My college coach would have us do [tag]basketball conditioning[/tag] at the beginning of every practice (and at the end, as well).  The reason he did this was because he wanted us to be tired when we shot our [tag]Free Throws[/tag].  If you can hit FT’s when you’re tired, you can also hit them when you’re not.

As I coached a 7th grade team, I noticed that FT’s had such individual unimportance to the players!“ “  I now do the same in my practices that my college [tag]basketball[/tag] coach did.  I have early conditioning and they have to hit two in a row to get a drink.

At the end of [tag]basketball practice[/tag] we shoot 10 FT’s a piece and the players have to hit 8 out of 10 because our team goal is 80%.  Those who achieve this sit out the end of practice conditioning.

I know it doesn’t sound like a lot, but I saw this team go from an early season 42% FT shooting team to a 74% team and they continued to push towards 80%. We are hitting our FT’s at the end of the game and our opponents are not, because they are tired.

This team now take shooting free throws personally!