IN Ia$KE'i'jmi,L Afield Report Presented to the Graduate Division
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'rKB AOCOl14CY OF EiEE IDlillOW SHOOTING IN iA$KE'I'JMI,L AField Report Presented to The Graduate Division Drake University In Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree Master of Soience in Education by Earl Eugene Mullins Jr. August 1968 I /llJ C! /7· /" / THE EFFECT OF THE FLASH OF A FLASH EUL~ ON THE ACCURACY OF FREE 1'IiaOW SHOOTING IN BASKETBALL bY' Earl Eugene Imllins Jr. Approved by Committee: Dean of ~ABLE OF CONTENTS ~~R ~~ I. INTROWCTION................. 1 The Problem • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • 2 Statement of the problem • • • • • • • •• 2 Importance of the study • • • • • • • •• 2 Limitations of the problem. • • • • • •• 4 Definitiona of Terms • • • • • • • • • • •• 5 Controlled day • • • • • • • • • • • • •• 5 Experimental day ••••••••••• •• 5 Free throw • • • • • • • • • • • • • • •• 5 High School • • • • • • • • • • • • • •• 6 SUbjects • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • •• 6 i--test .• . • . .. 6 Procedure ••• • • • • • • • • • • • • •• 6 Review of the Literature • • • • •• 9 Importance of free throws •• • • • • •• 9 Techniques Of free throws •• • • • • • • 12 Psychological and physical pressures affecting free throws • • • • • • • • • 16 II. TABULATION AND INTERPRETATIONS OF DATA • • • • 19 Tabulation Procedure • • • • • • • • • • • • 19 Interpretation of Data • • • . • • • • • • • 24 iv~ CHAPTER PAGE III. SUMliiAHY, CONCLUSIONS, AND RECO~1.MENDATIONS • • 25 Summary ••• . ~ . • • • • • • 25 Conolusions • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • 26 Recommendations • • • • • • • • • • • • • • 26 BIBLIOGRAPHY • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • . • 27 APPENDIX ••••••••••••••••••••• J'20 LIST OF TADLES TABLE :PAGE I. Number of Free Throws SUccessfully Completed by S1xteen Basketball Players During the Control Days. Goldf1eld High School, October 11 - November 11. 1966 • • • • • • • 22 II. Number of Free Throws Successfully Completed by S1xteen Basketball Players During the Exper1mental Days, Goldf1eld High school. October 11 - November 11. 1966 ••••••• 2) III. t Test of D1fference Between Means of the - Control Group~ and the Experimental Group at Goldf1eld H1gh School. October 11 - November 11, 1966 • • • • • • • • • • • • • 24 CHAPTER I INTRODUCTION Basketball 1s a sport that is participated in by many players, viewed by large numbers of spectators, and taught by a great number of athletic coaches. This ex citing sport is so complex that many different problems arise. "Regardless of what else takes place on the court, accurate shooting is a must if a team is to become and remain a strong contender," declares Sharman. 1 The art of scoring consistently in free throw shooting is one phase of the game that is experienced only by a small number of basketball players, considering the large number of players participating at the junior high school, high school, college, university, and professional levels. Bobby Wanzer and Dolph Schayes "are the only two players, besides myself, who have ever shot more than 90 per cent from the free-throw line in the history of the N.B.A. 2 (National Basketball Association)," states Sharman. These many problems such as shooting poise, fatigue, pres sure, tension, and distractions that arise with free lBill Sharman, Sharman on Basketball Shooting (Englewood Cliffs: Prentice-Hall, Inc., 1965}, p. 21. 2Ibid., p. 94. 2 throw shooting are the concern of every basketball coach, no matter what level of the game he is coaching. Each basketball instructor realizes that a basketball game can be won or lost depending on his team's accuracy at the free throw line. Because the players, the spectators, and the coaches all wish to have the accuracy of free throw shooting improved, these many problems must be solved. I. THE PROBLEM Statement of ~ problem. It was the purpose of this study to investigate the effect of the flash of a cameraman's photographic flash bulb on free throw accur acy, and to present information which will aid basket ball authorities in determining if there is a need to control the placement or the position of flash cameras during basketball games. Importance of the study. The importance of this experimental study was twofold. First. the author wished to discover if the flash from a flash bulb could cause a measured effect that might be a factor for teams scoring a low percentage of free throws. ftHow often have coaches rationalized---if the boys had hit a better percentage J of their free throws, we would have won," said Basile. 1 A second importance of the study was a lack of informa tion concern1ng the effect from flash bulbs on the acouracy of free throw shooting. Aooording to the Official Servioe Bureau of the National Collegiate Athletic Association in the Research Comm1ttee report of 1961 the average percentage of field goals made increased from twenty-nine per cent during 1948 to forty-one per cent in 1961.2 During the basketball seasons of 1963-1964. and 1964-1965 the investigator had fine teams with better than forty-one per cent shooters from the field, but neither of the teams scored consis tently from the free throw line. Many basketball coaches have had players that are better than forty per cent shooters but could never score consistently when shooting free throws. "The two greatest hazards to free throwing seem to be shooting poise and fatigue," states Winter.) 