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Teaching Free Throw Shooting

Jessica Lam
Bridgewater College
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Basketball a sport that a lot of children take a liking to growing up, most because it is a

fairly simply sport even for little kids. Playing this sport does not require a lot equipment and is

easy to pick up once you know the fundamental skills. There are many important aspects of the

game that every player should become proficient at if he or she wants to succeed, but foul-

shooting is something people often overlook. Free throw shooting is a huge part of the game and

it is something everyone will do. Free throws win and lose ball games so it is important for

players to be comfortable and effective at the line. All in all everyone should have the same

fundamental form, but in reality everyone shoots different. The key is knowing what works for

you on the foul line and executing it when it is needed.

Teaching Context

For this assignment I will be teaching a group of 4rd and 5th graders how to shoot a free

throw. I will be teaching these kids in Nininger gym at Bridgewater for one lesson. All the

students will be novice learners, only having minimum basketball experience in their Physical

Education classes. Teaching children the skills for free throw shooting with lots of repetition will

make them more than comfortable on the line. It is important to make them realize how crucial

foul shots are in basketball.

Task Characteristics

When looking at this movement skill, there are a lot that goes into it externally and

internally. Shooting a free throw is considered a discrete skill because the beginning and end

points are clearly defined. The beginning point is described as the hands in a set position and the

end point is described as the follow through. This skill is classified as a gross motor skill because

of the use of large muscle groups. For example, children will use their arm muscles to project the
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ball towards the basket and their leg muscles to jump. Free throw shooting is a closed skill

because the environment does not change. In a game situation the other players on both teams

will be lined up along the lane lines to wait for the shooter to shoot the ball. On the line, the only

person who can control your performance is yourself. When shooting a free throw, one must go

through the information processing system in his or her mind in order to execute the skill. For

perception, he or she identifies the basketball and ball and knows that in order to make the

basket, the individual needs to use the correct form. The shooter will perceive the other players

lines up alone the paint, knowing that they will only move once he or she lets go of the ball.

Lastly the individual will perceive all the fans in the stands and know he or she must block them

out. In the decision making step, he or she decides that when the ball is presented to them, the

individual is going to do their routine and then shoot the ball. Starting with the arm shaped like

an L, the guide hand high-fiving the ball, the bend in the knees, and finally the high follow

through. In the execution step, the child will prepare their brain to tell his or her body to produce

the movements that are required. The underlying motor abilities in shooting a free throw are

control precision, manual dexterity, wrist-finger speed, multi-limb coordination, and aiming. The

control precision demonstrates the ability to control arm and movement with the ball, and being

able to make adjustments based on whether the shot is made or not. Manual dexterity involves

the control and manipulation of the ball using arms and hands. Wrist-finger speeds demonstrates

the ability to move wrists and fingers quickly when shooting. Multi-limb coordination explains

the ability to move arms and legs simultaneously. For example, the legs and arms must move

simultaneously in order to produce the shot movement. Lastly, aiming involves aiming your form

at the basket in attempt to make the shot.

Learner Characteristics
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When teaching these 4rd and 5th graders how to shoot a free throw, it is important to

consider how much information their brain can hold, what are the best ways of helping them

remember the skill, and how to get them to perform their best. With these children being around

the ages of nine and ten, they all have different skill levels. Despite the differences in abilities, it

is important to keep it challenging and fun for everyone by implementing different activities to

suit every learner. When dealing with children it is crucial to know how to keep their interest and

attention. The attentional theories play a great role in knowing what to get children to focus on in

foul-shooting. The Limited Attentional Capacity Theory says that a person cannot fully focus on

two things at once. If I tell a child to focus on bending his or her knees more when shooting and

make sure the guide hand is one the side of the ball, he or she will not be able to give all their

attention to either one. Therefore, it is best to break the concentrations down and let the child

master one certain aspect of shooting at a time. Another theory that plays a role is the Bottleneck

Theory, this states that a person can take numerous pieces of information in, but will only

remember one. For example, I might be going over all steps to hand placement on the ball and

following through, and he or she might only remember that one hand goes on the side and the

other goes behind. This demonstrates that repetition is key, if you continue to go over different

parts of the shot, sooner or later the information will sink in. In order to get children to retain the

information about shooting a free throw we need to get the information in sensory register, then

to short-term memory, and then into long-term memory. Sensory register holds a large capacity

of information but only momentarily. This part of memory holds all your initial reactions to your

senses, and you as an individual chooses what get moved into short-term by repetition. Short-

term memory has a capacity of 20-30 seconds, seven plus or minus two items. For example, if

