I am very excited about the upcoming year. As always I am looking to improve my shooting percentage. 2010 I did not make 99% of my shots during my lectures and shooting demo’s. I finished up at 98.82%. Started 2011 breaking one shooting record, most 3 pointers from the NBA corner in a minute with one ball and one passer. In February i will attempt to break my own record of most FT’s in a minute with one ball and one passer which is 24. Look for the website to be updated by my main man Rob Santoro. Hopefully my book on shooting will be out sometime in the summer or fall. Also new this year for the shooter’s club will be a video break down of the shot done on the computer with brand new technology. I have also been working on a phone app for players of all levels. Expect this to be done and in place soon.This year I will also be doing all of my other stuff, individual workouts, group workouts, team workouts. Then I have my week of girls camp in the Pocono Mountains as well as two weeks of boys camp there.Then I will be speaking at camps through out the country from Memorial day thru Labor Day. After four years of being involved with the NBA I will once again be able to hold my college shooting camps, they will be in August. In addition to all of this I am still doing my motivational speaking for companies. After the Final Four I start training future pro prospects, showing them what to expect at workouts. Last but not least I work the pros out too. Remember to thank the Good Lord for all of your blessings and to tell your loved ones that you love them and how much they mean to you.

I hope everyone had a great Christmas and a safe, happy and healthy new year. There are a few things that I want to accomplish this year. First and foremost Iwant to have a more committed relationship with the Good Lord. I also want to be a better Christian, person, husband and father. There is always room for improvement. It’s just like being a basketball player, you can never be satisfied with where you are. If I improve my relationship with Jesus the rest will take care of itself, but it all starts with having a strong relationship with God. As forbasketball 2011 is the year that I am going to break some records. First off there is a website that has Steve Nash shooting WITH ONE BALL, ONE PASSER, FOR ONE MINUTE. He makes 16 NBA 3’s from the corner which is 22 feet. It is not a college three or high school three and he does not use several balls and several people to pass and rebound. I attempted this in Naples, Florida and made 17, I will do this again because I know I can get 18, my 14th shot rattled in and I got my 18th shot off a little late which also went in. So for now I will have to settle for 17 of 17. Check it on YouTube below. Several years ago I broke the record for most NBA threes in a minute from the distance of 23 feet 9 inches. I did this at the NBA All Star Game in Houston. When I shot, I shot off the rack. My record was broken by someone in California, but it was done with someone handing him the balls. Once again something completely different. I will keep you posted as to what records I will be attempting to break where and when. Thanks for reading!

December is here and hoops season is in full swing for everyone. The NBA, college and high school are all playing at this time. I love it when I can watch a game any night, any where that I might be. Went to a women’s college game the other night. It was a blow out but I had an enjoyable evening none the less, talking with none other than Thomas J. Cirrincione, aka “Tootie.” last night I watched the Knicks and Celtics. This was a very enjoyable game to watch. Amare is playing out of his mind. He is a player that has improved over the years. I remember him in HS and he had no jump shot what so ever. It’s great to see when players improve their skill set. Players should always look to get better. Basketball is a game where you can get better on your own. There are so many things that you can work on and improve on. Shooting, ball handling, passing all can be improved through drill work and repetition. Then you can work on your body through stretching, weights and specific exercises. There is so much to do that you should never ever be bored. I always change up my workouts both on the court and the weight room. New drills and new exercises keep me fresh and motivated. I hope everyone has a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year. Don’t forget what Christmas is all about, help those that are less fortunate not only at Christmas but all of the time. May God Bless you and your family.

