As coaches, we endeavour to guide athletes to the next level. As teachers, we strive to do likewise for students. Along the road to success, the court and the classroom provide parallel paths. What student-athletes learn in one environment is reflected in the other. Coaches value basketball ability and skills such as initiative, teamwork, mental training, leadership, and work ethic. When athletes demonstrate that they have met these expectations, they are rewarded with minutes and touches (along with praise, constructive feedback, and self-confidence). These rewards are not equally distributed; coaches allocate burn and ball based on most consistent and most …
Skills We Should Teach More, Part III: Reaction Time
Introduction: Initially, it was believed that the body and mind were powerfully connected; once a human mind made a decision, the body acted immediately. Galileo Galilei, endeavouring to prove that the speed of light was finite, estimated a human reaction time of 0.5 seconds in the seventeenth century, which was lowered to 0.2 seconds in 1905 by Edward Titchener (Foschi & Leone, 2009, pp. 1255-7). Within the confines of a basketball court – ninety-four feet long and fifty feet wide – both players receive information at the same time and it becomes a matter of who reacts better. Before: Body: …