Category: Mental Toughness

Dave Hopla – Basketball Shooting Expert

Basketball Shooting with Dave HoplaToday I had the pleasure of hearing Dave Hopla, Basketball Shooting Expert, speak at the Pure Shot Basketball Camp in Jaffrey, NH. Special thanks to Dave & Nancy Springfield who run the camp and arranged the event. The event was also sponsored by Dennis Wright and if anyone has more background on the sponsor, please be sure to add it as a comment so we can all thank him as well.

One of the points that Dave Hopla made was that players who were serious about improving should be taking notes. I did not have my notebook with me but I wrote down everything I could remember soon after the event.  There was a lot of great information and I’m hoping that by posting my notes, it will help reinforce some of the ideas presented by Dave AND anyone who can “fill in the blanks” will add a comment below so that we can all benefit as much as possible from Dave Hopla’s speech and amazing basketball shooting demonstration.

Here are my notes from the event (in no particular order)…

How Dave starts out…
– He warms up with rollers to get his muscles moving and loosened up. (He told me this prior to the speech when he was just warming up.)
– He goes through a “shooting progression” which involves shooting one handed from 3 spots (left, right & center) near the basket and then moving out. He then added his “guide hand” as he shot from further out.

Tips on your Basketball Shooting Technique:

(notice the alliteration or use of similar letters at the start of many words)
– Toe(s) toward Target
– Form an L with your Elbow
– Wrinkle at the Wrist
– Follow Thru – “put your hand in the basket”

  • “Words Matter” – Don’t call it a “foul shot”. Foul things stink.
  • “Only one shot matters… the one you are taking.”
    [The past is over and the future isn’t here yet. – DW]
  • Mindset 1st ! Get your head right before anything. “Good is the enemy of Great. Feel GREAT!”
  • Visualize what you want to happen. [Track your progress.]
  • Catch the basketball with your EYES and your HANDS.
  • Get a journal and take notes! Players who write down the good ideas they hear become better.
  • Play “Beat The Pro”. It starts with a “free shot” and the pro scores with every miss.
  • Dave mentioned a handout called the “Maravich Practice Drills” that someone gave him when he was young which helped him improve as a player. Here is a link to a YouTube video with 10 “Maravich Drills“. I don’t know if these are the drills that Dave was referring to but I am sure they will help you improve.
  • Practice your basketball shooting EVERY DAY. You don’t have to be perfect. You just have to be dedicated.

I spoke with Dave after the event and he said that he has a website but did not mention it because he has not been active with it recently.  He also has a book that comes with a DVD (Amazon link).

– Below is a YouTube video featuring an interview about basketball shooting with Dave Hopla.

I welcome your feedback in the comments and please feel free to say what you got out of the event. When it comes to basketball shooting, Dave Hopla is a highly skilled individual and, personally, I found it facinating to see what it looks like when someone makes 98% of the shots that he takes. (He had someone keep track during the event and that was the actual % he made! Amazing!)

Mental Toughness – Control Your Story

Narrative is the story you are telling yourself.

You have a voice in your head that is narrating or explaining what everything in your life means. Picture Morgan Freeman’s voice doing a play-by-play as your coach tells you that you won’t be starting the next game.  Maybe the voice says “The coach hates me.” or “The coach has his favorite players and there is nothing I can do to change his mind.” With this thinking (and the story it implies), are you likely to do the things which will get you into the starting lineup any time soon? Probably not.

On the other hand, what if Morgan Freeman said, “The team we are playing is very tall and obviously coach thinks we need our taller players in there.” or “I wonder what I need to do to get into the starting lineup?” or “Coach has always treated me fairly so he must have a good reason for not starting me. I will need to ask him to explain it to me so I can find a way to contribute to the team’s success.”

Where do these stories in my head come from?

The story we tell ourselves is built on the beliefs we have accumulated over the years and it can be hard to change our thinking… or it can be as easy as considering a different (more effective) story to explain the situation. This is the difference of being controlled by your past or developing the mental toughness skill of actively CHOOSING how you interpret events in your life.

How do I change the Narrative or Story I tell myself?

Get some alternatives. Ask someone else how they would explain the situation, preferably someone who does not have an interest in the outcome. Often your family’s beliefs are the same or at least very similar to our own beliefs. This means that they may not offer stories or narratives that are substantially different from our own and their stories may not give you a better course of action.

Find an “objective 3rd party”, i.e. someone who is not part of the “problem”, and see what types of explanations they can find for you.

What if the new story is not true?

Living in denial of the truth will certainly bring poor results but the reality is that there are a multitude of ways that events in your life can be interpreted. Clearly you need to recognize the facts of the case, like in our example the fact that the coach said you are not starting in the next game.

The key is how you react to the facts… and the sooner you realize that while you might initially think a particular circumstance is “good” or “bad” it is often how we react that makes it good or bad for us. Choose to be mentally tough and create your own story.

You can change your story…

… and this can open up all kinds of opportunities that you would have missed.

“Problems are not solved at the same level of thinking that created them.” – Albert Einstein

Comments on Changing Your Narrative and Creating Your own Story are welcome and encouraged…