There's more to shooting hoops than meets the eye.

The art hasn't been lost, though many believe there is a pressing need to re-instill the fundamentals of draining two points.

Shooting was identified as a priority earlier this month during a national technical conference of basketball coaches held in Toronto, says veteran Whitehorse coach Tim Brady who also serves as the president of Basketball Yukon.

Brady says there's a general feeling that players over the last 20 years have not put enough emphasis on the individual skill, as more focus has gone into building an affective offensive blitz – attacking the rim – and defending against it.

"There was a belief that Canada needs to improve the way they approach teaching shooting,” he said in an interview last Wednesday, a day after returning from the four-day conference coordinated by Canada Basketball.

Shooting, he said, was not up for discussion on the original agenda. But when participating coaches from across the country sat down to identify priorities for the development of the sport, it rose to the top, along with passing and one-on-one techniques.

He said it was agreed renewed emphasis on shooting is needed at every level, from the national team down.

Canada Basketball, says Brady, wants to get the word out; it wants to know that when a shooting clinic is held in the Whitehorse, the same method is being applied on the East Coast.

Renato Pasquali of Italy, Canada Basketball's technical coordinator and a master basketball coach who has coached the pros, was there for the technical conference as a matter of his routine schedule; so he was on hand when a full day was dedicated to shooting, and developing a unified approach to teaching proper delivery.

Brady says each participant was required to demonstrate in front of their peers that they understood the concepts and were able to perform the mechanics of a well launched ball.

They were also required to teach what they had learned to elite high school players brought in to serve as students during the four-day clinic, he points out.

"It was a lot of work, but it was a lot of great learning.”

Brady says the timing couldn't have been better, as he had already booked a local shooting clinic for students through the Christmas holidays.

He had no knowledge when he booked the F.H. Collins gymnasium, that he'd be returning from Hog Town with a brand new approach to teaching.

"It was all coincidental,” he said. But it was a great coincidence.

"It was great timing.”

The holiday shooting clinic kicked off yesterday at F.H. Collins Secondary School with a class of teenaged girls, followed by a session for teenaged boys. The younger 10- to 13-year-old students were on the court today.

Improving your shot takes time, consistency and repetition applying the proper methods, says Brady.

He says it's about biometrics and the art of transferring the energy and symmetry from the toes up through the legs and upper body to the very edge of the fingertips.

It was indeed an exercise in repetition on the gym floor yesterday, with players performing at a slow to moderate pace – not a snappy pace – to ensure they understood the mechanics, the three distinct phases of a good shot.

Trevor Hale, the senior girls coach for Porter Creek Secondary School, was there along with several of his players and two other high school coaches.

The high school gym teacher points out with the B-Ball season underway, he wanted to learn the new approach to teaching a good shot, so that he could apply consistency in his own program.

For Markie Bailie, a member of the F.H. Collins senior girls team, it was an opportunity to embrace the art of discipline.

"I learned to keep the form, and to follow through, because I never follow through” says the member of 2010 Arctic Winter Games basketball team who represented the Yukon in Grand Prairie last winter. "I learned to keep the rhythm.”

"I feel more confident in my shots,” added Galena Roots, a member of F.H. Collin's junior girls squad.

Shooting, she admits frankly, is the part of her game requiring the most work.

Roots said yesterday's clinic emphasized and demonstrated proper placement of the hands, how to hold the ball and follow through with your shot.

Brady says providing players with the fundamental mechanics of shooting won't turn them into Steve Nash overnight.

"But if your form and your technique are sound, you are going to have better results,” said the basketball mentor of more than two decades who was inducted in the Yukon Sport Hall of Fame last month in recognition of his dedication to the sport.