The Goofy Foot Layup, Language, and Motor Control

Language matters.

Television analysts repeatedly refer to layups as "wrong foot" or "wrong hand". Most analysts are old, relatively speaking, and when they were taught to play basketball, everyone agreed there were right ways to execute skills and wrong ways to execute skills.

One-handed passes were wrong (Fake Fundamentals, Vol. 4).

Jumping to pass was wrong (Fake Fundamentals, Vol. 3).

Crossing one's feet on defense was wrong (Fake Fundamentals).

Using the inside hand on a layup was wrong.

Jumping off the same-side foot as the shooting hand was wrong.

None of these skills is wrong, and, in fact, many coaches now teach these executions to develop better and more skilled players. Despite their acceptance in the modern game, many refer to these skills as "wrong", even when promoting them.

In 2014 Kyrie Irving and Iman Shumpert would play one-on-one after practice with a special set of rules: a basket only counted if shot with either the wrong hand or off the wrong foot

— Eric Musselman (@EricPMusselman) August 8, 2020

Language matters. Why would a coach teach something described as the "wrong foot" or "wrong hand"? Wrong is defined as "not correct." What do players think when being asked to practice incorrect skills? What do coaches mean when they say "wrong" when most players accept inside-hand layups or goofy-foot layups as normal skills to practice?

Many dismiss this argument as semantics.

IMO, semantics. “Traditionally wrong” would work!

— Kyle Ogden (@kyleogdencoach) August 8, 2020

Watch a practice with beginners. Often, when introducing layups, players use a goofy-foot approach: They jump off their right foot when shooting a right-handed layup.

This execution is incorrect traditionally: The "correct" layup is to jump off the inside (left) foot to shoot with the outside (right) hand. We picture this layup when someone says "layup", and any other shot referenced as a layup requires a modifier: Two-foot layup, inside-hand layup, reverse layup, etc.

Coaches stop and correct beginning players because the traditional view says players must use their inside foot when shooting with their outside hand. This is what is meant when we call a layup a "wrong-footed layup". It should be corrected. Over and over, coaches stop players who may make layups while jumping off their same-sided foot (right foot for a right-handed layup), and correct them, despite this success, because they executed incorrectly and must change. The objective becomes the specific technique, and not making the shot.

The irony, of course, is after spending hours and hours to teach the "correct" layup, if players last long enough in the competitive stream, they reach a level where their coaches teach the "wrong-foot layup": The layup they once executed naturally. The further irony is this natural movement is no longer natural; players practice the traditional layup so much they lose the ability to shoot the goofy-foot layup and must re-learn their natural motions.

This is the problem with language. We automatically correct this behavior in children when we label the layup "wrong". However, we eventually teach this skill, and highlight the shots, so how can it be wrong? Why do we frustrate children who are beginning to play basketball and learning new skills by telling them their initial approaches, which may be successful in terms of making shots, are wrong because they did not perform the skill like the coach wants?

Furthermore, there is a reason young children tend to shoot goofy-foot layups.

The initial movements children learn — crawling, skipping, walking, running — use a contralateral movement pattern: I lift my right arm, and my left leg. We see this contralateral pattern when children shoot layups initially: They jump off their right foot and lift their left knee and right hand to shoot. This is not wrong and need not be corrected initially.

Put yourself into the children’s shoes. To shoot traditional layups, children must change their basic coordination, while learning to manipulate a basketball (which often is too big) to shoot at a target that is often too high. We ask children to learn several new things at once. Do we start ball handling by asking players to make around-the-back moves on the move or do we start by learning to bounce the ball, then bounce the ball with movement, etc.?

Many coaches argue a goofy-foot layup is "wrong" because it is not natural. If that is, in fact, true, why do so many children use a goofy-foot layup when they initially start? Without prompting, they use a goofy-foot finish; they have to be instructed, and practice repeatedly, to shoot a "traditional" layup. How does that make the traditional layup "more natural"?

Why not allow players to start with success rather than with constant corrections to change to the traditional layup? We judge the "correctness" of a professional's shot by its outcome; why hold beginners to a more difficult standard of making the shot WITH a specific technique? Coaches can introduce other layups and diversify skills as players progress.

If a coach is adamant jumping off the right foot to shoot a right-handed layup is wrong, the coach should not teach the layup. However, as Stephen Curry, Kyrie Irving, and others have shown, this would limit players, and eliminate one potential weapon from their skill set.