March Calendar

1998 ◽  
Vol 91 (3) ◽  
pp. 232-233

A basketball player attempts a free throw. If successful, she gets to attempt a second free throw. If p is her probability of success and if her probability of making zero points is equal to that of making two points, what is p. (Round the answer to the nearest thousandth.)

2019 ◽  
pp. 147-160
Author(s):  
Ralph Downey III ◽  
Madeleine Grigg-Damberger ◽  
Charles Bae

Sleep loss may impair athletic performance. Sleep extension may improve performance in sleep-deprived athletes. In elite sports, where the slightest edge can make a difference in individual and team success, ways to improve performance are of great interest to athletes and teams. In the presented case, a male basketball player sought to improve his free throw shooting accuracy. With a disciplined approach to sleeping longer periods of time each night over a 12-week period, there was a substantial improvement in free throw percentage, sleepiness, and self-reported confidence in making free throws. This result is consistent with an extensive literature showing that improving sleep can improve athletic performance.


Kinesiology ◽  
2017 ◽  
Vol 49 (2) ◽  
pp. 225-234 ◽  
Author(s):  
Miguel-Ángel Gómez ◽  
Jaime Sampaio

This study identified the short- and long-term effects of using a shooting strap on the accuracy of freethrows performed by U15 female basketball players during training and competition. Thirty six female<br>basketball player volunteers (aged 14.3±0.5 years) from the Lithuanian Schoolchildren Basketball League were randomly assigned to either an experimental or control group. The experimental group used a shooting strap that immobilized movements of the supporting hand while shooting. The control group performed freethrows without any training aid. Learning and transfer of performance was assessed before and after the intervention training sessions (4-week intervention program applied 4 times per week), and on a retention test after one year. Results showed that: (a) free-throw accuracy was higher after one month and after one year of intervention than before the intervention training program in both practice and competition; (b) the experimental group scored better in practice and competition than the control group after one month and one year of the intervention; and (c) free-throw accuracy was higher during training sessions than during&nbsp;competition. The identified short-term and long-term improvements in free-throw shooting accuracy support the usage of shooting straps. The use of shooting straps and external assisting devices might allow adjusting programs of training to provide fluent free-throw accuracy progresses from youth to senior categories.


2004 ◽  
Vol 20 (2) ◽  
pp. 153-166 ◽  
Author(s):  
Brianne N. Schwark ◽  
Sasho J. Mackenzie ◽  
Eric J. Sprigings

The primary purpose of this study was to determine the optimal release conditions and corresponding arm movement pattern for the free throw for players classified as 3 to 4.5 on the international player classification system in wheelchair basketball. A 2-D, three-segment simulation model was used to investigate this problem. The computational process involved a two-step optimization scheme in which an outer computational loop was used to optimize the magnitude and timing of the muscle torques that generate the arm's motion, and an inner computational loop was used to determine the optimal angle and speed of the ball at the moment of release. The inner optimization loop revealed that Brancazio's (1981) and Hay's (1993) approaches to determining the optimal release angle produced identical results. The lowered seated height of the wheelchair basketball player required that the ball be released at a steeper angle with greater vertical velocity, and hence the need for greater shoulder torque. For the wheelchair player, the peak shoulder flexion torque generated by the model was reduced by approximately 43% when the upper arm was initially positioned at an angle approximately 40° below the horizontal, as compared to being positioned at an angle of 10° above the horizontal. For the wheelchair player, the optimal release angle and speed for a ball released at a horizontal distance of 4.09 m from the center of the basket, and 1.30 m below the rim, was computed to be 53.8° and 7.4 m/s, respectively.


2017 ◽  
Vol 33 (5) ◽  
pp. 318-327
Author(s):  
Philipp Alexander Freund ◽  
Vanessa Katharina Jaensch ◽  
Franzis Preckel

Abstract. The current study investigates the behavior of task-specific, current achievement motivation (CAM: interest in the task, probability of success, perceived challenge, and fear of failure) across a variety of reasoning tasks featuring verbal, numerical, and figural content. CAM is conceptualized as a state-like variable, and in order to assess the relative stability of the four CAM variables across different tasks, latent state trait analyses are conducted. The major findings indicate that the degree of challenge a test taker experiences and the fear of failing a given task appear to be relatively stable regardless of the specific task utilized, whereas interest and probability of success are more directly influenced by task-specific characteristics and demands. Furthermore, task performance is related to task-specific interest and probability of success. We discuss the implications and benefits of these results with regard to the use of cognitive ability tests in general. Importantly, taking motivational differences between test takers into account appears to offer valuable information which helps to explain differences in task performance.


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