Shots Are Shots

"I NEVER hit a shot, not even in practice,
without having a very sharp, in-focus picture
of it in my head.

First I see the ball where I want it to finish,
nice and white and sitting up high on the
bright green grass. Then the scene quickly
changes, and I see the ball going there: its
path, trajectory, and shape, even its
behavior on landing.

Then there is a sort of fade-out, and the next
scene shows me making the kind of swing that
will turn the previous images into reality."

- Jack Nicklaus

Sure it's a golfer talking and not a hoopster,
but not just any golfer. One of the best ever.
So I think you can learn something about
shooting hoops from him, and about hitting
any goal or target for that matter.

First, notice he ALWAYS visualizes before
taking action, even in practice. That nugget
is priceless. If you can get in the habit of
doing that one thing your life can change
forever.

Of course, you CAN take action WITHOUT
visualizing beforehand. You can also do it
blindfolded if you want, but why? If the
world's most successful people visualize,
why not you?

Secondly he starts with visualizing his ideal
end result. That helps energize, focus and
intensify the rest of his visuals.

Then he visualizes every aspect of the flight
of the ball, i.e. the process leading up to the
result. In shooting that would involve the
direction and arc of the ball, proper backspin,
etc.

And lastly he sees himself executing the
perfect form to make the rest of his
visualization happen.

Nothing really hard about that. You just
have to take the time to do it.

And I'm serious about using this with
anything. Little things even. More about
that next time.

Make Every Shot Count,

Coach Dean - The Dean of Shooting Hoops

P.S. In golf you have the luxury of taking
your time before every shot. You can do that
on free throws, but for game speed shots
you'll need to develop a shorthand
visualization sequence.

In his "Primetime Shooting" DVD Coach
Stan Kellner teaches a quick 3 count
visualization very similar to what Jack
Nicklaus does.

Get the step-by-step on that and a half-
dozen other powerful visualization drills
for shooting today at:

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

P.S.S. Learning how to control your
breathing is also a huge factor in generating
powerful, charged, confident visualizations.

If you're not doing this already, don't worry.
Not many people teach this. If you want to
make your actions more effective and easier
though you'll do well to learn:

'Miracle Of The Complete Breath'

I've even made it easy for you to get started
in minutes today at:

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

Copyright, Delker Enterprises, Inc. 2006,2007

This post is protected by copyright, but you have
permission to copy and use it in its entirety as long
as the links are intact.

When Does Your Practice Start

Something my violinist friend Clayton said
recently sparked a question for you.

When does your practice start?

Before you go thinking I'm weird, just
remember I prefer the term eccentric.

I'm serious though. The vast majority
would say practice begins when they step
out on the court. Duh.

Makes perfect sense.

But if that's your answer you're missing
something.

Before organized practice your coaching
staff leads you through warmups, right?
And if your body needs that, do you think
your mind might too?

Of course it does.

You can prime your mind to be more
alert and focused, and one of the best
ways to do that is through visualizing
what you expect to get out of your
practice (or out of a game, for that
matter.)

So before you go out and practice
shooting take a few minutes of deep,
controlled breathing, relax your body,
relax your mind, and decide what you
want to accomplish.

Then see yourself doing every bit of
that with ease. Don't be discouraged if
your visualizing isn't so well developed.
You may not see clearly at all at first,
or be able to hold it long. I couldn't, but
it got better. Like most things in life do
your best and just aim to improve
every day.

Don't forget to include as much detail
and emotion in your projection as you
can. Then when you step on the court
you'll be primed to get more out of your
practice time, and get better faster.

Shoot For The Stars,

Coach Dean - The Dean of Shooting Hoops

P.S. You can use this method to do anything
better. Mental warmup and planting the flag
of your expectation like this will help you do
better in class, on tests, in interviews, in
making a speech, and even on a big date.

P.S.S. I learned from Patrick Chylinski one
of the things you want to do to become a
dominant scorer is to start off your game
with a bang. Try to take the opening tip and
score or get a big assist. Let your defender
know he's in for a rough night.

You can spend time visualizing a start like
that before every game, and you'll find
yourself acting it out in your games.

I don't know how that works. Maybe the
neurons that create the imagination burn
some kind of a 'groove' in your brain.
Then when a similar situation arises you'll
play like it's old hat to you.

First though get Patrick's report so you'll
know what to aim for in your mental
warmups.

And you're in luck. You can have it in
minutes today at:

http://www.deandelker.com/20ppg.html

Note: This blog entry is protected by
copyright but you do have permission to
copy and use it in its entirety as long as
the links are intact and the contact
information is included.

Copyright 2006,2007 Delker Enterprises, Inc.

Coach Dean Delker
8413 SW 4th Place
Gainesville, FL 32607
352-494-6572