Next Generation Skill Development

In what may turn out to be our official slogan, “Next Generation Skill Development” brings together what Aim High Hoops is all about. Providing players resources to “develop” their skills over time is our goal. We are working to build an organizational framework where players can go back to us on a constant basis and always find something to help them enhance their games.

One of our main features will be the basketball instructional videos, where we focus on all aspects of individual improvement for players of all skill levels. In the first year of Aim High Hoops, we are looking to produce instructional videos for the mechanics of shooting and then for ball-handling.

The website will always be updated with blog postings, featuring insight from established basketball players and coaches, who will be sharing their ideas on basketball skill development among other topics.

Players will have the opportunity to connect on a personal level with Aim High Hoops, in ways not available inside the industry. Personalized skill assessment tools will be followed up with a personalized instructional plan.

For the past five years, each of us has been involved with influencing the “next generation”, as classroom teachers and coaches. We understand how students learn and would like to use what we know to make players’ experience with Aim High Hoops as advantageous as possible.

We are also constantly studying the trends inside the game. Players will always be doing new and more impressive things on the basketball court, and in doing so, creating new challenges to which the next generation can aspire. I am not talking about trying to duplicate a great play, like Michael Jordan switching the ball from right to left hand in mid-air. That is certainly not something players need to be practicing in hopes of utilizing it in a game situation. Rather, I am talking about things like Jordan’s fade away jump shot in the post. That is a weapon he used constantly and made it look easy doing so. How many guards shot that shot before MJ? How many more shoot it now? One of my college teammates, a 6’2” “center”, mastered the fade away so he could score against bigger defenders, and did it so well he won conference player of the year as a senior.

Our purpose at Aim High Hoops is to help the next generation of players build up well-rounded skill sets, including a powerful foundation in the fundamentals along with a range of offensive weapons to help themselves and their teams reach the highest potential.

It’s going to be an exciting ride!

Billy Lewis & Jonathan Schneiderman

Aim High Hoops, Inc.

www.AimHighHoopsOnline.com

One on one with Aim High Hoops

No two basketball players are exactly the same. Every player has individual, defining traits of how he or she shoots, dribbles, passes, competes, wins, loses, practices, etc.

At Aim High Hoops, we embrace the fact that every basketball player’s game is unique. In addition to producing training videos for shooting and dribbling, we also will be offering individualized shooting instruction beginning this spring. We hope to assist players understand the strengths and weaknesses of their jump shot, by providing a personalized assessment of the player’s shot and strategies for improvement.

We offer this to players of any level. Think of it like building a house. When you need help laying that first brick, we’re there for you. For those who have the foundation (playing experience) built but need a few of the smaller details addressed, we can do that too.

The personalized feedback idea arises from our experiences as classroom teachers. Students learn in their own ways, despite the subject. Sometimes, the advice that teachers give clicks better with some students than others. The first thing I suggest to students who desire extra support to help their learning is one-on-one work, either with a tutor or myself. A result of the personalized attention is usually a better understanding of the material, because it can be explained in a way best suited for the student.

What we asked ourselves was, why not apply the successful teaching method of individualized instruction to basketball skill development? We couldn’t find a good answer to that question, so we pursued ideas to make it happen. There is nothing new about individualized basketball instruction, unless you are talking about reaching out regionally and nationally to players in their own backyards.

Our purpose is to get the Aim High Hoops name out to the national marketplace. There is certainly some national competition out there for instructional videos, don’t get me wrong, but as soon as you buy a video from most of those companies there isn’t much opportunity for follow-up. I think about when I first tried to teach myself piano. The instructional books I bought were well-organized and fairly easy to understand, but the learning was slow. It wasn’t until I worked with a piano teacher one-on-one that the music concepts really became clear, and the result was that my learning really accelerated.

We are confident that our instructional videos will help your understanding of shooting and dribbling, but we hope we can provide more than that to you. We are looking forward to the thought of bringing our teaching ideas and applying them to your individual game to help you become the very best player you can be.

Keep checking back!

Billy Lewis & Jonathan Schneiderman

Aim High Hoops, Inc.

Division I v. Division III

“Division III players can shoot!” I recall that very clearly from my college coach, Bill Lavery, during my freshman season (1999-2000) at Rockford College. I can’t remember the circumstance but I have always remembered the quote and thought about it over time. It’s not to state that Division I and Division II players cannot shoot; they surely can!

What I have concluded from that simple quote is that what quite often, but not always, separates Division III from Division I talent is athleticism, not skills. A Division I program is more likely to recruit a great athlete whose jump shot needs refinement rather than a pure shooter whose quickness and jumping ability can never be up to that level. Consider it. If a player can shoot but will invariably be slower than he or she ought to be, he or she can never get open against superb athletes. A great athlete, however, can figure out how to improve his or her shooting at the Division I level so as to supplement the athleticism and compete on that stage.

