Phase five - Arch of the shot

Arch of the shot

Once the ball leaves the hand of the athlete, there is nothing more that can be done to influence the success of the shot. The ball becomes a projectile following a parabolic pathway to the hoop, this pathway can be seen as a low or high arc, depending on shooting styles of individual players. Height, muscle and power all influence the arc of the shot. Because the rim of the hoop lies on a horizontal plane, the higher the arc of the ball the better chance it has to drop in to the hoop as opposed to hitting the rim due to low ball parabola (Kelbick, 2007).

A higher arced shot requires more power and strength to generate the appropriate vertical velocity that is required. Brancazio (1981) states that the optimal vertical velocity for the free throw is between 6.0 - 6.3 m/s. This is dependant on the height of the individual and at the height of which the ball is released; with shot angle of 50 - 55 degrees at critical instant.

Fig 1. Here we see a college basketball player just after the "critical instant" as you can see from the picture he has a ball releas angle of 54.8 degrees. According to Brancazio (1981) this is within a good range assuming an optimal vertical velocity of 6.0 - 6.3 m/s

Fig 2. As you can see this image shows the release angle of my shot which is 50 degrees, this will allow my ball to travel through the air at a high arc, leading to a greater possibility that my shot will be  successful. In turn increasing my shot percentage

Design of session

• Assess the general arc of my free throw and determine whether it is high or low
• Practice achieving a consist shot arc that is within range of 50 - 55 degrees
• Focus on getting a high arc, whilst controlling all other variables e.g. power and distance

Statistics

Shooting 5 sets of 10 free throws, this is how I went:

Set one: 3 from 10

Set two: 6 from 10

Set three: 5 from 10

Set four: 7 from 10

Set five: 4 from 10

Shooting 25 from 50 from the line gives me a shot percentage of 50%

Reflection

During this session I felt that I achieved a lot, the arc of the shot is an integral part of the free throw which I had not yet worked on. The statistics I gathered in this session were the best I have shot yet since my initial baseline assessment. It is a really positive sign being able to chart performance increases over the 12 weeks and knowing that each session I am getting better.

References

Brancazio, P. J. (1981). Physics of basketball. American Journal of Physics, 49(4), 356-365

Kelbick, D. (2007, September 10). Basketball Fundamentals - Free Throw Shooting. Breakthrough Basketball - Hundreds of FREE Basketball Coaching Drills, Plays, Tips, Offenses, Defenses & Resources. Retrieved May 20, 2013, from http://www.breakthroughbasketball.com/fundamentals/foulshooting.html