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IN THIS ISSUE
01 the footwork rule that changes everything in the paint
02 the rep that locks the footwork in
03 faith is the system underneath the floater
Hey club!
Last week I told you the floater footwork was coming. This is it. The rule nobody actually wrote on the board for me. The thing that made every floater feel either effortless or like I was fighting my own body in the air.
You can have the perfect release and still miss because your feet were wrong before the ball ever left your hand.
That is what we are getting into today. The footwork rule nobody taught me. Once you understand it, every floater attempt you take will make more sense.
Let's go.
TAKEAWAY 1
The rule nobody taught me
Jump off one foot, land on two. Jump off two feet, land on one. That is the whole rule.
Nobody wrote it on the board for me. Nobody said it in a drill. I figured it out the hard way, watching tape and asking why some floaters felt effortless and others felt like I was fighting my own body on the way up.
When your landing foot matches your takeoff foot, your body stabilizes in the air. You stop fighting yourself. The release actually has a chance to work. This is why the footwork comes first. Before the release, before the touch, the footwork decides whether the shot is even possible.
Turns out the science backs it. Bilateral landing after a single-foot takeoff stabilizes the body in the air better than any other pattern. Pros do it without thinking. The rest of us have to train it on purpose.
TAKEAWAY 2
The rep that locks the footwork in
Walk through the gather and the step pattern slowly. No ball at first. Just feet. Feel where you take off, where you land. Once that feels right, jog it. Then add the ball. Then add game speed.
Here is the rep that locks it in. Walk it. Jog it. Then go live.
Most guys skip the walk because it feels slow. That is exactly why they never fully own the footwork. You cannot fix something at full speed that you do not understand at half speed. Do it slow first. Ten minutes. That is the whole rep.
TAKEAWAY 3
Faith is the system underneath every other system
This is the part most people skip.
When I say faith, I don't just mean religion. I mean the belief you have in yourself when the game is close and nobody else in the gym is sure you can make the shot.
That kind of faith isn't something you summon in the moment. It's something you build. Mine gets built in the summer when nobody is watching. In the gym at 6am. In the extra reps after practice in-season when the body wants a day off. By the time the game shows up, I'm not hoping I can make the play. I already know. I've already done it a thousand times in an empty gym.
My religious faith sits underneath all of that. I pray before every game. I pray after the bad ones, which is the harder one. The prayer doesn't replace the prep. It sits on top of it.
That's the whole system. Confidence built through work, anchored in something bigger than the result.
So here’s what I want you to sit with this week. Stop asking if you’re talented enough. Start asking if you have a system. The talent conversation was always the wrong one.
Am I getting better each year, or am I the same player I was last year?
Keep putting in the work,
Faith + Consistency,
Elijah
P.S. Opening 200 spots in the Ask Elijah Founders Beta. Free during beta, locks $9.99/mo for life. Details soon.
If this resonates, just reply. Want to hear from you.