I hope everyone had a very happy, safe and healthy Thanksgiving. It was great being home, not traveling anywhere or any game to play. It was my first Thanksgiving at Boothbay Harbor, ME. UCONN won the Maui Classic. Congratulations to the HUSKIES coaching staff and players. How about Kemba Walker, he has been playing at another level, it doesn’t matter who he is playing against, he is putting points on the board. The HEAT are struggling as they are trying to find their way. Many people are surprised by their early struggles and some are not. It is tough to get three guys together who were all the MAN on their previous teams. Now they must share the ball and the limelight. This is easier said than done. LeBron and DWade are used to having the ball, when one doesn’t have it the other looks lost. If and when they figure it out they will be scary and fun to watch. The HEAT have also lost players to injuries. Speaking of injuries there have been alot this season. None more devasting than Greg Oden’s. This guys entire career has been one injury after another. You have to feel sorry for him and all that he’s been through. Now he has time to send pictures of himself to adoring fans. On the other hand Blake Griffin has returned from being injured and he is a monster. Saw him play in Denver and he plays hard, hits the floor for loose balls and is a physical speciman. Blake is fearless in attacking the rim and going after rebounds. I enjoy watching him and the way he plays. Could use some work on his jumper and at the line, but who doesn’t. Hopefully the Clips can get healthy and get better. You could say that every year about them. High School ball has started up and I went to a scrimmage the other day and neither team talked on defense, they did scream for the ball on the offensive end when they were open or clap their hands. Kids don’t talk anymore because of their upbringing. They text message, IM, fax, facebook etc.. their is no verbal communication. Guys you need to talk to one another and let your teammate know that there is a screen, that you have his man, that you are switching, that you need help. TALK on the floor. I will be heading to Florida on the 13th and will be there until the 22nd in the FT Lauderdale and Miami area. Maybe I will catch a couple of games or practices on the HS, COLLEGE or PRO LEVEL. Take care and don’t put on alot of weight eating leftovers.

   Just finished up a two day shooting camp at Wilcox Tech in Meridan, CT. The camp was put on by Jeremy Pringle and Brian Maderias. They both did an outstanding job of getting kids to this event. The kids that attended were all very coachable and they all wanted to get better. They did improve during the two days. You can actually see the improvement over a short period of time, especially when it comes to footwork. I can’t say enough about Jeremy and Brian as I have known them for years. I first met them through the CT STARTERS program about 10 years ago. They have grown up and are good people, I am blessed to have them as my friends. It was great to see Bobby Burkhardt and Joe Tichotsky on Sunday. They both stopped by to say hello. There are so many outstanding human beings that I have met because of basketball and I am sure that there are outstanding people in all fields of work and life. On the other hand there are also bad guys involved with the game as well. Try to eliminate your time with the bad guys and spend time with the good guys do this in everything that you do and you will find yourself being successful and having less problems. I am looking forward to spending Thanksgiving at home in Maine. It will be our first Thanksgiving at our home. We have always been away because of basketball season or going to Carole’s parents. This year there will be no traveling for us, we will just be enjoying our time together as a family in our home. December will soon be here and before you know it Christmas will be here. Stay safe, be healthy and tell your loved ones how much they mean to you. There is so much to be Thankful for, make sure you thank the Good Lord.

I have been doing shooting camps and giving shooting demonstrations for over twenty years. I have been at hundreds and hundreds of schools, camps, etc..  and I have always preached that in order to become a GREAT shooter you need to chart your shots. Since I was sixteen I began charting my shots and am still doing it to this day. I never get bored shooting the ball because I am always trying to beat my best shooting performances whether it be during workouts or a lecture. Over the course of my twenty years shooting  and speaking at hundreds of camps I have seen about ten notebooks. That is about 10 kids that decided to chart their shots out of about 100,000 that I have spoken in front of over the years. Most kids don’t get it and don’t understand the importance of charting shots. Once you get into the habit of charting your shots, you know exactly what you did during the workout and then you see the number of shots that you took and how many you made. You have feedback and once you see that you are improving then you want to practice more and when you see that you are getting better it give the player confidence. Confidence leads to success and success leads to confidence it is an ongoing cycle. Last spring I had the pleasure of meeting a coach in Denver who worked the Dave Hopla Shooting Camp, she coached a youth team of boys and does an outstanding job. Her name is De’Edra Dangerfield and she came back to camp a couple of weeks ago. I was glad to see her because she is a very good coach and cares about the kids. She brought along her youth team and all of the kids had their shooting notebooks. An entire team and these kids are young. I hope that they continue to chart their shots when they leave De”Edra’s program. She has these kids on the right road and she has made me very proud. Finally someone gets it. You keep track of shots in a game why not during your workouts. Make your workouts competitive with one another and also with yourself. While in Denver it was great seeing Big Bill Ficke of Big Bill’s NY STYLE PIZZA. I am so blessed to have people in my life like Bill and Mark Sharpley who runs the JAM program. Mark always has done an outstanding job of getting kids to the camp and always has a top notch staff. His wife Rebecca is behind the scenes making sure that everything is run smoothly. Take care and God Bless. Thanksgiving is right around the corner and let’s make sure we give thanksgiving to the Good Lord who is responsible for all of our blessings.