you give a child too many things to remember about shooting at once he or she might not
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remember them all. Another example is if you give a child something to remember and you

never repeat it again or never go back to it, they will probably not remember it because it will be

processed as unimportant information. Once information moves into long-term memory it is

relatively permanent, even if it is forgotten it can be brought back by cues. There are ways you

can move information into long-term memory by mnemonics, making stories, putting meaning

behind the task, or chunking. Using these will make it easier for kids to remember because it

gives them something fun and it is easier for them to remember and relate to. For example, if you

describe a follow through on a foul shot as reach your hand in the cookie jar, students will

remember that easier because it is fun and relatable. Another way to get information to stick in a

kids head is to mention it first or last, often time things in the middle get lost. In order for

children to perform their best, they each will have to reach their own optimal level of arousal.

Depending on trait anxiety, some peoples optimal levels will be low and others will be high. In

general, when shooting a free throw, a persons level of arousal needs to be high so they can

block out and irrelevant distractions and focus on the hoop. To get them to optimal level, I will

put my students in game like situations so they will have to discover their own levels. Each

student will be motivated by something different when it comes to basketball. Some players will

be intrinsically motivated by wanting to make themselves better and help their team to win,

while others might be motivated by what other think and say about their performance. To

improve motivation one could, create justification, provide success, institute a goal setting

program, or provide positive reinforcement. For example, you could reward players for making

free-throws in a game or in practice. Missing free throws is very discouraging at times so it is

important to enforce positivity the players and make them believe in themselves. In knowing

how to get everyone to reach their maximum potential it is important to know what stages each
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child is in. The first stage is the cognitive stage where the learner attempts to understand the

problem. The child will focus on cognitive activities and try to develop a plan of the movements

that make up the skill. The learner will have slowly and clumsy movements when shooting and

will make lots of mistakes. The verbal-motor phase is when the learner attempts to develop the

plan and refine movements. Often times kids in this stage will be able to recognize their own

error and attempt to fix them. They will not have to put as much effort into shooting, it will be

quicker and start to be more fluid and natural. The last stage is the fine tuning phase where the

child fully develops the plan. He or she will have very efficient movements at the line and will

have a natural motion with very few errors. Each child will progress in their ability at their own

pace. Ability is the inherited, stable traits that is a prerequisite to the development of skill

proficiency. He or she must use their specific abilities to find out what the individual is best at.

Not everyone has the same traits or abilities but each person can use their own unique abilities to

be the best athlete they can be. In teaching free throw shooting it is important to take into

consideration everyones learning styles. Some people prefer an instructional environment where

it involves having a very light and sound environment with the teacher instructing the students

the whole time. Others like an emotionality preference, requiring motivation, making students be

responsible, and having a very structured plan. Sociological preference is another learning style

that involves a lot of group work and one-on-one work with your peers. Physiological

preferences involves intake, time and mobility, while psychological is based on analytic mode

and hemisphericity, and action. To please all of these preferences, I will mix up my teaching

styles to help my students learn better. I will provide motivation and structured plans, but also

mixed in having a light and positive environment.

Goal Setting, Assessment, Arousal, and Transfer

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For this assignment, I will be working a lot on rehearsal and repetition with my students;

therefore, we will have plenty of time to practice and develop the correct skills. I will set goals

for the students but will also encourage them to set their own personal goals. I want their

performance goals to be self-set, but I want to see everyone leave with better form and

confidence then they came in with. The process goals I have set for my students is for them to

master holding the guide hand correctly on the ball, using fingertips, and finishing with their

hand high and fingers pointing down. All these parts of foul shooting will be mastered by the

various drills we will be doing, such as form shooting without a ball and specific skill

concentration shooting with a ball. These 4th and 5th graders will create their own outcome goals

by creating their own competition. Some of the students will be more competitive than others

and challenge their peers to see who can do the best, while others will try and gets goals for

themself. My goal for the novice learners is to be able to make five out of ten free-throws using

perfect form by the last day of the month.

