A MESSAGE FROM TOM NORLAND

Swish Shooting Clinics in Minnesota latter July (or later)?Dear friend of the Swish Method,Greetings to you and your family. I hope you're handling well the economic woes we're all subject to. My sales are very slow, but they're still trickling in and that's encouraging. Got to find better ways to market myself in this tight economy.

This is being sent to over 300 contacts up there who have sponsored clinics, asked about hosting, or attended clinics in the Upper Midwest. Minneapolis is my home state, and I wanted to ask if you want to help me organize a clinic or two this spring or summer in the Twin Cities area and within a 100-mile radius. First, a comment about my coaching.

MY COACHING IS EVER EVOLVING!

I've been at this shooting stuff for over 20 years, yet I keep seeing new things. My discovery of Inertia over four years ago was in time to be included in Swish 2, but it was so new I didn't even use the word "Inertia." I called it only "Newton's First Law of Motion," about the tendencies of an object in motion.

TODAY INERTIA IS A MAJOR THING I TEACH!

It sets up the whole shot. Without it, shooting is much more difficult. Dipping is, as I see it, the body's instinctive way to generate Inertia, yet some coaches are saying Dipping is bad. But if you watch the better shooters, they ALL dip ... all the time! If there's no time or space to dip, then, of course, do not dip, but it might be better not to shoot in such a circumstance because the shot becomes much more difficult.

FIRST HALF VS. SECOND HALF OF A SHOT

And from experimenting and observing the new distinction of Inertia, I got a new insight just a couple weeks ago. I saw that we can break the Release action into two "sections" (just the simple idea of a "First Half" and a "Last Half") and how critical both halves are.

I think most players are pretty oblivious to what they do before the moment of Release. Getting the ball ready for the Release includes footwork and body motion to generate power and get the body aligned, and then there's some kind of motion to bring the ball up to the Set Point so the Release can be fired off. But I think it's often not thought about much. I see a lot of players bringing the ball up off line or taking it way overhead, positions that inhibit the best shooting.

My coaching discovery is that, "The First Half of a shot is critical and ALMOST as important as the Last Half!"

Why do I say, "Almost?"

I say that because a great Release can correct faulty and off-line setting and weak or nonexistent body/leg action, but if the Release is AWOL (inconsistent and/or not accurate with distance and direction), no matter how wonderful the First Half was, the ball ain't going to go into the basket! The Release is still the most important element, but if the ball is on line and moving before the Release action, it just makes everything easier. Read the testimonial at the bottom of this email*** from a dad describing what he sees in his son's quick improvement. I'll be incorporating this idea of the two halves and how important they are into all of my coaching. In clinics and camps, I'm now introducing it early and often, and the result is more effective shooting by everyone. See what the understanding does for your own shooting.

IF YOU COULD HOST A CLINIC ... I'LL BE THERE!

If you have access to a gym and would like to consider hosting a clinic or two , please contact me (call 888/794-7422). If you can host one clinic or more, other people in the area will also respond (once dates are worked out) to host their own session(s) or send kids to yours. See my Clinic Guidelines.

One of my venues is the amazing Colin Powell Leadership Center in So. Minneapolis (they have four big courts, 8 smaller courts if run crosswise), and the director of basketball there, Kelby Brothen, said that two open periods for him are: July 15-21, or July 22-28 During these two periods, I'll have some clinics at the Powell Center, but I will also be available to come to your gym for clinics and/or camps. These dates are just an overall timeframe. I can later consider dates more into late summer or fall, but let's try to make one of these periods work for now.

With this Swish Shooting Tour you would expose a number of your kids and coaches to this simple and powerful way of shooting. As I think you know, my approach is the way of the great shooters, not just something I thought up and works for some kids. (Stephen Curry, of the Golden State Warriors, and whom I recently met, shoots exactly the way I coach it ... as does/did Taurasi, Kerr, Nash, Hornacek, Schrempf, etc.) This can work for everybody!!!

TIME AND FEES -- LET'S FIND A WAY TO MAKE THIS WORK!My half-day "Clinics" are typically 4 hours long, and my 2-day "Camps" are 7 hours, and I can coach up to ~24 kids at a time. My Clinics have typically been priced at $60/person** and Camps at $90/person,** including one of the Swish videos. I also offer Swish 2 at a 67% discount, just $10, to enrollees. You would probably need to increase my fees to cover facilities costs and any fund-raising needs.

(**If you feel the prices are too high for families in these troubled times, let me know and we can adjust them. Don't let lack of money deter any young player from this exciting coaching! I also freely give full- and partial-scholarships.

TRAINING COACHES IS BECOMING A BIG DEAL! I think you know that a big part of my future is in training coaches to teach this approach around the world. To that end, I'm closing in on an eBook on coaching the Swish Process, and it should be available within a month. It will detail all the things I coach and explain things, step by step. It will have photos and video clips to support the words. I expect we'll be offering at least one Coaches' Training when I'm in Minnesota, hopefully early in the time frame so the coaches can then observe/assist with the kids' clinics to see what I do and learn by helping out a bit. Stay tuned for this.

I HOPE TO SEE YOU! Thanks much for checking into this and contacting me. I can see that the main thing I'm doing (and teaching others to do) is coaching kids "to be able to coach themselves" in these simple principles. The "technique" is the starting point, but then what's important is for the kids to learn to be aware of how they do things and thus become independent of me. It's in the "Practice" that they will ultimately master this approach to shooting, and what and how to practice is what I teach.

