Winning on the Perimeter

It was a fall afternoon, as I arrived to town for my very first coaching interview. I was three years removed from high school, had spent endless hours dissecting offensive and defensive strategy involved in the game, and had worked a few summers for a popular northwest basketball camp. In my narrow mind, I was ready to take on a head coaching position. I walked into the school dressed with confidence but nervous for the unknown to be met by the school secretary. I told her I was there for a mid-afternoon meeting with Mr. Dixon the school's principal an avid basketball fan. I was familiar with Mr. Dixon for earlier that summer I had been approached by members of the community to put on a mini-basketball camp for the towns kids.

The interview was not like I had rehearsed in my mind. I didn't field any questions regarding my offensive and defensive strategy, failed to hear any inquiry regarding past coaching experience, but was simply asked if I was serious about the position? Would I be willing to move to the area? What would I do with a group of young men who had very little talent, but a lot of heart and only 4 years to find success?

It was November before my travels brought me to town again, this time as the head varsity boys basketball coach for a little Oregon 1A team who was picked at the bottom of the High Desert League. The scramble to find an offense that fit a team made up of 4 local boys (only one over 6 feet tall) and 3 foreign exchange students covering the globe from the equator to the south pole, had begun. It was clear from the cast we were going to have to win the basketball in order to have a chance against the league elite. Thus, I sat out to modify and basketball a 4 out motion set, guided by the underpinnings of a 5 out motion alignment. What evolved out of such an eclectic mixture would later be known as my 'Sting Attack'; a 5 out motion game influenced by Duke's 4 man game blended with the legendary Bobby Knight's fundamental approach to basketball.

It wasn't long before the 'Sting Attack' was helping an undermanned, under sized, and under talented group of boys win the perimeter. Using sound principals and skillful fundamental development, a series of screening actions and rapid meaningful cuts where blazing holes through our opponents defense. I had introduced my 'Sting Attack' four and five man motion offenses the first week of practice and we were winning games by Christmas break-taking two of three from the league's top tier. Two years later my group of undermanned, undersized, heard working boys found themselves winning on the perimeter and battling for a district playoff birth.

That summer I received a phone call from a local administrator who was looking for a basketball coach. This time I would be asked about my offensive philosophy for winning was a tradition at this school; I presented my fundamentally charged hybrid 'Sting Attack' and promised the hiring committee this four out motion would be the backbone of success if they hired me. Later that week I received a phone call with a job offer and eventually went on to win the perimeter battle with the 'sting attack' and for months in the '04 season had the number one 2A men's team in the state. Not bad for a little coach who wished only to develop a system that would give any team with any talent an opportunity to win.

To purchase a copy of Coach Mac's 'Sting Attack' offense visit http://www.coachmac-basketball.com

For more from Coach McKinnis on the game of basketball http://www.squidoo.com/High-School-Basketball-Offenses

Basketball Shooting Workout - 20 Minutes to Shooting Success

The public laments young basketball players' lack of fundamentals. People see a skill deficiency, especially in ball and player movement and shooting ability, but few understand its roots. Experts pass blame and make excuses, but few criticize players' daily practice habits. To develop players with better fundamentals, we must teach players how to practice.

Shooting: The Problem

Player 1 walks into an empty gym, turns on the lights and puts down her ball. She stretches, jogs and does some light plyometric/footwork drills. Player 2 enters the gym, jogs to get loose and does the same warm-up, while P1 does the Mikan Drill. When P2 completes a light warm-up, P1 and P2 start basic shooting drills; passing, closing out to the shooter and rebounding one's own shot. They start with mid-range jump shots, no further than the free throw line. Player 3 arrives, gets loose and joins a three-person shooting drill. When Player 4 arrives, P1 and P2 work together and P3 and P4 work together. P1 and P2 finally extend the range on their jumpers.

In another gym, P1 enters the gym dribbling and throws a three-pointer at the rim. He walks after the rebound, dribbles back to the three-point line and throws another shot at the basket. P2 enters and P1 shows off an "And1 move." P2 takes a three-pointer, and then they play one-on-one, dribbling and dribbling and dribbling before shooting. As more players enter, they attempt half court shots, throw balls off the wall and practice double-pump 360-lay-ups.