My students progress will be assessed throughout the month to make sure they are

staying on track and learning the skills correctly. I will assess them by energy expenditure,

consistency, attention and skill execution, knowledge and memory, visual attention, error

detection, coordination and control, and muscle activity. My novice learners will have more

energy expenditure and muscle activity than proficient foul shooters. Beginners tend to exert

more energy and use more muscles when shooting free throws because they are not as strong and

do not know the proper technique. When students start exerting less energy and movements start

to seem more fluid and natural, I will know they are moving towards proficiency. Consistency is

a big indicator that an individual is starting to progress in free throw shooting. The important

thing to make sure the students are using finger tips, placing their guide hand in the correct spot,
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and holding their finish consistently. A novice learner will have to focus all of their undivided

attention on skill execution. The beginners have to repetitively focus on finger tips, their guide

hand, and their follow through so it will be moved into long term memory. Once the individual

becomes proficient at these skills, he or she will be able to shoot effortlessly. With less conscious

effort being exerted on the form, the students will now be able to focus on other strategies when

foul shooting. In dealing with visual attention, novice learners will tend to get distracted easy and

will pay attention to unimportant stimuli. As they progress, changes will be evident in their

ability to respond to different situations on the free throw life effectively and efficiently. For

example, in a game like situation, a novice player will player will be distracted by the fans and

where the others players on the court. I will be assessing their knowledge and memory by

quizzing them on the important cues. If my students are able to demonstrate to me the correct

form, I will know they are mastering the skill. When I begin teaching my students the correct

way to shoot a free throw, they will have a hard time deciphering errors because of all the new

skills being thrown at them. Novice learners will struggle with detecting errors because they

have not mastered the form and are still becoming comfortable shooting. Once the players start

to develop the ability to detect errors, it is a good indication that they are moving towards

proficiency. As we all know, elementary school do not have as good of coordination as high

school kids. Therefore, when shooting a free throw, master free throw shooters are going to have

more control over their coordination and movements than a novice player. Once a novice player

starts to show more controlled movements, they are moving towards proficiency.

Coming in my students will most likely have low levels of arousal because their focus is

on being excited about everything we will be covering. It is my job as their teacher to put them in

game situations and make them find their optimal level of arousal. Shooting a free throw is
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classified as a gross motor skill because of all the major muscle groups that are involved. This

skill is also classified as a simple because it is low in complexity. Although this skill takes a high

level of arousal, it does not require a lot of decision making.

Transfer deals with how past learning inhibits or improves the learning of a new skill.

Along with skills, motor patterns, perceptions, and strategies can also transfer from skill to skill.

It is important I plan for transfer because it can influence how quickly or slowly can I can move

through the lesson. Positive transfer is where prior learning corresponds with new skills. For

example, the volleyball wrist snap would have positive transfer with the foul shot follow

through. Negative transfer happens when prior knowledge impedes learning of a new task. For

example, the long jump would impede over a foul shot because of the differences in jumping. If I

have a lot of people with negative transfer, I will have to spend more time overcompensating for

their previous learning. There can also be no transfer, this is where previous learning has no

effective one previous learning. For example, a golf swing will have no effect on a free throw

shot because their movements have nothing in common. When teaching for transfer it is

important for me to use analogies and provide lots of practice with the original skill.

Practice Presentation

Step 1:

Hello everyone, I hope you all came with your thinking caps on today because we are

going to be learning free throw shooting! Raise your hand if you have ever watched a basketball

game and saw either very good, or very bad free throw shooters. Good! Im glad everyone has

seen that free throws are a big part of basketball. Free throws are very important because they are

easy buckets, there are no defenders on you. Basketball games are won and lost on the free throw
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line, every shot counts. It really is an amazing feeling when you have to knock down two free

throws to win the game for your team, and you succeed! By the end of the day I hope each of

you will be able to make five out of ten free throws using the correct form.

Step 2:

Now we are going to learn the correct form for shooting a free throw. Every one raise

your dominant hand, this hand is the hand you shoot with and the other is your dominant hand.

One problem everyone tends to have is to want to shoot with both hands, so be sure to remember

that your non dominant hand is just your guide hand. The easiest way to remember these steps is

L. H. B. F. L stands for making an L shape with your dominant arm, dont forget about using

your fingertips when you have a ball in your hand. Making an L shape with your arms helps to

keep your elbow in the correct position so you can shoot straight towards the basket. H stands

for high-fiving the side of the ball with your guide hand. It is important to keep your guide hand

by the side of the ball at all time so it keeps the ball in a straight line. B stands for bending your

knees and jumping if you need to. F stands for following through with your dominant arm high

and your fingers pointing down. Always remember to keep that finish hand held high, let the fans

remember who made those free throws! Alright now we have went over the four steps, can

anyone tell me what they are? Great job! Im glad everyone knows the four steps, L. H. B. F.

Step 3:

Lets walk through the steps one more one time (I will be demonstrating these steps as I

say them). The first letter L stands for putting your dominant arm into the shape of an L, dont

forget to use your fingertips. The second letter H stands for high-fiving the side of the ball with

your guide hand. The third letter B stands for having a slight bend in your knees, and jumping
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if you need to. Last but not least, F stands for following through with your shooting arm held

high and fingers facing the floor.

