Basketball: Steps to Success [Paperback]

"...innovative instruction and drills you need to master the fundamentals that will improve your total game." -- Dean Smith - Head Basketball Coach, University of North Carolina

"Hal Wissel shares the personalized techniques he has mastered teaching players from the NBA to youth level." -- Chuck Daly - NBA TV Analyst, TNT Turner Sports, Head Coach, 1992 U.S. Olympic Men’s Basketball Team

"This book will help players improve and enable coaches to teach the game better." -- Jack Ramsay, PhD - Television Analyst for ESPN and Miami Heat

Basketball: Steps to Success provides an easy-to-use, self-paced program for expanding and refining basketball skills and strategies. Players of all levels of ability will add new dimensions to their game using this unique step-by-step approach. The book not only provides 113 drills for improving offensive and defensive skills, it also gives tips on developing the often overlooked mental aspects of the game.

Written by master teacher and coach Hal Wissel, this book is part of the Steps to Success Activity Series--the most extensively researched and carefully developed set of sport skills instruction books ever published.

Each of the 10 steps in Basketball: Steps to Success is an easy transition from the one before. The first steps provide a solid foundation of basic skills and concepts. As players progress, they’ll gain confidence in their abilities and experience the satisfaction of becoming well-rounded basketball players.

Basketball Instructor Guide: Steps to Success features an 80-question test bank and sample course schedules for 24-, 36-, and 45-session classes. Also covers:

• Being an effective basketball instructor • Making the class setting safe • Rating students’ starting points • Setting up class sessions • Introducing students to the course • Teaching skills and strategies • Providing feedback • Conducting drills • Evaluating students

Each step (chapter)

• explains why the skill or concept is important, • identifies the keys to proper technique, • helps players correct common errors, • explains how to practice each skill in realistic ways, • lists specific performance goals for each drill, and • lets players proceed at their own pace.

Players will benefit from Hal Wissel’s years of high school, collegiate, and professional coaching experience as they make their way up the 10 steps to basketball success. They’ll learn

• the mechanics for seven basic shots--one-hand set shot, free throw, jump shot, three-point shot, hook shot, lay-up, and runner shot--and how to correct common errors when performing each; • six basic passes and when to make them; • nine different dribble moves; • the emotional, mental, and physical qualities of a good rebounder; • how to be a triple threat--a player who can effectively shoot, drive, and pass; • how to move on offense without the ball; • the basic principles that guide the passing game; and • how to play team defense and execute defensive rotations.

Basketball: Steps to Success will help developing players make steady progress, practice in game situations, and correct problems as they develop. The result--successful basketball players who will know how and when to use skills in a game.

"Hal Wissel shares the personalized techniques he has mastered teaching players from the NBA to youth level. Coaches and players will gain from his steps to success."

Chuck Daly Former Head Coach New Jersey Nets, Detroit Pistons Head Coach, 1992 U.S. Olympic Men's Basketball Team

"Hal Wissel is an astute basketball architect. This book will help players improve and enable coaches to teach the game better."

Jack Ramsay, PhD Television Analyst for ESPN and Miami Heat

"All great players must have good fundamentals to excel. Basketball: Steps to Success has the innovative instruction and drills you need to master the fundamentals that will improve your total game."

Dean Smith Head Basketball Coach University of North Carolina

"Hal Wissel demonstrates to the world why he is recognized as one of America's top-rated basketball clinicians. His ability to crystallize situations and then select the correct teaching technique in order to achieve maximum success makes this book a must read for players and coaches at all levels of play."

Hubie Brown NBA TV Analyst, TNT Turner Sports Former NBA Head Coach, New York Knicks and Atlanta Hawks

"I have known Hal Wissel since we were kids. From the first day we met he has been a student of basketball. His experience, his playing and coaching the game make Basketball: Steps to Success a down-to-earth, practical, and easy-to-use guide to hoop success. Everyone interested in making a contribution to their team will gain from its insights and exercises."

Ken Blanchard Co-author, The One Minute Manager

Hal Wissel is a scout and special assignment coach for the Milwaukee Bucks of the NBA. Before taking this position in 1990, he was a head basketball coach on the collegiate level for 24 years, including 12 years at NCAA Division I schools. His greatest coaching success came while he was at Florida Southern College, where he guided his team to three consecutive trips to the NCAA Division II Final Four and to one NCAA Division II National Championship title in 1981.

Wissel has also worked as an assistant coach and head scout for the NBA’s Atlanta Hawks and served as head coach, general manager, and vice president of operations for the Westchester Golden Apples of the United States Basketball League. In addition to coaching, Wissel is the founder and president of Basketball World, Inc., a venture that organizes and runs basketball camps and clinics and produces instructional basketball books and videos. Recognized as one of the world’s best basketball clinicians, Wissel conducts his popular Shoot It Better Mini Camps worldwide for players at all levels.

Wissel received his doctorate in physical education from Springfield [Massachusetts] College in 1970. His honors include being named Coach & Athlete magazine’s Eastern Coach of the Year in 1972, Sunshine State Conference Coach of the Year in 1979, 1980, 1981, and 1982, and Division II National Coach of the Year by the National Association of Basketball Coaches in 1980.