   November is a great time of the year. The Giants won the World Series, I have been a Giant fan since the time I can remember. Loved Willie Mays, my favorite player. Baseball is over but we have college and pro football and NBA basketball. College basketball will start up soon too. Then there is Thanksgiving a time to spend with the family and loved ones. A time to be thankful for everything that we have in life. It is a time to count your blessings and we have much to be thankful for even if we think that we don’t. As long as you have the Good Lord in your life there isn’t anything else that you really need. Take some time and pray to the Good Lord and tell Him how much He means to you and how much you need Him in your life.November also is a very busy time of the year for me as well. This past weekend I was in Baltimore to see my aunt Jean, my brother Skip and his beautiful daughter Hailie. I don’t get to see them as much as I would like to, but they are always in my thoughts and prayers. We went to dinner on Friday night. Saturday I was up early and off to Woodbridge, VA to do a clinic for Dennis Marshall. He runs a youth program and does an outstanding job with his kids. The kids were great, they were respectful, worked hard and learned what was being taught. Dennis’ son Kendall is a freshman at UNC. I remember Kendall when he was ten years old at my camp in the Pocono Mountains. Even at theat time you knew that he was going to be a special player. I look forward to following his career. Good Luck Kendall.After the clinic in VA I took a quick shower and headed to my 35th HS reunion. It was great seeing everyone that attended this event. I was a bit disappointed that there wasn’t more people there. I was shocked to see how many of my former classmates have passed away. It makes you cherish every moment on this earth even more. It was great catching up with everyone that was there. Hope everyone had a great time, I wish I could’ve been there for the entire event but my schedule did not permit me to do so, at least I got to stop by.On Halloween I had another clinic, this one was in Maine at Point Lookout in Northport, ME. Bill Reynolds ran this event and had about 70 kids. The facility was phenomenal, hopefully I will be back there to do something again with Bill. The kids were really into it. There were boys and girls from 10 years old to seniors in HS. Thank you all for attending.The next trip that I take is this Friday and I am off to Denver, Colorado to do my fall clinic with Mark Sharpley. Mark and I have been doing this camp for about 10 years. He does an outstanding job of getting kids to this event. We do one every Memorial Day weekend too. Mark always has that one filled up. I am looking forward to my return trip to Colorado to work with the kids, see all of the coaches, and also to see my main man Big Bill.Remember we all have so much to be thankful for. Till the next blog, take care and God Bless. May your Jumpshot hit nothing but the bottom of the net.

   Just got back stateside on Monday night, from Barcelona, Spain. Went over with my wife for the NBA Basketball without Borders camp. The camp is sponsored by the NBA and NIKE. They both do an incredible job of running this camp. The coaches were Ron Adams, Dick Harter and Robert Werdann. The NBA players that were part of the camp Marcus Camby, Jason Terry, Marc and Pau Gasol, Rudy Fernandez, Vladimir Radmanovic and Serge Ibaka. The players attending camp were from all over Europe. There were some very talented kids at this camp. Basketball really is a global game, the rest of the world has caught up to us and they are developing good young players who know how to play the game of basketball the right way and are also fundamentally sound. At the camp it was great seeing familiar faces Marin, Rich, Chris, Kim, Theresa, Brooks, Travis and Doc. I am sure that I left someone out. The camp was one that I will never forget as it was not only fun but I will have lifelong memories of it. Thanks to everyone that was involved with the camp. Can’t forget our site the FCB football club of Barcelona let us use the basketball teams practice facility for the camp. A very nice facility. What made the camp so good was that the kids understood English and they had a very high basketball IQ, so it was easy to teach and coach them. There were no translators needed, so the camp moved along nicely. In all of my years of doing camps this was by far the most enjoyable camp that I have been involved in. You got a chance to interact with each and every kid. The only bad thing that happened during this trip was that my bags did not arrive on time, my wife Carole’s purse was stolen and my return flight was late leaving, the plane had to stop for gas in Boston and I had to spend some more time in Newark Airport waiting for my flight back to Maine. Traveling really is the worst and it isn’t getting any better. At least my bags made it back. I don’t understand why the bags take so long to come out at Portland Jetport in Maine, you wait forever there. It’s not like there are 100’s of flights coming in all at once. It’s great to be home with my daughter, missed her bunches. My heart goes out to Mrs. Clark in Keyport, NJ who lost her son and husband on the same day. You are in my thoughts and prayers as well as the rest of the family. Life is too short, enjoy every moment, every day, count your blessings and tell your loved ones how much you love them and how important they are to you. Remember to thank God for everything that you have and for all of your blessings.  Take care and God Bless.