Step 4:

Now I am going to go through a free throw shot at full speed, everyone pay close

attention and see if you can identify the four steps. Make sure to pay attention to my dominant

arm shaped like an L so I will have a straight angle to the basket, and do not forget how my

fingertips have grip on the ball. Look at how my guide hand is placed on the side of the ball, not

on top or out in front. Can anyone tell me why hand placement is so important? Thats right! Any

small hand misplacement on the ball could result in a missed shot. Also be sure to watch how my

knees bend and extend in a fluid motion. Lastly, watch how I hold my follow through high and

point my fingers down towards the floor. Now that I have demonstrated, did everyone see how

relaxed I was at the free throw line? It is extremely important to be confident at the line, if you

do not think you will make the shot, it is a good chance you will miss it. Everyone be confident

in yourself! Know you can make free throws! Alright now you all have saw me shoot in one fluid

motion, Im going to give you all the chance to tell me the steps to do a free throw and I will

demonstrate them. I will not move until you all tell me what to do so tell me what to start with.

Great job everyone, we hit all four points! Now that everyone has seen me demonstrate, and you

all have talk me through a demonstration, does anyone want to volunteer to show up the four

steps?

Step 5:

Can anyone tell me again the four steps to shooting a free throw? Perfect! Now who

knows why making free throws is so important? Yes, games are won and lost at the line. Who
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can show me how they should hold their follow through after they shoot? Perfect, let those fans

know who made that foul shot. Now I want each of you to close your eyes and visualize yourself

on the foul line, in overtime, there is .2 seconds left on the clock, and if you make your free

throws your team will win the biggest game of the season! Picture yourself going through each

of the four steps perfectly, L. H. B. F. Imagine yourself placing your arm is the L position,

fingertips griping the ball, your guide hand placed perfectly on the side, your knees bend and

extend, and lastly you follow through and hold your finish with your fingers pointing down. The

crowd goes wild, youve made your free throws and won the game! I hope each of you enjoyed

that little taste of what its like to hit the game winning free throws, and I hope each of you

realize how important making free throws truly is. Now that we have the steps down pat, its

time to practice.

Step 6:

My novice students will now work on foul shooting by part-whole practice because the

task is low in complexity and high in organization. Foul shooting is low in complexity because it

is low in decision making and attention. Shooting a foul shot does not require a lot of decision

making because there are no defenders guarding the player, it is all up to the individual to use the

correct form and make the shot. On the other hand, it is high in organization because it has high

physical dependency and the timing cannot be broken down without disrupting the flow of the

skill. For our first activity of practice, I will have everyone start with passing a small basketball

back and forth with a partner. Once you catch the ball, place your dominant arm in the L

position, make sure the ball is in your fingertips, and then pass the ball back to your partner.

This activity will help the students get comfortable with L, and placing their arm in the L

shaped position. Next, I will introduce high-fiving your guide hand to the side of the ball. Now
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that everyone has gotten comfortable with L we are now going to move onto H. Everyone

continue passing back and forth with a partner; except this time when you catch the ball, focus

on putting your non dominant hand on the side of the ball, and then pass it back to your partner.

After they have become familiar with that I will then move onto B. Our next activity we will

focusing on B, everyone stay with you partner and move to a basket, one partner under the

hoop and the other at the free throw line. The person on the free throw line will step up and place

your feet before the line, bend your knees and extend through your jump. Go through that

sequence five times, and then switch with your partner Some people jump when they shoot free

throws, and others do not; I will encourage my students to go with whatever feels more natural to

them. The last task we will work on is following through the foul shot, the F. Now I want each

of you to pretend you have a ball in your hand, extend your dominant arm, and then flick you

wrist so that your fingers are facing the floor.

During our lesson we will be using massed practice because shooting a free throw is a

discrete skill. Even though distributed practice is mainly used for highly skilled students, I think

it will fit my lesson well. Shooting a free throw is not a difficult task, it does not require a lot of

energy, and it forces students to slow down and relax. The more time we have practicing, the

more chances the children have at improve their shooting skills. I believe the 4th and 5th graders

will stay motivated because of knowing how important free throws are in a game situation. In

running a massed practice, I do not think we will have trouble with injuries, mainly because our

skill is discrete and is only dealing with one persons movements. During our breaks we will

introduce new skills and review the ones we just went over. Massed practice will most

effectively for my lesson, it will keep my students engaged and focused.

