Form Shooting: Don’t Cheat Your Development

Form shooting is an essential part of your shooting development regardless of your current level of ability. Whether you are a beginner who is learning how to properly shoot, a player who shoots poorly because of bad habits, an improving shooter because of hard work and repetitions, or an advanced shooter who has the “green light”, it is important to incorporate form shooting as part of your preparation and development. Form shots are warm-up/preparatory shots taken before a shooting workout, team practice, or game-play and are typically taken away from and/or in close to the basket. Form shooting has a two-fold purpose: 1) to warm you up for shooting “game shots” – 3’s, pull-up jumpers, mid-range jumpers, step-back jumpers, etc. and 2) to allow you to focus solely on your shooting form/technique/mechanics in order to develop and maintain good shooting habits.

Unfortunately, many players have the wrong approach to shooting – they come into a gym and immediately start shooting game shots. You cheat your development when you prepare yourself in this manner. Instead, there should be a preparatory warm-up phase for shooting “game shots at game speed”, whether you are preparing to shoot in a training session, team practice/scrimmage, or game. Poor preparation leads to poor performance. Having a form shooting routine or simply repping form shots before a workout, practice, or game is the first step to properly warm-up and prepare yourself as a shooter.

Besides providing a starting point to properly warm-up as a shooter, shooting form shots also allows you to concentrate on proper mechanics by working on specific aspects of your shooting technique. Once you get into taking game shots in a shooting workout, practice or game itself, it is much more difficult to focus solely on your form for various reasons. Being disciplined to shoot form shots every time you go into a gym to practice or play will give you an opportunity to develop and maintain your shooting form. You cheat your development if you ignore and neglect your shooting form. If your shooting form improves so will your shot. If your shooting form breaks down so will your shot.

So, if you want to be a great shooter, you will be disciplined and diligent to develop and maintain proper shooting form, as well as be consistent to warm-up properly as a shooter through the process of form shooting You cheat your development as a shooter, if the first thing you do when you enter a gym, especially if you are a young player, is start chucking up game shots. Here at the NRBA, we implement a variety of form shooting drills and challenges with all of our students at the start of any shooting instruction/workout because great shooters are committed to the development and maintenance of their shooting technique. We would love to be a part of your development as a shooter and are committed to ‘helping you reach your full potential’. We offer two specialized shooting programs to assist you in your development: Sharp Shooter Saturday and Shooter’s Heaven. In addition to these shooting programs, we also offer private basketball instruction, which not only focuses on shooting development, but all areas of the game. If you have any questions concerning this basketball tip or any of the programs we offer, please do not hesitate to contact us.