It was last year when Noah Basketball told the story of how Marietta High School (Ohio) came to have a Noah Instant in its gym.
To briefly recap – Marietta Boys JV Basketball Coach Andy Altenburger returned to his hometown of Ottoville during Christmas break. Coach Altenburger’s son, Matt, practiced his shooting in Ottoville’s gym. That’s when Ottoville Boys Varsity Basketball Coach Todd Turnwald introduced the Noah Shooting System to Matt, who instantly improved his stroke.
Seeing how much his son enjoyed practicing on the Noah Instant and how quickly he embraced the 45 degrees and 11 inches deep philosophy, Coach Altenburger knew Marietta High School would benefit from having one of its own.
A few phone calls later between Coach Turnwald and Marietta Boys Varsity Basketball Coach Mark Duckworth led to the purchase of a Noah Instant.
Now after a full season of having the Noah Instant, Marietta boasts a player who is ranked second nationally for free throws on the Noah Basketball Community Leaderboard as of May 2015. Rising junior 6-foot-1 guard Matt Altenburger had taken 810 shots and had an average skill score of 9.166, which ranked him as a Master I. Matt had an average arc of 46 degrees and depth of 10 inches. His Noah personal best ranking is a Master II.
“First of all, Matt has pt in a ton of hard work when it comes to his shooting,” Andy Altenburger said. “My dad coached high school for 30 years. I’ve followed in his footsteps. Matt is definitely a coach’s kid. From when Matt was very young until now, we really focused on his form. I didn’t let him shoot three-pointers until he was in the eighth grade.
“One of the primary things that I think ties into Noah is that we talk to Matt and other players to keep their shoulders square, their hips square, and mechanically, in theory, good form eliminates half your misses. Noah is something kids can hang their hat on and gain confidence. Noah helps them with the other half of their misses.”
The Noah Basketball Community is a dynamic online world of players, coaches and basketball enthusiasts of all ages and skill level. The Noah Community records players’ scores based on their shooting sessions and ranks them accordingly on their team, in their state and nationally.
Though this is a competitive world, most participants talk about how much fun it is to play against friends and other great players in the country. Noah Basketball believes that every player willing to put in the work can become the shooter they were truly meant to be. The Noah Basketball Community is evidence of the work these players put in.
Set up is easy. From the MyNoah App, players, coaches and teams can upload shooting sessions to the Noah Community Website where progress can be tracked and players can face off against each other. Also, there’s a fun social aspect of the community that connects players from all over the country.
Besides his elite national ranking on the Noah Basketball Community, Matt Altenburger shot 85 percent from the line during his varsity season. He hit on 53 percent of 52 three-point attempts, which placed him in the top 5 in Ohio.
“It means a lot to me to be ranked on the community leaderboard,” Matt Altenburger said. “It shows that my hard work has paid off and shows where I’m at and how good of a shooter I am.”
Matt Altenburger competes with his teammates but not for bragging rights. He said the Noah leaderboard 
motivates them to put in the work.
“It’s nice knowing that if a teammate is right in front of another teammate, he can work harder to get to the top,” Matt Altenburger said. “It’s all about improving.”
Matt Altenburger’s weekday offseason Noah shooting routine consists of getting up early and being in the gym before school at 6:30 a.m. He then lifts weights and does agility after school as well as work on the Noah.
“Shooting on the Noah is fun because I get instant feedback when I shoot,” Matt Altenburger said. “Now I know where my shooting arc and shot depth should be on every shot.”
The extra practice Matt Altenburger does with Noah makes it easy to understand why he’s ranked so high on the leaderboard.
“I told Matt that his placement on Noah’s national leaderboard validates all the work he’s put in,” Andy Altenburger said. “It’s a credit to him and his determination to get better. He makes it real easy to coach him. He’s always one of the hardest kids working in practice.”
Now Matt Altenburger has taken his Noah knowledge and passed it on to the younger players at Marietta. In short, he’s doing a little coaching.
“I wouldn’t be surprised if he did become a coach,” Andy Altenburger said. “He loves basketball. He’s been around it all his life. He’s also been around coaching. It seems like a natural fit.”