In case you compare my career shooting numbers to Division I players, they rank right up there with some of the best: 40% 3-point shooting and 84% from the free throw line are things I am proud of. I played in over 100 college games to get those numbers and went against difficult defenses.

Why didn’t I play Division I?

Well, I suppose if I was completely set on it I might have been qualified to walk on at a lower level program, but if you would like know why Rick Pitino never called, I’ll try to get career dunk number 9 for you on film! I was a good enough athlete to get shots in my games, but I’m unsure what number of open looks I could get with someone like Kentucky’s Eric Bledsoe defending me!

The fact remains; there are so many good players at EVERY college level today. Stats may argue that shooting talent has deteriorated through the years, but that may have to do with the sophistication of defenses combined with better athletes in today’s game. Scoring is harder. Even so, Coach Lavery was and still is right: Division III players can shoot!

Billy Lewis & Jonathan Schneiderman

Aim High Hoops, Inc.

It’s Madness time!

March is here. For basketball buffs, this is the best time of the year. It starts with high school playoffs, followed by the NCAA conference championship week, and lastly, finishes with the NCAA men’s and women’s tournaments.

There is certainly so much more that goes on during March Madness beyond the fantastic basketball games. The Madness symbolizes so many different things for so many different people. Players, parents, coaches, and fans are all fully emerged into the phenomena, and there’s nothing else like it.

Through the players’ perspective, “bittersweet” is the best way to explain the Madness. Many are playing their last high school or college games before moving on to the next level, while many more have laced the sneakers up for the last time. The few which could call themselves “champions” have completed journeys that began before they could remember, and that took countless hours of practice to realize. Each of them share a bond with friends yet others that are only teammates, a bond formed from the time, sweat, and mental and physical challenges endured together throughout their seasons and careers.

For basketball enthusiasts of all ages, March Madness is a time to forget about other things for a short time and be a kid again, by sharing in the tears of joy and sadness with the teams and players they love. What fans count on each and every year is the fantastic competition and exciting plays, the last-second shots, and the clutch defensive stops. They cheer for the underdogs… the George Mason Universities who shock the world and reach the ultimate pinnacle of college basketball, the Final Four. They take off work on Friday and visit Peoria, IL, or Madison, WI, to watch the local high school playing in their first State Tournament series in the school’s history, and for those few hours, they’re just in a different world. What these fans see in these teams that make it to the end is a culmination of effort, sacrifice, a drive towards a common goal, and a lot of good fortune along the way!

Enjoy the Madness!

Billy Lewis & Jonathan Schneiderman

Aim High Hoops, Inc.

First Appearances

Aim High Hoops is going to visit the “Original March Madness” in Peoria and Bloomington for the boys’ and girls’ 2010 State Tournament games. You read that right: Even if CBS uses the phrase, the “Madness” originated from the Illinois state basketball tournament!

It is always such a terrific environment “downstate” (or “upstate” for those south of I74). Now in my late 20s, I still feel like a youngster when I am down there watching these teams battle for their chance at basketball glory. The boys’ tournament was once at Assembly Hall in Champaign; now it is held at Carver Arena in Peoria. Kevin Garnett, Michael Finley, Derrick Rose, Jon Scheyer, Shaun Livingston, Eddy Curry are only a few of the many extraordinary players throughout the years who have wowed Illinois high school basketball fans at the State Tournament before moving on to big time collegiate and professional levels.

I still tell people about Ronnie Fields’s offensive rebound from his own missed free throw that turned into one of the the finest dunks I’ve ever seen. This is in 1995, when all five defenders were still allowed to take a spot in the lane during free throws. He missed it long and wasn’t boxed out. He got his own rebound, one power dribble with his left hand and went off two feet for a tomahawk jam over EVERYBODY. One of the wonderful March Madness moments I have.

We will go to the State Tournament games to begin spreading the word on Aim High Hoops. Alas, we won’t have our training video on shooting mechanics available, but we’ll be there to invite people to read the blogs and check out the main website to find out about what we could offer people looking for ways to enhance their basketball skills. In a previous post I said that we have additional skill development products like a “personal shot tutoring” feature that we are going to be advertising for immediate sale. Package deals will be available to include serious discounts on a “shot tutorial” plus our shooting video once it is produced later in the spring. I’m thinking “Grand Opening Sale” is more for furniture or appliance stores…..so maybe we’ll opt for the “March Madness Sale”.

See you there!

Billy Lewis & Jonathan Schneiderman

Aim High Hoops, Inc.