Gym 1 was the middle school where my Swedish professional team practiced. The second example took place at a local high school and involved high school freshman, junior varsity and varsity players. Before one blames the kids, I attended a WNBA game with the Sacramento Monarchs playing the Indiana Fever and witnesses the exact same approach as example 2, as one player literally shot from the tunnel on her way onto the court and then started bombing errant threes, while other poor shooters never bothered to step inside the key to work on their shooting mechanics.

Shooting: The Proper Approach

Rather than jacking wild shots, great shooters start close to the basket and make a habit of making shots. Anyone can be a shooter; coaches want makers. Young players should shoot 90% of their shots in their range; a player's range extends to the point where he can no longer shoot without a breakdown in his mechanics. The other 10% of shots should be attempted from just beyond one's range, as the goal is to extend one's range. If a player's range is 15 feet, he shoots some shots from 16-17 feet to work on the extra leg drive needed to extend his range. When he gets comfortable from that distance, he extends again. Even with high school varsity players, we go entire workouts without shooting a three-pointer, as the players train out to 17-feet where they make 75% of their shots, gain confidence and reinforce good habits, rather than developing bad habits.

Shooting: The Workout

Once a player learns the correct shooting mechanics, he needs repetitions in game-like drills. The following is a workout based on the drills and motion of successful NBA shooters.

Dirk Nowitski Drill

As a warm-up start in the middle of the key; slowly bend into a deep squat with ball in shooting position and explode up into a jump shot. Nowitski does this drill to increase flexibility (full squat), and it doubles as a good form shooting drill and warm-up. Make five shots and take a step back; shoot until the free throw line. Make 25 shots total.

Rip Hamilton Series

Start on the wing and curl toward the elbow. Each drill in the series starts the same. (1) Curl for a jump shot; (2) Curl and run through the catch, take one dribble and shoot the jump shot; (3) Catch, shot fake, crossover step 1-2 and shoot; (4) stop, flare and shoot; (5) stop, flare, one dribble to the baseline and shoot; (6) run through the catch, dribble and spin for a lay-up or short shot. Make five in each drill and make a free throw in between.

Sue Bird Pull-ups

Speed dribble the length of the floor and pull up at the elbow. Make five.

Seven Spot Shooting

Shoot catch-and-shoot three-pointers (or in the player's range) from seven spots: baseline, wing, guard-spot, top of the key, guard-spot, wing and baseline. Make five from each spot.

This workout trains a player's shooting ability, footwork and conditioning; players make 100 game shots (one dribble pull-up, curls, flares, stand-still and full speed pull-ups) plus free throws and form shooting. If the player has a coach to rebound and pass, the workout takes about 20 minutes. This 20-minute workout is more effective than the hours that basketball players piss away throwing errant shots at the basket to prove they can make three-pointers or show-off some other shot. Becoming a great shooter requires a commitment to excellence and a dedication to developing good, solid mechanics and training game-like shots religiously.

To see even greater improvement in your shooting, register for the Practice Tracker program at 180Shooter.com. The Practice Tracker program is designed to improve your shooting performance with very little extra work by making your current practice time more effective.

Brian McCormick is a coach, trainer and author in Orange Country, CA who has coached and trained players all over the world. To learn more, visit The Cross Over Movement, a grassroots site for basketball coaches, parents and players focused on improving basketball performance through coach education, long term athlete development and player development.

The School Bell

I was finishing up a home call one late autumn afternoon. As I pulled out onto basketball narrow road skirting the school I heard the school bell ring. I braked, put the car in reverse and basketball back to the sidewalk. It was a lovely day. Warming sun and autumn fragrances danced on a thin breeze.

I turned to look at the schoolyard, but my sight was focused on memories, years old. I couldnt recall the last time Id heard the old fashioned school bell. It had been childhoods ago--that much I was certain of. My body was sitting in the car, behind the wheel, but my senses had transported me a long distance from the present.

I inhaled and I could smell sun-warmed skin on a summer afternoon. Gangly limbs akimbo as a group of children played tether ball. Goofy grins from several of my schoolmates as they took turns throwing a small beanbag and jumping to another hop scotch square. Out of the corner of my eye I catch the flurried movement of kids scrambling on jungle gyms, merry-go-rounds, swings, and monkey bars. They were the schools younger pupils, playing in their designated area of the yard.

