COORDINATION OF BASKETBALL SHOOTING MOVEMENT OF DIFFERENT SKILL LEVEL PLAYERS

Abstract

Shooting baskets requires a multi-segment coordination. How basketball players control the multiple joints in order to perform accurate and stable shots is an important issue in basketball training. The purpose of this study was to investigate the characteristics of the movements during basketball shooting for players of different skill level and at different distances from the basket. The goal is to gain a better understanding of the shooting movement. Three basketball players of different skill levels participated in the study. Starting from the penalty line, each participant had to perform 6 shots at 20 cm increments at a distance of up to 200 cm behind the 3-point line. Sixteen active LEDs were placed on the joints of the participants to examine the kinematic characteristics of the shooting movements. The results show that the lower limbs are responsible for the shooting distance whereas the movements of the upper limbs are related to fine tuning of the shooting movements. The results also support the hypothesis of freezing and freeing degrees of freedom at different skill levels in multiple degrees of freedom tasks. A temporal characteristic of the basketball shooting movement is also identified for all shooting distances.