With its technical limitations, modern basketball has developed radically to a physical game. A revolution of basketball fundamental skills is needed, and now it is feasible with a break-through technique-Three-Finger Zen, Universal Ball-Handling Mechanism. In 2010, after five-year dedicated research and praxis, Xiaoxing Chen discovered Three- Finger-Zen (3fz), a nature mechanism of human hand and arm for handling the basketball. It benefits every participant of the sport, and has technical capabilities to revolutionize basketball for a perfect game. Chen built his theories and praxes of how basketball should work in 3fz with its unique features: ¿ Integrates all basketball offense skills as one simple mechanism. ¿ Enables unchallengeable shooting with exceptional accuracy. ¿ Improves players' athletic abilities and prevent passive injuries. ¿ Enhances physical and mental development of children. ¿ Sparks logic and artistic intelligence in youths and adults. ¿ Promotes physical and mental health of the general public. Distinctive from conventional basketball skills, 3fz applies the last three fingers-middle finger, ring finger and pinky-to handle and control the ball. In this method, the ring finger plays a command-and-control role in the ball-handling processes of dribbling, passing, and shooting. The technique is easy to learn when you understand the 3fz mechanism and follow the training instructions. In this book, Chen reveals the steps to 3fz basketball revolution and teaches you how to be the best basketball player you can be.

Three-Finger Zen

A BASKETBALL REVOLUTIONBy Xiaoxing (Benjamin) Chen

iUniverse, Inc.

Copyright © 2011 Xiaoxing (Benjamin) Chen
All right reserved.
ISBN: 978-1-4620-4717-8

Contents

Introduction..........................................................................xiiiSUMMARY OF 3fz TECHNIQUES.............................................................xxiChapter 1 Basketball Revolution.......................................................1Chapter 2 3fz: Three-Finger Zen.......................................................16Chapter 3 UniShot: Universal Shooting Mechanism.......................................49Chapter 4 Shooting Problems with the Conventional Shooting Method.....................60Chapter 5 UniShot Shooting Solutions..................................................70Chapter 6 Up-Hand UniShot Shooting Variety and Combinations...........................88Chapter 7 3fz Conditioning and Symmetric Training.....................................106Chapter 8 3fz Advantages and Benefits.................................................124Chapter 9 Youth Development and Future Games..........................................143

Chapter One

Basketball Revolution

WHY A REVOLUTION?

Basketball is a wonderful game, exciting to play and enjoyable to watch. It has tremendous popularity worldwide, being the second most participated sport after soccer. There are established administration and competition systems of all levels: the International Basketball Federation (FIBA), national and local basketball organizations, professional basketball leagues such as the NBA and Euroleague, college leagues like the NCAA, and youth leagues.

Throughout the world, basketball players, coaches, trainers, and teachers dedicate themselves to the sport. We have sports institutions, researchers, and practitioners who focus their works on basketball studies and training. Basketball facilities are sophisticated and well built in many countries; some of them are magnificent landmarks of their cities.

Basketball seems to be a great sport with perfect systems. What is wrong with basketball, and why do we need a revolution?

We do have wonderful basketball games and nearly perfect systems. But to become a perfect game and a pure, healthy sport, it has still a long way to go. For the future game we dream of, the modern basketball, with its technical limitations, can do little by itself. In contrary, the existing basketball techniques negatively affect the development of basketball in many ways, as we will discuss in the following sections of this chapter. Therefore, a revolution is necessary for a new, advanced game of basketball.

This revolution is not about organizational or structural changes like the Marxist revolution; we want our good games and systems intact. It is a pure technological revolution of fundamental basketball techniques and skills. Similarly, in the Industrial Revolution and the information revolution, machines and computers replaced hard laborers and those doing paperwork. Now, for basketball, 3fz will replace the existing ball-handling techniques and offense skills, all of them. In other words, today's basketball offense skills, especially shooting skills, will be obsolete in the revolution.

In contrast to the industrial and information revolutions, which have been both good and bad, the 3fz revolution will bring only positive changes to basketball. It will significantly improve every aspect of the game, solve the existing problems, and benefit every participant of the sport.

For the basketball revolution, we have established theories, mechanisms and techniques, and successful praxes. Human kinetics and hand studies are the scientific foundations of the revolution. Universal Ball-Handling Mechanism (3fz), Universal shooting Mechanism (UniShot), and Universal Alignment (4u1) are the new groundbreaking mechanisms and techniques. These revolutionary skills are acquired in my long-term praxis, and they have been successfully experimented and tested among youths.

Prior to the engagement of the big changes, we ought to know, from a revolutionary perspective, what problems and challenges are obstacles in the advancement of basketball.

CURRENT SITUATIONS AND CHALLENGES

Modern basketball favors big, strong, and quick players. It is disadvantageous to small, female, and older players for their lack of size, strength, agility, or explosive power. A competitive basketball game is full of intensive physical activity and bodily contact. Players of competitive basketball leagues are well conditioned for tough physical challenges. They need to have excellent athletic strengths to apply their ball skills in competitions.

Having distinctive athletic bodies, females play a different style of basketball than males play. There are great women's games, with fluent teamwork, spectacular passes, swift transitions, and accurate shots. But physical basketball games are extremely hazardous to most female players. Due to their special physiques, women endure higher risks of injury during extreme movements or activities. For instance, during a hard stop or sudden direction change, compared to their male counterparts, female players are exposed to significantly higher risk of a torn ACL—anterior cruciate ligament—a crucial ligament of the knee joint involved in jumping and turning.

Basketball is among the sports leading in injuries, and injury is the main cause of short careers of many professional players. Without any protective equipment, players collide, hit and foul each other, or fall and land improperly after jumping, and they get hurt. The higher the level of competition, the more risks of injury professional players are exposed to.

Modern basketball has two major challenges: technical limitation and playing style. In the last thirty years of basketball development, there has been no significant technical improvement or innovative skill of any kind, but the players are younger and stronger, with more physical powers. More teenagers have entered professional basketball leagues, and there are significant increases in the three-point distances—about two feet (half a meter)—in the NBA and FIBA games.

The technical limitations of the conventional basketball lead to physical playing styles, as pumping muscles for brutal strengths in offense and pressing with rough body contacts in defense are easy ways to elevate the game for public attractions. Consequently, modern basketball games develop to a "physical powers over pure skills" playing style. Professional players may be more skilled than amateurs, but their physical powers are definitely superior. Unfortunately, there are more bad (or ugly) basketball games coming along with the playing style.

Isolated offensive skills

The individual basketball skills, including pass, dribble, and shoot, are fundamental components of team offense. Each of them uses different ball-handling techniques. They are independent offensive skills and thus trained separately.

On the other hand, players have variable talents in mastering the skills. Point guards are normally good at dribbling and passing but not necessarily at shooting. Many professional players cannot pass the ball with good control, especially in dynamic game settings, so they rarely have assists in their games. Shoot on catch is a skill that only a few great shooters have mastered.

While training, players must allocate extra...