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Ritual and free-throw shooting in basketball.
D Southard1, A Miracle, G Landwer
1Department of Physical Education and Anthropology, Texas Christian University, Fort Worth 76129.
Journal of Sports Sciences
|January 1, 1989
Summary
Basketball players' pre-shot rituals, identified as auto-communicative behaviors, did not significantly impact free-throw success. However, the duration of these rituals was found to be crucial for successful free-throw attempts.
Area of Science:
- Sports Science
- Motor Behavior
- Psychology of Sport
Background:
- Athletes often develop pre-performance routines before crucial actions like free-throw shooting in basketball.
- The nature and impact of these highly patterned behaviors, termed rituals, on performance outcomes require investigation.
Purpose of the Study:
- To determine the nature of pre-free-throw shooting behaviors in female basketball players.
- To investigate the effect of these behaviors on free-throw shooting success and physiological responses.
Main Methods:
- Ten female varsity basketball players from Texas Christian University participated.
- High-speed filming and heart rate monitoring were used during ritual and non-ritual free-throw conditions.
- Dependent measures included behavioral characteristics, heart rate, release mechanics, and success rates.
Main Results:
- Idiosyncratic pre-free-throw behaviors were identified as auto-communicative rituals.
- No significant difference in free-throw success was found between ritual and non-ritual conditions.
- Partial correlation revealed that the duration of pre-shot behaviors was most crucial for success.
Conclusions:
- Pre-free-throw shooting rituals in basketball are auto-communicative and do not inherently improve success rates.
- The temporal aspect of these rituals, specifically their duration, is a key factor influencing successful free-throw performance.