FREESHOOTING.

Four Fun Ways to Improve It

ONE OF THE TOUGHEST things for a coach to do is watch his team lose a ballgame on the freethrow line. Leads can slip away or deficits mount as one free throw after another is missed.

This was a major problem in my first year as a high school coach. My team could not make free throws if their lives depended on it. I was literally forced to devise a way to improve their skill.

I began to search the books and the literature from other coaches. I found both good and bad ideas, as I sought to break away from the traditional prescription--"shoot a hundred fouls at the end of practice."

I finally settled on a drill series that enabled us to raise our 49% average to 68% without interrupting practice while allowing the players to enjoy themselves!

The drill is called "Jeopardy Free Throws." The players are broken down into two-man or three-man units (depending on the number of available baskets) and four minutes are placed on the clock.

Each player shoots two and rotates to the back of his unit until the coach calls out a name. The player called immediately steps up to the line and shoots a one-and-one.

If both shots are made, all the players continue as before. If one shot is missed, the entire team is penalized. The penalty could be anything the coach desires, as long as it is not excessive. It should be just a small reminder of the importance of foul-shooting.

As you can see, this drill puts the players under pressure to perform with all the action stopped and everyone watching.

The next drill is called "Eleven." The players are divided into two groups or whatever the coach deems feasible. Each group begins shooting fouls with the idea of working down from 11 to zero by the buzzer (a predetermined interval).

Each player is in a one-and-one situation. Each made free throw subtracts a point from the total. Each miss adds a point. After two makes or a miss, the player rotates to the back of his line.

Any time a group fails to reach zero by the buzzer, a penalty may be assessed. The amount of shooting time may fluctuate according to the skill level of the players.

The third drill is called "Beat the Ghost Team." This is a competitive drill in which the team objective is to defeat a "ghost team" from the foul line.

The score is set at 70-84 in favor of the "ghost team." Each player takes just two shots in his one opportunity at the line. If the "ghost team" is defeated after every player has shot, an award may be presented to the players.

The fourth drill, the "Freethrow Ladder," is considered the best of the drills. At the beginning of every week, each player shoots 20 free throws. The total number of shots made is recorded in order on a pasteboard or a poster cut in the shape of a ladder. (Ties are settled with a 10-shot shoot-out.)

After practice every day, each player must challenge the player directly above him or be challenged by the player directly below him.

If the challenger wins, he moves one step up the ladder. If he loses, he remains where he is. If a challenger is refused, the player forfeits his position on the ladder.

A player may challenge as many times as he desires over a designated period of time. At the end of the week, the player at the top of the ladder receives an award of some kind. The ladder is then cleared and play is resumed the following week.

This drill program offers a funful and challenging way to work on free-throwing after practice, enabling the players to shoot more free-throws with greater concentration than just shooting 50 at a time.

It reduces boredom to a minimum by stressing competition and fun. But, most important, it helps improve the team's freeshooting ability.