Overhead, a shiny crow caws out, as if directing the play of the little humans below his perch. Over near some blooming shrubbery, fat bumble bees saw the air, up and down, as the bees thickly rounded bodies wobble among the sweet-scented flowers. Hanging damp and animated, the fragrance of newly cut lawn lingers in the air, fills my breath with its clean aroma.

Some one comes up from behind and pounds me on the shoulder, hard enough to send me lurching forward. I clench my hands into fists and spin around ready to spit venom. The words lose direction in my mouth and all that comes out is the collective sigh of the words not used.

There, with red hair gleaming, with freckles looking darker on his pale flesh in the sunlight, and a crooked grin stretched across his face, stood Jimmy. My first crush since Kindergarten. Past a grin he said, "Do you want to play?" Jimmy held a basketball and gestured to the blacktop court. I goggled at him, nodding in the affirmative.

Basketball wasn't my game but I loved to throw the ball and watch it drop through the netted hoop. I had a few "trick shots" that every once in a while I could execute perfectly. We laughed and jumped and ran. While I bent over to catch my breath I could hear the echoed thwang of the basketball as Jimmy bounced it on the asphalt behind me.

Just as I was straightening up the school bell rang. Everyone scrambled to pick up their possessions and equipment, then off to their classrooms they went. I didn't follow them. I drifted for a while on scattered memories. Lunches in the cafeteria--the same place we had our concerts and watched educational films. And on those nights we had school carnivals the cafeteria was the place they held the cake walks, and played musical chairs.

Another tolling of the school bell and the students swarmed out of their classrooms, past the metal fence and over to the crosswalk where students given the honor of being Crossing Guards monitored the foot traffic. Kids who had parents waiting for them ran over to their cars. The rest of us walked home.

Home was less than a block away and took no time at all, even when I dawdled. Once at home, no thought of school entered my mind with the exception of required homework. The bell that regulated the important intervals in my school days held no significance once away from it.

And so it has been now, for many years--no thought of the school bell had I entertained...until I was parked next to the elementary school, and the bell rang out.

Copyright 2005 by Kathy Pippig Harris

Kathy lives in Central California's San Joaquin Valley with her husband and furry family. She is a weekly columnist for the publication "Frank Talk" and a published author of five novels. She states, "Were it not for her need, desire, and love of writing - she would surely go mad!"

Creating A Character For A Horror Story

Lauren gasped when she rounded the corner into the alley. The object of her revulsion looked up. He was surprised by her sudden appearance. His long hair fell in loose curls past his shoulders. The hair of his bearded chin dripped red with blood. He raised an outstretched hand in front of his face. His other hand let go of the man he had been supporting. The body fell to the pavement.
Her attention darted to the apparent victim and Lauren saw that a stream of blood flowed from the mans neck. It traced a path between the cracks in the dirty pavement. Lauren looked back to the well, the vampire. She knew it sounded crazy, but thats what the guy seemed to be aiming for. Their eyes locked for a few brief moments. His outstretched fingers shook with a nervous energy that she did not mistake for fear.

Anne Rice places her vampires in everyday situations, and she gives each character very human emotions so human that you might want to look at your neighbour a bit more carefully when you close the book! This article is written to give you some ideas for creating realistic characters to populate your horror story.

Good fiction is, by definition, credible - a lie that is easily believed. The most important part of fiction is the characters you create to tell your story. A good horror story character is a fictional being every bit as alive and as much a unique individual as anyone with whom we are acquainted. Your readers should care about him or her - otherwise they wont care about what the character does or what happens to him or her - during the story. It doesnt matter whether they like, love, hate or fear him/her. Readers must never feel indifferent towards any character otherwise they will lose interest in the story and not finish it. The uncle who gets drunk and melancholy at a wedding or your high school history teacher who spent most of the lessons reminiscing about growing up in Europe before the second world war; the individual who personified your first encounter with puppy-love or the perhaps the one you dated during your college years... every one of these is a real life living, breathing person. And all are absolutely perfect for any horror story.

