Basketball is a game of repetition, and the machine will allow kids to get in hundreds of shots. Basketball is also a game of percentages, and (the shooting machine) allows us to know what percentages players are shooting at and what areas of the floor they excel on and where they can improve. This will broaden the team’s horizons.”

Coach Logan Barker

TORRINGTON – Members of the Torrington High School Lady Blazers and Blazers basketball teams tested out a new shooting machine donated by New York Life Insurance of Torrington for the school’s basketball program on July 17.

The donation was part of New York Life’s Giving Campaign where the company fully matched gifts from its local agents Allison Barker and Jeffrey Marsh to acquire the machine for the benefit of the Lady Blazers and Blazers basketball programs.

The new shooting machine replaces an older piece of equipment used when Barker played for the Lady Blazers.

“This is a good way to give back to the community and to youth for a program that is near and dear to my heart,” Barker said.

The basketball shooting machine operates like a pitching machine in baseball, Barker said. The machine rebounds basketballs and passes them to athletes in an array of preset arrangements to simulate game or practice situations, Barker added.

The machine can make practice more efficient, not only by eliminating the need for a rebounder, but by tracking athletes’ performances as they shoot from every position. The machine significantly increases the number of shots players can take during workouts to help them improve their shooting across the floor, Barker said.

A coach can tailor the shooting machine to specific workouts and it can be set up to pass the ball with precision to a player, Barker added. The machine can also track an athletes’ shooting performance over the course of the season from each angle on the floor, Barker explained.

The shooting machine will play a big role in improving players’ shooting abilities throughout the season and offseason, said Logan Barker, head Blazer basketball coach.

“Basketball is a game of repetition, and the machine will allow kids to get in hundreds of shots,” Barker said. “Basketball is also a game of percentages, and (the shooting machine) allows us to know what percentages players are shooting at and what areas of the floor they excel on and where they can improve. This will broaden the team’s horizons.”