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Whistle blows. Foul called. Going up for two shots. I get to the free throw line and dribble twice, spin the ball backwards, dribble two more times, shrug the shoulders, and shoot the ball. This was my typical routine for before I carried out the task of shooting the ball, and hopefully making it into the hoop. This routine not only allowed myself to slow down, come together, and focus, it also allowed time to fix an error if the previous shot was missed.

This closed loop control system allows for error correction. There is an input/ stimuli that is presented, or in this case foul was called and I'm at the line ready to shoot the ball. Reference mechanisms would tell me to go through my routine, while the information processing stage would tell me to put the ball on my finger tips and shoot up and through. The output is a miss. Feedback comes back to tell me, you were short on your shot. The new instructions through the information processing center would say to use more legs but the same technique with your hands. This time the shot goes through the net.

Free throws and I were at a constant battle throughout my years. I am thankful for the feedback, although my coach maybe wasn't to thrilled that I would be missing easy points. This feedback not only allowed for me to improve on the next shot, it helped me for free throws down the road too. Those modified instructions from the first time I shot a free throw in the first quarter, to the next time I shot a free throw in the third quarter were present. This time when I would shoot the ball, information processing would say, "ball on finger tips and use your legs". Here's a picture of how my friend Mr. Feeback Control helped me produce great form in shooting a free throw.

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7 Spots Drill: a.k.a Small Random Practice To The Max

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7 Spots Drill: a.k.a Small Random Practice To The Max

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During practice my coach would have a variety of shooting skills for the guards to work on. These drills would involve shooting from the outside the paint (lane), inside the paint, and beyond the three point line. This drill was called 7 spot. There were 5 different spots around the three point line that were marked by a cone. The team would have to make 7 layups in a row, 7 jump shots in a row, and 7 three pointers in a row. These all had to be done before moving on to the next cone.

If you ask me, it was a great drill. Shooting the ball from different angles, while working on different depths is a great way to practice. If my team was to make all 7 layups under the hoop, and then go to the next spot to make the next 7, etc. that would hinder performance. It is better to have variability in trials because that is what is more realistic in a game. I can't even count on one hand the number of times in a game I only shot layups.

This drill helps increase the contextual interference for practice in all players. If the practice skill of blocking was used, it would be no different than a seven foot girl literally blocking every shot. In the end shooting only layups, or only jump-shots, or only three pointers, will not help with performance in a game. "You miss 100% of the shots that (you don't take) are blocked", kidding but not really.

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There was one drill in basketball that we did that made me cringe. It was called a suicide. The team had 33 seconds to run the length of the court 3 times. If you didn't make it back in 33 seconds, everyone had to do it again.

At the beginning of senior year season, I ran my suicide in 37 seconds. Yes I was out of shape, and yes I almost cried every time I didn't make it back. As the season progressed I kept inching closer and closer to my goal number of 30 seconds. I would always finish in 32, which made me so nervous because that's real close to 33. This was so frustrating to me. After practice, I would spend time on my own sprinting lines, trying to get faster. After taking this course, I finally realize that I was at a plateau of my performance. Along the way, I was learning still. I was lifting weights, I was changing the pace at which I ran up and down the first time, in comparison to the second time, and in comparison to the last time. I was trying different strategies to keep myself from finishing slower than 33 seconds.

All of that learning lead to a finish time at the end of my senior year of 29 seconds.

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Remembering Plays... or forgetting them all the time like I did

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Remembering Plays... or forgetting them all the time like I did

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There's nothing worse than when your coach calls a play on a press break play and you mess up where you're suppose to go. The ball then either doesn't get in bounds or the other team steals the ball and scores an easy lay-up. I will never forget when I was playing in a conference game, and I forgot to come off the screen to the ball. The next play another girl on my team didn't set the press break screen. Our coach called a full time-out, sat the starters down, and just stared at us without saying a word. During this time I realized two things: 1. We messed up big time 2. It was on little tasks. After taking this class I can claim that the term "choking under pressure" was happening.

To choke under pressure means that knowing how to break a press became so natural to us. This information was stored in our procedural memory, which makes sense. After playing with the same girls for 13 years, we not only knew how to break a press but knew how to do it together. These motions became unconscious and automatic to us. When the game was on the line for a regional championship, we cracked. It was us trying to remember these simple skills, us trying to tap into our declarative memory and we couldn't.

After that horrendous time-out, and eventually a regional title (yes, we held it together long enough to win), our coach came up with plays that would trigger points in our memory to remember plays, making it a little easier not to choke up. Below is a picture of how happy we were that we figured out how to break a press to win a regional championship not just once but all four years.

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Clock, 3 seconds in the lane, defender, teammates, coach yelling, parents cheering.... A(HHH!!!)ttention is suppose to be where?  

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Clock, 3 seconds in the lane, defender, teammates, coach yelling, parents cheering.... A(HHH!!!)ttention is suppose to be where?  

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I think one of the more difficult parts about the game of basketball is all the little things that build up that you have to remember. You have to know the plays, you have to know where the defenders are, you have to be aware of the clock, you have to know game situations, you have to know where your next move is going to be, you have to know when to box out, the list could go on and on. Eventually there is a limit to what I can and can't remember out on the court. On defense, I can watch my defender, I can watch where the ball goes, but I can't watch every other player at the same time, or tell another team-mate where to be in certain situations.

In this class we learned about different theories of attention and how attentional focus can be either intentional or involuntary. In a game, I can switch my focus to be from my player, to go play help defense and trap a pass, to going back to my defender. Within the course of that short time frame, I switched my own attention from my player, to a different player, back to my own player. Another example could be switching my attention from defense to offense and vice versa. Involuntary attentional shifts happen way more than expected in the game too. I could hear my parents cheering for me after I make a three, giving a meaningful involuntary attentional shift over to my parents instead of the game. My best friend tore her ACL after going up for a layup in our last game of the season of my junior year. My attentional focus was no longer on the game, but rather on her. These are just some examples of attentional shifts that happen during the game.

The bottleneck attention theory states that there is a limited fixed attention capacity which leads to information processing that occurs in stages. This can clearly explain why I can't be in 5 places at once on the court. All of these different stimuli are coming at me: coach yelling, defender cutting to the hoop, and ball swinging around the perimeter. I will only be able to process one thing at a time before, I can move onto something else.

This attention theory, can limit the game, which is why it's important to have 5 players out on the court. Each player has their own attentional processing box, and if everyone is focused on one thing, the game can run much more smoothly.

Below is an accurate representation of how my brain handles all the attention demands during the game of basketball.