A five-spot shooting drill.

A series of progressive moves that will create a more realistic approach to practice shooting

Many coaches at the Junior High and middle school levels have been pressed into service with little or no prior coaching experience. They are parents, business men, academicians, or retired athletes whose experiences are distant memories.

In many areas of human interest, however, beginning coaches have shown a surprising aptitude for adapting successful coaching strategies to the needs of young people.

As you can see in Diag. 1, it pairs up a shooter at five spot out on the floor (wing on each side, baseline on each side, and top of the key) with a defender in the lane.

The shooter takes five shots at each spot, with his partner rebounding the ball and passing it back to him. The players then switch positions - and move on to the next spot.

We call this drill "Concentration Shooting" and work on it early in the season. If ever and whenever our shooting falls off, we will return to this drill.

The shooter may treat the shot like a free throw - setting his feet and bouncing the ball to loosen up. Above all, however, he must concentrate on correct shooting form for baby jumpers and set shots - making sure to wave bye-bye with his wrist on the follow through.

Our first upgrade of the five-spot drill is called "On the Move." As shown in Diag. 2, the shooter now moves diagonally backward two or three steps to a new position.

Soon as his partner obtains possession, the shooter comes to the ball. He receives the outlet pass and shoots from his new position.

He performs this move for each of his five shots, taking great care to make the lateral movement only on his backup, not on his move toward the pass.

This is a much more energy-consuming strategy, and the tiring process will more closely simulate the game situation.

In our second upgrade (Diag. 3), the rebounder is allowed to offer passive resistance. He holds the ball a little longer as he turns toward the shooter and begins his approach. He whips the ball to the shooter and goes straight at him with his hand up as if to block the shot.

He may wave the hand or holier to distract the shooter, but he cannot leave his feet or make a serious attempt to block the shot.

Our third upgrade is called "Read the Defense" (Diag. 4). It incorporates an option for the rebounder and a read by the shooter.

The pair begin as in the "Passive Defense" drill with the rebounder making his play as before or choosing not to defend at all.

The shooter reads this action:

If the defender offers no opposition, the shooter will simply take his shot.

If the rebounder elects to hold the ball a little longer to get closer to the shooter, and then, after passing, rushes the shooter and plays tight, tough defense, the shooter may respond with a previously learned move, called "The Jab-Step Fake, Cross-Over Drive" (more on this move later on) and take the baby jumper.

We do not allow the shooter to go all the way in for the layup. We are still working on our spot shooting.

These strategies observe a logical progression and create a much more realistic approach to practice shooting. The drills can be used by any beginning or volunteer coach to improve his players' overall shooting skill.

A coaching point about the Jab-Step Fake, Cross-Over Drive:

When a right-handed shooter moves in to receive the pass, he should take the ball with the left foot forward and then step into the shot with the right foot. This will establish the left foot as the pivot foot.

When confronted by an aggressive defender, especially one who is playing straight up, the shooter is in excellent position to drive. He should take a short step with the right foot as if going to drive to his right. (Note: the step must be short, since the shooter will be pulling the leg back, and a long step will simply take too much time.)

The fake step to the right should be accompanied with a head and ball fake to sell the move to the defender.

The shooter must then pull the right foot back and (while the foot is off the floor) cross it over to the left side to initiate his drive past the defender.

The key coaching point is to execute this move without lifting the left foot and creating a traveling violation.

Note: The left-handed shooter need only reverse the directions, using his right foot as the pivot foot and jab-stepping with the left foot.