Shot form - expanded BEEF

There are plenty of resources available to coaches and players to help them teach/learn proper shooting techniques - books available at Barnes & Noble or online at Amazon or Indigo, dvd's listed at Championship Productions and Human Kinetics, to name a few. Coaches often use the acronym of B.E.E.F. to help simplify shooting instruction - what follows is an expanded version with some extra teaching:

• Before - you catch the ball, need to be ready to catch and shoot, legs loaded, fingers pointing to the sky
• Base - feet far enough apart so a coach could not tip you backwards if they pushed a finger at your forehead
• Balance - be centered in every way and not leaning (to a side or front/back)
• Behind - need to get it down low enough to use big powerful muscles in the legs
• Eyes - focus them at the rim (visualize the ball going in)
• Elbow - under ball for power and direction, holding a ball should look like a waiter balancing a tray of food
  
• Elevate - shot power comes from legs, up through the body to the arms, and the ball must use that power to go up with a good angle of arc (for entry into the hoop)
• Extend - shooting arm should take the ball up (over a defender's hand) NOT out (toward a defender)
  
• Every time - repetition, get in shots using the same routine on a daily basis, must develop the muscle memory
• Evaluate - be the master of your own shot, understand enough to know why a ball is missing left or right or coming up short
• Energy - do shooting drills on the move, simulate game conditions, transfer forward motion into upward energy
  
• Feet - need to be squared to the target every shot
• Fingers - last two to touch the ball on release should be the index and middle (fork)
• Follow through - when ball leaves the shooting hand, fingers need to be pointing at the target and held there (don't pull the shooting hand back)
• Free Throw - beyond shots from in close to the hoop, FT line is a great place to practice shot form (same distance, same form, routine, lots of reps)
• Feet moving - active feet, follow your shot, rebound the ball (you have the advantage over the other team as you took the shot and know the path)
• Far - take your shots from further away ONLY when you have mastered your technique and are shooting a high percentage closer to the hoop
• Fun - shooting is one of the most enjoyable aspects of basketball, do it properly, take plenty of shots
  

Material for practice plans

Some thoughts to help with the planning of practices. The list below contains some drills or concepts to include in every practice:

• in order to get lots of shots in a simple shooting drill, go with two balls and three shooters (or 3 balls with four shooters depending upon space availability), feet always moving, rotation is space to a shot, catch and shoot, follow shot and rebound to another "shot ready" teammate, space to a new spot and quickly "prepare to shoot"
  
• in any drill, always reinforce that shot quality is greatly determined by the quality of the pass - need to emphasize quality passing in all drills
• include at least three defensive rebounding drills per day (emphasis on catching the ball above the head or above the net), with progression to box outs into fullcourt transition to simulate game conditions for the new offence and defence (want to promote handling the challenge of the quick switch between offence and defence)
  
• in any drill that results in a winning team, they should validate their win with a made free throw (depending upon philosophy or emphasis, coach can pick, losing team can pick, or winning team can select the shooter) - if free throw is missed, then the winners and losers will be conditioned together (no advantage for the win)
  
• in defensive drills, consider that most ball-handlers are likely to only take max of three dribbles in game conditions so defensive movements should mirror that scenario in practice (three slides to one side before help arrives, ball picked up, passed, or shot) - good idea to start along the imaginary centre line of the court and work to one side or the other (2 or 3 steps left or right)