Your story must be inhabited by characters your readers basketball and understand. So that means you their creator should know those characters well. And theres no reason you shouldnt, because apart from creating them you are also their closest confidant. There is nothing your characters can hide from you. You created them, so you know everything about them, including information theyve kept hidden from themselves. In crafting a story about them youve made yourself their closest friend a psychiatrist of sorts.

Your characters must have their own unique and distinct traits, just as you the writer/reader are a unique personality. If believable fiction is based on reality do not fill your story with stereotypical characters. Stereotypes do not to have specific personalities and character traits their emotions, thoughts and actions are limited by the extremely restrictive mould created by their role. Think of some of the real life stereotypes you know; does your truck driver friend basketball like a typical Truck Driver Dude? Do all drunks go home and beat up their spouses and kids? Are you the writer a typical example of a writer? I doubt it. Think about what makes you different and unique from other writers and other people. You know how you feel when someone you lies to you, so it stands to reason youll know what your story character feels or think when he/she experiences the same thing. You understand sadness, happiness, fear, frustration, terror and rage so you can create credible characters that experience sadness, happiness, fear, frustration, terror and rage. You've been embarrassed, you've felt pride, you have felt everything a human being can feel. So your characters will come to life in your readers mind, animated by your knowledge of yourself, your friends and family and other people. Put them into a credible, believable situation and let them live your story for you!

Readers dont need to know every single detail of your characters life. Theyre not interested in the name of his first pet or whether he eats peanut butter or not. Neither are they concerned about the name of his favourite singer or the make and model of his first car. But YOU his creator need to know these facts in order to create a character to whom your readers can relate. Jessica Amanda Salmonsons short story And of Gideon features the title character as a murderous psychopath. Salmonson says:

I wanted readers to fear Gideon, to realize anew that such human aberrations do exist. I wanted my readers to pity him as well, this loser who'd been "programmed for pathology." But more than that, I wanted readers to see Gideon as a credible human being, one who would elicit the wide range of emotional response that only real people can evoke. Here is some of what I knew about Gideon and what I wanted readers to know:
...my father was a drunk, had no love for my mother, another drunk, she none for him, and neither for me. (From) my early years, I cannot recall a single hug ... My father would beat me, not with the flat of his hand or a belt but with his fists. In kindergarten, I could not colour within the lines, could not catch a basketball thrown to me from a distance of two feet, nor hang by my knees from the monkey bars ... I was always in trouble: for not coming to school on time, for not even trying on tests, for not doing this, for not doing that, always in trouble with the teachers, those despairing head-shakers: Gideon, don't you want to learn? Don't you want to amount to anything? Don't you want to grow up and be somebody?

There are a few stereotypes in modern horror writing that have been written about with great success, but the second time around is one time too many. Unless you have a unique take or situation on one or more of the following treat these three stereotypes very carefully:

The shy, plain, quiet girl with a paranormal gift. Stephen Kings Carrie a disturbing and brilliant character, has been copied many times but all are a pale imitation of the original.

The twins, identical and similar in every behavioural characteristic bar one again this was detailed very descriptively in Bari Woods Twins, where both identical male siblings work as gynaecologists and share identical traits and patients. However when the shy twin (who usually picks up the conquests his more confident brother no longer wants) falls in love with a patient before his bolder brother the pair face a terrible decision.

The priest suffering doubt about his faith who is forced to confront his doubts in the face of terrible evil. William Peter Blattys The Exorcist{ was the prototype of this character, and the book resulted in the production of one of the most terrifying films ever made. Yet the sequels, particularly 2004s Exorcist:The Beginning, failed dismally to reach the heights of horror of the original.

Use these three stereotypes at your peril:

The preacher who, despite his limited knowledge and understanding of the Bible, speaks in tongues and holds incredible power over his followers.

The helpless businesswoman who, despite controlling a business worth billions of dollars, is incapable of dealing with a supernatural curse or menace.

The handsome, reserved hero who saves the helpless businesswoman before falling in love with her and retiring from his security company/the police force to live with her on her yacht

Now go and create that horror character for your story - and have fun!

The writer was born in Africa, and lived there for the first 38 years of her life. She worked in the world of public relations for over five years, running her own PR company and dealing extensively with the world of journalism and the print media. She is an author on http://www.Writing.Com/, a site for Writers. Her blog can be visited at: http://www.writing.com/authors/zwisis/blog