Become a better free throw shooter

Your team is down by one in a crucial basketball game and you get fouled with two seconds left in the game. You can end it by making the two free throws so hopefully you can shoot them like Reggie Miller because if you can't and shoot them like Shaq O'neal then chances are you'll probably only tie the game or even worse make your team lose the game by missing both.

This is why shooting free throws is such an important part of your game and many just don't practice enough. Lots of times the win-loss result of a game is because of free throws.

One thing that helps someone is repeating the same behavior pattern before you shoot. A regular task so to speak that will help your concentration and focus. A player might dribble the ball three times before he shoots a free throw and not doing so would completely throw his focus out of wack. One might lift his hands in the air a few times before he shoots it. One might touch his cheek a few times. Look at mostly all the great free throw shooters and they all have a ritual before they shoot. It could even be a saying to yourself, even a prayer. Doing this will bring familiarity each time your at the charity strike and will really help alot.

Another thing to do is to visualize in your mind what you are going to do before you do it. When you see the basket going "Swish" through that net in your mind there is more of a chance that it will happen.

Also trust in yourself, this kind of goes back to the visualization but you must have self confidence. If you look at a player like Shaq O'Neal he has completely lost confidence and just knows that he will never be a 80% free throw shooter. He has worked with the best trainers and still can not shot free throws - Don't ever let that happen to you, there is always room for improvement. Don't delay and hesitate when you shoot, this will not help at all. Just do it! You just seen yourself swishing it so do it!

You might also want to pat yourself on the back after making y9our free throws. Feel good about it, go ahead, feel a little cocky. I remember once I shot 1000 free throws, not all in one day but I would keep a pencil and keep track. I ended up making 690 out of them and was very disappointed. I always thought I was a better free throw shooter than that. After capitalizing on what I've mentioned above I ended up making 880 the next time around. Shooting free throws became automatic and I just knew that I could not miss.

Confidence is a big thing with free throws. When I made the 690 lots of times I would miss one free throw, get down on myself and visualized I would miss the next one, guess what, I missed the next one. Sometimes I would miss 5 in a row because of the lack of confidence, that it why I was a 69% shooter. At times I would hit 20 in a row and then miss 5 in a row. Do that and your only a 75% free throw shooter!

Just practice the principles mentioned above and before you know it you'll be a great 90% shooter. I know you can and so do you!