee bend.
5. Shot pocket / Set point.
6. Targeting and hitting the "sweet spot" - bulls-eye target. http://www.nbsashooters.com/targeting-sweet-spot-perfect-free-throw-shooting-practice
7. Momentum of shot - the follow through and release. Shot evaluation while maintaining acceptance of the performance and the shot.