Clinics · clinic 4 · P4

Range, good shots and pressure

Proposal · not yet agreed by the TC

Start of P4, Individual & forward, in the week of 29 March.

U12 core line

find your range, play under pressure. Record your range and shoot inside it. Chain fakes: shot fake → jab → drive. Decide with a clock.

The problem

shots from further than the technique can carry, fakes used as separate tricks, and execution that falls apart under pressure.

Shared words

good shot · range · finish long.

A player's range is the furthest distance from which they shoot with correct technique, without forcing, and still make it regularly. It changes as players grow and get stronger, so there is no single distance for everyone. Range is one of the five parts of a good shot from idea 11 in Part A; this clinic is about learning to see all five. If the club has an age-group shooting agreement, such as no jump shot in U12, that agreement applies.

On court

Min		Activity
12		Coaches find their own range In pairs. more Start at 1 m and step back half a metre at a time. The limit is where the form breaks or you drop below 4 out of 10. Your partner only watches the form, not whether it goes in. Write the distance down. You will feel when the motion starts to force, and notice how hard that is to see from outside. The long finish usually goes first: the body stops reaching up and the arms start pushing.
10		Reaction shots The first player in line has no ball, the others do, shooting from four or five spots. more Catch and shoot with a short step, then a longer one. The catch decides the shot. Cue: hands ready, feet ready.
12		1-on-1 in the bucket Maximum two dribbles to the closeout. more A power lay-up is 2 points, a regular lay-up 1, first to 7. Then the attacker has to use one fake before driving. Cue: fake, step, finish. Rule to try: a contested throw scores 0, even when it goes in.

Min

Activity

Coaches find their own range

In pairs.

Start at 1 m and step back half a metre at a time. The limit is where the form breaks or you drop below 4 out of 10. Your partner only watches the form, not whether it goes in. Write the distance down. You will feel when the motion starts to force, and notice how hard that is to see from outside. The long finish usually goes first: the body stops reaching up and the arms start pushing.

Reaction shots

The first player in line has no ball, the others do, shooting from four or five spots.

Catch and shoot with a short step, then a longer one. The catch decides the shot. Cue: hands ready, feet ready.

1-on-1 in the bucket

Maximum two dribbles to the closeout.

A power lay-up is 2 points, a regular lay-up 1, first to 7. Then the attacker has to use one fake before driving. Cue: fake, step, finish. Rule to try: a contested throw scores 0, even when it goes in.

Watching, avoiding, other groups

Watching

which part of the good shot breaks first under pressure, the balance, the power, the long finish, the range or the space?

To avoid

adding new things because the season is nearly over. Let players use what they have, in games, under pressure.

For other groups

X8 and X10: find range from 1 m, step by step; all basics inside small games; full games as a reward. X14 and VU14: re-measure range after the body changes; choose and sharpen preferred moves; chain fakes at game speed. MU16: record range and a shot profile; the jump shot is built on the set-shot rhythm; extend range only while the motion stays unforced.

Take home

let every player find and write down their range once this period, and use it in your next conversation with them. It is not a ranking.

Question back
when your players throw instead of shoot in games, what causes it: the clock, the score, the defender or habit?