Skill Cues: Body erect, ball moves from
chest to above head, legs straighten at peak of jump (Blazevich, 2013)
During a jump shot, players need to keep
their head steady and eyes directed at the ring for a successful shot. Bishop
& Hay (1979) notes that highly skilled players have the ability to ‘hang’
in the air momentarily near the peak of jump, in order to provide upper body
stability. The player achieves this by extending their legs from their former
bent position, just after leaving ground contact (Magias, 2015). At this point, legs should be
rapidly straightened to assist with maintaining and conversing momentum in a
vertical direction (Newton’s Third Law) (Magias, 2015). Under the influence of gravity,
the player’s centre of mass is moving in a downward direction, but relative to
it, the upper body is moving upwards (Blazevich, 2013). In effect, the centre
of mass temporality ‘hang’ in the air which can assist with accurate shot
placement (Bishop & Hay, 1979). Shown below, the head, eyes and centre of
mass are able to remain in the same position throughout the execution of the
shot (Blazevich, 2013).