HELP ME PROMOTE THE SWISH METHOD I'm working to raise the bar on getting this shooting method out to the basketball world. The game is still suffering from poor and mediocre shooting at all levels. The Swish Flyer PDF (see below) does a nice job of describing the Swish Renaissance. You can help by promoting the videos and website to your friends and fellow coaches/parents. Tell them about the free Newsletters, now numbering 117! The video clips linked to below exist on my website on the "Shooting Gallery" page.

Get clinics going as a way to build a nucleus of players and coaches who can carry the coaching and the message further. Consider becoming a shooting coach yourself. Wouldn't THAT be something?

As clinics or camps get planned, I'll keep you informed. I hope you can be a "leader" for me in the Upper Midwest area. Thanks for your support.

Cheers,

Tom NordlandBoulder Creek, Calif. (near San Jose)

Tom Nordland,

Basketball Shooting CoachSwish International, Inc. Swish WebsiteTel: 888/SWISH-22 (888/794-7422)For a Basketball Shooting Renaissance

P.S. PEOPLE MUST BE SEARCHING The game of basketball must still be searching for a more effective way to perform and coach shooting. Seeing Kentucky miss their first 20 3-Pt shots and miss 13 Free Throws in a loss to West Virginia is a wake-up call (WV didn't run away with the game because, despite making 10 of 23 3's (43%, pretty good) they missed 11 Free Throws, themselves. I would think players and coaches know something is very wrong with the skill. We see a few really good shooters on some teams, but the great majority of players are still are streaky, at best! Sometimes the level of shooting is so bad, doesn't it make you want to change the channel? Yet the same thing exists at all levels, high school, college and the pros. You can't escape it if you want to watch basketball!

Coaches and shooting coaches are still emphasizing the old obsolete instructions like "Square up" and "Flip the wrist" and "Elbow under the ball." You know the greatest shooters we've had don't/didn't do it that way. But it's become the "Party Line." Help me change that. With your own experience as a guide, tell others there's a different way that totally makes sense. Everything I say and write can be proven by experience. Send me ideas for promotion, marketing, Internet exposure, etc.

If you haven't visited my website for awhile, you have a treat in store. In June of last year we completely revamped it: See URL below.

Thanks for your help! To shift the direction of the massive boat we call basketball shooting will take a clear goal and a lot of tugboats, like you and me. We must persevere.

IF YOU HAVEN'T SEEN THESE BEFORE -- THREE EXAMPLES OF EXTRAORDINARY SWISH SHOOTING!

1) Here is video footage of 14-year-old "Swish" shooter, recorded three years after learning the Swish Method from Tom in Maryland. To this day he and his dad continue using the tools and methods they learned, and Gavin here brilliantly demonstrates the technique. Look at the beauty of his shooting! Gavin shooting

2) Here's a shooting clip I got recently of a 12 year old boy (93 lbs, says his dad) named Joe from Palo Alto I've coached a few times. Just see the control and confidence this young boy has. It's the confidence of "knowing." He recently won a shooting championship at a big sports academy in Florida, beating boys up through high school, some of whom are committed to Division 1 schools. Joe #1

3) NEW: Here is the latest of Joe from Palo Alto, draining 3's. Joe #2

Anybody can learn to do this. And then you learn to do it faster and quicker, and then with a defender in your face, and, voilà, you're "A SHOOTER!"

NEW SWISH FLYER TELLS THE WHOLE STORY!This two-page PDF tells the story of the need for more effective coaching of shooting and how the Swish approach to shooting solves that need. The answer is a simple, easily learned approach anyone can learn and most can master:
Swish Flyer PDF

TEACHING THE WORLD TO SHOOT A BASKETBALLAs some of you know, I was honored in 2007 in the Minnesota Boys State Tournament Program with a great article entitled "Teaching the World to Shoot a Basketball." The writer did a great job with the interviewing, writing and layout. Here is a link to a pdf of the 1 1/2 page article:

Minnesota State Tournament Program from 2007

TESTIMONIAL FROM A DAD IN MICHIGAN: "Hi Tom: My son and I watched all or part of Swish 2 a couple of times over this past weekend. Fortunately, the weather here in Michigan (you never know in March) was nice enough that we could get outside and immediately work on what we learned.

"I took your advice and had my son (12 years old) teach me the Swish 2 method which really reinforced the concepts for him.

"The results were quite remarkable. He has always struggled with a flat shot (I probably had him shooting over his head at too young an age) resulting in a low shooting percentage. Reinforcing the basics (which were pretty solid) and then just concentrating on ball flight and Upforce had an immediate impact. His set and jump shots were so much smoother and most importantly he just couldn't miss. It really was quite amazing to watch.

"While he still has a ways to go, practice is so much more fun now that he is making such a high percentage of his shots.

"Also, the one thing that resonated with my son more than any other (and had the biggest impact on his shot) is keeping the ball in-line with the eye and basket from beginning to end of the shot. We really worked on how he moved the ball from dribble or catch up into his set point. When he finally got it, his accuracy increased dramatically.

[Ed's note: This is what I mean by the importance of both halves of the shooting process!]

"Thank you for your help. "

Grant S.Rochester Hills, MI

THE GREATEST LIE IN SPORTS

One final thing: A coach put out a Youtube video called "The Greatest Lie in Sports." It's about the error of squaring up the feet, and you can view it at:Greatest Lie

I've been saying this about shooting for over 20 years!

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