One of the most important skills in basketball is shooting. This is a skill you should be building year round. What is your plan for getting in shots up during your season? Is it after practice with your coach or a teammate? Do you have a hoop at your house? Can you find gym space on the weekend?

A serious athlete that wants to be great and wants to help their team win will carve out some time each week to shoot. Track your shooting and be disciplined and efficient. Shooting after practices and on the weekend will give you more confidence in games to knock it down.

My advice: find a routine you like that offers you different lengths of time to spend working out (15 minutes, 25 minutes, and 40 minutes). Put up game speed shots from spots you are going to score on your team (be realistic!). Stick with form shooting to get your mechanics grooved, and then dive into your game speed scoring (yes, include finishes!). Don’t shy away from short workouts…making 50 or 100 shots in a short workout is much better than doing nothing!

#getbetter

Form Shooting Video

The Chicago Sky won the WNBA Finals on Sunday. In a best of 5 series, it only took them four games to beat Phoenix. This is the first championship for the Sky. Here are some interesting stats, stories, and quotes from some of the players.


-Point guard and All Star Courtney Vandersloot is one of the best PG’s in the league. She was drafted in 2011 from Gonzaga. Look at these stats in final game: 10 points, 15 assists, 9 rebounds! (She averaged 10.2 assists in the playoffs)


-Kahleah Copper, the finals MVP, was not even named first or second team WNBA. Her numbers in the 10 playoff games: 17.7 ppg, 5.3 rebounds. She was drafted in 2016 and didn’t start in the league until last season.
Best quote I’ve seen: "I came in and just tried to find a road,” said Copper when asked about joining the Sky then being a reserve for three seasons. “I didn’t play much, so let’s do some handshakes, let’s get everybody ready for the game, let’s just try to figure it out, just play your role, and that’s what I did. I’m just grateful for my process. I wouldn’t change anything.”


-Candace Parker - The story of the Finals. She signed with Chicago in the off-season (which is her hometown), leaving the team she spent the 13 seasons with in LA. She led this team and won her hometown championship. Put in perspective that she was drafted in 2008, the same year she was Rookie of the Year in the league.
"I play basketball, and there's far more serious things than that. But I want basketball to be a platform. I love the opportunities I've gotten from basketball."


The individuals on this team are interesting in and of themselves and have great stories. But the Sky won because they are a great TEAM. One last quote for you:
“In the end we all wanted to play for each other, and that’s what you saw tonight in this whole playoff experience.”

Many of us set goals and begin working hard to reach those goals. The plan makes sense, the discipline is there, and we are ready to trade our sweat for a specific achievement.
-Making the team
-Becoming a starter / All-Conference
-“Ace”ing the test
-The timing of the promotion
-Losing a certain amount of weight
The reality is that many times the goal doesn’t play out exactly as we hope. Or at least not in the short time frame that we hoped for. Even when we are really consistent (and most of us aren’t if we are honest with ourselves), the growth we seek is not always a linear curve. We put in consistent work and expect consistent positive results, but this isn’t always the case.

Does that make the work pointless? Are we correct to think that we wasting time trying to get better? Of course not. Our process, our work to build greatness through consistently showing up is exactly what we should be doing. Every result we get may not match with what we want, but that doesn’t mean we aren’t on our way.


I challenge you to not wait for the moment when your work pays off, but to enjoy the process of your work, and trust that the investments you are making are going to lead you to what you want in life. There is a very strong self-satisfaction for those who are able to harness this energy and maintain this perspective. Big goals aside, here you will find success.
What do you need to work harder towards? Focus on showing up consistently, regardless of your outcomes.

#getbetter