Improve Your Shot While You Sleep

You may find this hard to believe, but you can
program your mind to be a better shooter while you
sleep at night.

Now, before you write me off as a quack just listen
for a minute. Experiment with yourself and see.

Studies have shown mentally rehearsing freethrows
is almost as effective as actually doing the physical
repetitions. What you want to do is both because
each will amplify the results of the other.

One of the best times to do this mental practicing is
right before bed because your mind can relax and
the subconscious mind is more available to you.

Don't do it laying in bed though. You'll fall asleep. Sit
quietly and relax your muscles progressively from
head to toe, (or from toe to head) in conjuction with
deep breathing. Then imagine yourself with as
much detail as possible shooting freethrows,
jumpshots off the pass, off the dribble, off the
screen, (or whatever you want to work on) with
good form and perfect results.

Make it real as you can, complete with the roar of
the crowd, the pressure, the smack talking, and
smell, and all the feelings you would feel in reality.
You can watch yourself like on a screen, or you can
jump into your body and see everything unfold from
behind your eyes. Or you might want to visualize
someone you know is a good shooter first, then jump
into their skin. All will benefit you in different ways.

You can also have keywords you say as you shoot
which will help trigger a consistent response. Keep
going till you feel you can't miss. Then get in bed
and sleep like a log.

When you practice physically you can use
visualization there too. See the ball going in before
you shoot, and try to summon the same success
emotions from your nightly mental practices. Try
this for 30 days and let me know how much your
shooting percentages improve.

Dr. Hal Wissel's shooting DVD - Confidence, Rhythm,
and Mechanics give you a great pattern to follow for
shot mechanics to mentally practice.

I'm still working on the display page, but you can get
a head-start and order it now at:

http://www.deandelker.com/wissel_order.html

Shoot for the Stars,

Dean - The Dean of Shooting Hoops

P.S. Both of Coach Tom Nordland's Swish videos are
also ideal for implanting good shot form in your brain.
Tom says Swish 2 has more detail so I would
recommend that first, but Swish 1 is very upbeat and
inspirational too. I'm sure you can make good use of
either or both at:

http://www.deandelker.com/products.html

Copyright, Delker Enterprises, Inc. 2006