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Other types of practice I will consider for my lesson is guided practice, slow motion

practice, and error detection practice. I will incorporate guided practice if I see a student really

struggling with their skills and are lagging behind the class. This type of practice often modifies

the feel of the task but I think it will be helpful to help a student walk through the skill. Guided

practice is extremely helpful in the early stages of learning or when there are risks of injury. I do

not think I will incorporate slow motion into my lesson because it breaks up the flow of the

motion. I believe error detection practice will be very beneficial for the students in the long run.

Although, it will be probably be frustrating for the novice learners to continuously make

mistakes, later down the road it will benefit their problem solving techniques.

Practice Structure

My 4th and 5th grader students are still in the cognitive learning stage; therefore, I will use

constant practice. Using the constant practice method will be most effective because free throw

shooting has no variation. No matter the circumstance, the foul shooter will always be on the line

alone with no one contesting their shot. The only way to master this skill is through repetition

and being consistent. Since we are just learning one skill, I will be using blocked practice for my

lesson. I will work with my students on foul shooting until they master the form, and then I will

move onto teaching them a new skill. I believe my novice learners will work for effectively with

blocked practice because everything will be structured and covered at an appropriate pace.

Practice Feedback

Feedback is extremely important to foster learning in people of all ages. There are

different types of feedback that are used in different types of situations that help students reach

maximum potential. Intrinsic feedback, also known as sensory feedback, are all the obvious
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signals and senses ones own body feels. This type of feedback deals with smelling, hearing, and

seeing things that are happening to and around someone. For example, if someone hits the front

of the rim and the ball bounces to the floor, the individuals intrinsic feedback will tell him or her

that the shot was a miss. Extrinsic feedback on the other hand, deals with someone else talking to

you about your results and or performance. This type of feedback is also known as augumented

feedback, and can be broken down into knowledge of results and knowledge of performance.

Knowledge of results is something I would not use in teaching free throw shooting because it

provides information about the outcome. No one would have to tell someone they missed or

made their free throw, their own intrinsic feedback will tell them. I will definitely use a lot of

knowledge of performance in my lesson because it provides information about the quality of the

movement. Knowledge of performance is helpful because it lets students know what errors they

are making that they were not able to catch themself. Even the littlest feedback on someones

performance will let him or her know how to become a better foul shooter. Different types of

content feedback help the learner be able to remember feedback, but also recognize errors

themselves and attempt to fix them. When giving feedback about shooting a free throw I will

give program feedback and then move to parameter. Program feedback would reinforce part of

shooting so they get the basics down before moving onto anything else. After that I would move

onto parameter feedback only if they did not have enough power behind the ball, or if they were

shooting to quickly and not taking their time. Visual and verbal feedback would be most

effective in foul shooting. For visual feedback I will be taping them and giving them

demonstrations for what they are doing wrong, that way they get a visual of what errors they are

making. I will also compare their errors to how the form is supposed to look so they could see

what is right versus what is wrong. For verbal feedback, I will provide this to the students I think
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have a greater chance at correcting their own errors themselves. I will simply tell the individual

what he or she is doing wrong and see if they can find the correct form on their own. As for

descriptive and prescriptive feedback, I will use prescriptive before using descriptive.

Prescriptive deals with how someone can do better, while descriptive tells you what someone is

doing wrong. I will mostly be giving prescriptive feedback to my shooters because I was to give

positive feedback instead of negative. It is important to know how much feedback to give the

students and how frequently you provide it, because you do not want to inhibit their ability to fix

their errors themselves. Feedback should always be motivational, students need to know the

feedback youre giving them will make them better at the certain skill. Precise feedback should

only be given when errors exceed a certain level. For example, if someone is only shooting with

one hand and not using their legs, it is appropriate to give them precise feedback. I will not be

giving too precise of feedback because I want to give the learners a chance to foster their own

learning. For frequency of feedback, I will be focusing on one skill of the movement, or one type

of parameter feedback at a time. I will also be provided a summary of my feedback rather than

stopping them and explaining their errors after attempt. As for timing of feedback, I will always

delay my feedback by giving it to them after they have completed their motion. This is important

because you want them to feel themselves go through the motion and not stop them halfway, so

maybe when they go to fix it they can identify their errors easier. The feedback sandwich is a

very effective method of providing feedback and is what I will be using in my lesson. The first

step is to reinforce positive aspects of their shooting, tell the person he or she has a great follow

through. The second step is very specific in telling the individual what he or she is doing wrong,

and how to fix it. It is also important to remember not to focus on more than one thing at a time
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when providing feedback. The last step is to encourage them to keep working hard and let them

know you believe in them.

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References

Coker, C. C. (2013). Motor Learning and Control for Practioners, 3rd ed. Holcomb Hathaway,

Publishers