Is ANYTHING really free?

I know a sure fire way to get the attention of a teacher/coach. Just mention the word "free". Most of us know full well there is really almost nothing of value we get that's free. Whether it's an obvious cost or a hidden one,

regardless, there is a cost.

We have a rather strange concept in the game of basketball and its called the "free throw," Well the true is, the term should probably be termed an earned uncontested shot. But let's face it, that doesn't exactly roll off the tongue. Supposedly one of the key statistics to consider when evaluating a game is how many free throw attempts you had and how many did your opponent have? Some coaches believe a key stat to look at after a game is

how many free throws did your team MAKE compared to how many attempts did your opponent have.

One of the aspects of the game many coaches complain about is how poorly their team shoots free throws in a game. Games are often indeed won and lost by how well a team executes from the free throw line. I have no

evidence but it seems there has been a downward trend in free throw shooting for a number of years at all levels of play. If true, why is it happening and what can be done to improve the free throw success of your

team?

We cannot deny the fact that for many players standing at the free throw line and making two or more attempts is unique. All other shots taken during a game are almost always contested with one or more bodies around you. For some players, standing at the free throw line and being the isolated focus of attention is a bit intimidating. Another challenge is how are you going to work on the craft of free throw shooting? From my

experience, free throw shooting in any significant number of attempts is very time consuming during a normal practice period. I will including some ideas for you to consider later in this post in terms of how you might instill in your practice plan a system for shooting free throws.

Because I have a good memory .... but it's short, I want to give you an idea to consider for your youth level teams. When your youth teams practice, and you could even add this requirement to your games, try this.

To start the game, each player is given one free throw attempt which if is

successful is added to the score. That way each player at least has a chance to score and it can be used to emphasize to the players how important free throw shooting is. If you don't want to play over time in youth games, you could use the same method to determine a winner. Part of your

responsibility as the coach is to convince your players how important good

free throw shooting is to the success of the team.

Keep it simple .... "Now this is a basketball."

How do you plan to teach free throw shooting? Some well respected coaches believe you should never shoot more than two free throws at a time. Then rotate to the next shooter. How many rotations are you going to have each practice? These are tough questions to ask because if you shoot a larger volume of free throws in practice, it will eat up your practice time. Do you shoot 20 free throws in practice? Do you record them? You do need a plan. It did make sense to me to try and place players in pressure situations in practice to work on free throw shooting. When you practice free throws, try to emulate game like conditions.

Practice Drills to Consider:

1. +1 and -1. No more than three players at a basket. First player to +5 wins.

Shoot 1 free throw at a time then rotate. Make +1. Miss -1.

2. Pressure Free Throws. Line up the entire team on the sideline and select at

random three shooters. Each shoots 1 free throw at a time. Each miss is a

team sprint down and back. Each make 1 sprint is reduced.

3. Free Throw Strings. Again three shooters at each basket. When drill

begins each shooter takes one attempt and rotates. After 3-5 minutes,

we record team of three that has the longest consecutive makes. That

team is rewarded.

4. Stop practice at random times and have a selected player step to the line

and shoot a 1 and 1 free throw. You can decide the reward if the free throw

is made or the consequences if the shot is missed.

Free Throw Mechanics:

1. Economy of motion. Start your free throw attempt with knees bent and

then extend up towards your target. Finish on the balls of your feet.

2. Pre shot routine is whatever a player is comfortable with. Most players are

going to want to bounce the ball somewhere between one, two or three

times.

3. Focus on your target .... back half of the rim. Encourage a small spot focus

4. Backwards rotation of the ball on the shot

5. Hold your follow through until the ball hits the target.

In a recent NCAA Tournament men's game a team lost by a narrow margin

and a key reason for the loss was the losing team made 11 out of 25 free throw attempts. Hard to believe a Division 1 college team could shot free

throws that poorly!