1 These two hazards were certainly known by the investigator . who coached to overcome them. Thus the flash of a flash bulb, , ~ ~ • lLoUiS A. Basile, "Two-~~st System for Free Throw." Athletic Journal, XL (October, 1959), 30. 2Fred "Tex" Winter, The Triple-Post Offense (Englewood Cliffs: Prentice:Hall. Inc::-I9b2), p. 168. JIbid., p. 166. 4 which could be seen by the free throw shooter at the time of the free throw,was an obstacle that puzzled him. If the flash did affect the aocuraoy of free throw shooting, it should be known. Thus a study of this problem was important to basketball coaches and the National Basket ball Committee of the United states and Canada. Limitations 2! ~ problem. This experimental study was limited to sixteen male basketball players. The sixteen players were members of the Goldfield, Iowa, High School basketball team. They were not necessarily on the varsity team, but all of the subjects were parti oipating in the sport and thus had received instruction in the fundamentals of free throw shooting. With this number of subjects a control day and an experimental day type of test program was devised. Thus the same siXteen team members who participated during the control days also participated during the experimental days. Because of the expense involved in the large number of flashes needed to conduct this study, the ex periment was completed using a transistorized electronic flash unit, Tower 8915, sold by Sears, Roebuck and Company. The study was limited to a twenty-day controlled test program between October 11 and November 11, 1966. The testing period was selected because it was a time 5 when basketball practices and games would not interfere with the collection of data. The test program consisted of alternating experimental and control days. II. DEFINITIONS OF TERlv~ Controlled day. A controlled day was the day when the sUbjects shot only free throws, knowing that there would be no flashing occurring from the electronic flash unit. Experimental day. An experimental day was the day when the SUbjects shot free throws, knowing that at any time during their free throw shooting a flash from the electronic flash unit might be seen. ~ throw. A free throw is defined by the Basket ball Rules Book as, "the privilege given a player to score one point by an unhindered try for goal from within the free throw circle and behind the free throw line. H1 The free throw styles used by basketball players are many. Some of the shooters use the one-hand push shot method, while others shoot the two-hand underhand shot. Sharman says, "most players shoot one-handed from any l The National Federation of state High School Athletic Associations, Basketball Rules~~, 1966-67, p. 15. 6 position on the court. H1 All of the sUbjects shot the one-hand push shot from the field, therefore they all shot this stYle when shooting the free throws. High school. The term high school in this study refers to grades nine, ten, eleven, and twelve at Goldfield High School. Subjects. The subjects were sixteen male basket ball players who participated in the experiment. They were all members of the Goldfield basketball team. i-test. The 1-test was the method used in treat ment of the data for testing the differences between two means to determine whether or not there was a significant difference between the controlled and experimental activities. III. PROCEDURE A review of related literature on free throw shooting was made to determine what research findings had been made on the problem and what conclusions had been reached. Sixteen varsity basketball players were selected from the Goldfield High School basketball team. These 7 sixteen subjects were not necessarily members of the Goldfield traveling basketball team, but each of the subjects had received instruction on the techniques of free throw shooting. A twentY-day test program, con sisting of alternating experimental and control days was developed. The sixteen subjects acted as one group and took part in the experiment on each of the control and experimental days. The study was conducted by the investigator and assisted by the two student team managers in the ~old field High School gymnasium. On the control day, each of the subjects was reqUired to shoot ten free throws at the west basket and ten free throws at the east basket. Eight subjects were stationed at each of the two ends of the basketball court. The subject who was the free throw shooter positioned himself inside the free throw circle and siX subjects occupied the free throw lane. They positioned themselves along the lane in the re spective zones as would players during a regular basket ball game at the time~ a free throw. The eighth subject waited off the court until the ten free throws were shot, and then he would take his position along the free throw lane while each subject moved up into the next position.