Now is the time to really work on your game. Most kids play all summer long and don’t improve because all that they do during the summer time is play. Whether it is summer league or AAU basketball there is no drill time or time where a player makes 500 shots a day. Whatever bad habits the player has, he or she is not getting rid of them by just playing. If a player has a weak handle when is that player going to develop a better handle. While playing? It is essential that a player first realizes that he or she needs to get better and then it is just as important to go about and work on improving your game. There is always room for improvement. Don’t ever be satisfied with where your game is at. When I was younger and was not playing much it was tough to stay focused and to continue working on improving. By keeping track of my shots when I worked out, I knew I was improving even if the coaches didn’t. That’s why it is so important to log your shots. When you see yourself getting better you want to practice more and you gain confidence. That’s why when I was a kid I loved the summer time. Hooping it up out doors at Norwood Elementary School and Harbor View back in Baltimore. I couldn’t wait for school to start and show the coaches how much better I had become from the previous year. September was always a time to continueImproving, working on your own before practicing with the team. If you are in high school and you just played all summer long I urge you to make some shots and work on your game. If you are in college put in extra time because the NCAA won’t let your coaches work with you enough during the summer or the school year. If you are a professional put in some more time. The time you invest will reap huge rewards. Just by doing spot shooting and recording your shots you will see dramatic improvement. MAKE SHOTS NOT EXCUSES. Good luck to everyone in the upcoming season. I will be back doing my thing this fall and winter speaking engagements at corporate events, camps, clinics, etc.. I haven’t heard from Rondo or Howard this past year. Just think if they could only make their free shots. Have a blessed day.

Hard to believe that it is already August. Just sitting here at the airport killing time because of a missed flight. It seems like every time that I fly there is a problem. Should be in Milwaukee right now working Brandon Jennings out but I’m in Cleveland waiting for a flight that doesn’t leave until 9:00 PM. Time management is key, I have already written to Continental and voiced my opinion (like they really care) and now I figured I would update my blog. First of all I would like to thank everyone that reads it. August has been very busy for me and I have been able to spend time with my daughter McKenna as well. The month started off at Championship Basketball Camp in Buzzard’s Bay, MA. This camp is at a beautiful location and the coaches all come back every year to coach. I have been to 100’s of camps over the years and the turnover rate with coaches is worse than Yinka Dare’s assist to turnover ratio. Here at Championship some of the coaches take vacation time so they can come back and coach and spend time with other coaches. I have been coming here for close to twenty years and have made a bunch of friends. My daughter made the trip with me and we spent the night in the dorm. She loved it and thought it was really cool. I then went up to Colby College and spoke at Pine Tree Basketball Camp. Coach Whitmore does an outstanding job there and I think every kid that plays basketball in Maine has attended his camp. We figured out that I haven’t been there in about twenty years. I can’t believe that I have been speaking at camps as long as I have. Many camps have folded over the years or their numbers have dropped off significantly because of the economy? coaches running their own camps and making their players work the camp? AAU ball? I think it is a culmination of all of these things. My daughter then joined me for a trip to the Pocono Invitational Girls Camp  along with Sarah Caron of Boothbay Harbor. It was great having some company on the long trip. Mckenna was not the least bit interested in basketball but she loved the pool and the candy at the canteen. She wants to move to the camp and spend the rest of the summer there. Hopefully she will return for my boys week in August 26-30. Heading to California on Saturday and will attend Dana Pump’s wedding on Sunday. Looking forward to spending time with my beautiful wife, Carole. My thoughts and prayers to everyone that are having a difficult time with the economy. Keep your faith strong in the LORD and may your love grow stronger every day. Take care and God Bless.