Basketball: New tool helps Indians

The Indians have a new tool to improve their basketball skills: a machine that forces a player to shoot the ball with the proper arc. It’s called a “Shoot-A-Way” and the odd-looking device is already a familiar sight at both the Indians boys’ and girls’ practices.

The device, which arrived at the school over the holiday break, hoists three sides of netting around the basketball rim nearly to the height of the top of the backboard. In order to sink a shot, players have to shoot with a high arc, otherwise the ball will bounce off the side of that netting.

Poor shooting percentages have plagued the Indians basketball program. Focusing on the angle of the shots may address the problem, said boys JV Coach Jay Card, who was a driving force behind the acquisition of the machine with help from FIT Center Director Garth Griffin. “Typically the Shelter Island kids have always shot flat,” said Coach Card. Shooting flat, or without an arc, means there’s less chance of squeezing the ball through the rim. “The higher an angle you come down with, the bigger the hole is,” said Coach Card. It also means the ball is more likely to bounce straight up and then fall through, rather than bouncing off the rim at a sharp angle.

The machine will help the players train their muscle memory through lots of repetition of the correct form. “The first day we used it in practice we took 3,000 shots,” Coach Card explained. The raised netting collects missed and sunk shots and funnels them into the bottom of the machine, which then shoots a ball back out at players, so they don’t have to run around collecting balls.

It also counts how many shots are made and missed to calculate a shooting percentage, which is displayed on a digital scoreboard on the base of the machine. The device can be set to shoot the ball to as many as 17 locations on a semicircle, and at different distances, so it can be used for a variety of drills. It even prints a readout that coaches may use to reward players who work on their shots outside of practice and during the off-season.

The machine cost approximately $6,000, including the price of shipping it to the school. Most of the cost was paid through the FIT Center equipment fund, though the Shelter Island School and the Shelter Island Youth Soccer Association also contributed money. The machine is available to the public, said Mr. Griffin. He’s working out a schedule for when the public can use the machine, likely an hour or two in the evenings once indoor sport season is over and the gym is less busy. Even if you’re not a basketball player, he said, “The thing’s a great workout.”

It will take some time for the machine’s benefit to show up in the Indians’ win/loss column, according to Coach Card. “They still need to translate what they do here in practice out on to the basketball court … You could be a good practice shooter on this thing but when you get a little bit of pressure, a little bit of defense, a little bit of nerves, then everything changes.”

Though many older players may already be set in their ways, Coach Card hopes to see this device help change the game for future generations of varsity players.

Current Indians players are still eager for it to help improve their game. Junior varsity player Myles Clark, who demonstrated the machine for the Reporter, said “Hopefully we can do better with it this year and in years to come.”