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KU News: Study uses motion capture to determine what makes the best free-throw shooters

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Guest Columnist
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From the Office of Public Affairs | http://www.news.ku.edu

Headlines

Editors: See video.

Contact: Mike Krings, KU News Service, 785-864-8860, [email protected], @MikeKrings
Study uses motion capture to determine what makes the best free-throw shooters
LAWRENCE — Every basketball coach has told their players at some point that free throws win games. A new study from the University of Kansas used innovative markerless motion capture technology to determine the mechanics of proficient free-throw shooters and help better understand one of the biggest keys to success in the game.
According to the study, proficient free-throw shooters — those capable of making more than 70% of their shots — performed the shooting motion in a more controlled manner. They had lower knee and center of mass peak and mean angular velocities when compared with nonproficient shooters. Also, proficient shooters attained greater release height and had less forward trunk lean at the point of the ball release.
“These findings imply that basketball shooting motion is not as simple as some may think. Shooting efficiency can’t be simply attributed to one biomechanical variable. It is founded on a mix of multiple segmental body movements performed in a controlled manner,” said Dimitrije Cabarkapa, lead author of the study and associate director of the Jayhawk Athletic Performance Laboratory.
The study examined 34 males with at least four years of basketball playing experience, ranging from recreational to collegiate competitive levels. Each participant attempted 10 free throws with a 10-15 second rest interval between each attempt. A three-dimensional markerless motion capture system developed by Southwest Research Institute (SwRI Enable, San Antonio, Texas), composed of nine high-definition cameras (120 fps), was used to record and analyze the biomechanical characteristics of free-throw shooting motion.
“We’re very interested in analyzing basketball shooting mechanics and what performance parameters differentiate proficient from nonproficient shooters,” Cabarkapa said. “High-speed video analysis is one way that we can do that, but innovative technological tools such as markerless motion capture systems can allow us to dig even deeper into that. In my opinion, the future of sports science is founded on using noninvasive and time-efficient testing methodologies.”
The study, conducted at the Jayhawk Athletic Performance Laboratory, also found that when differentiating between made and missed shots attempted by proficient free-throw shooters, overemphasis on release height could be counterproductive.
“These findings can be metaphorically represented by some everyday life healthy habits. Exercising, drinking water and consuming enough vitamins and minerals are all very beneficial for our health. However, overdoing these things in certain instances may be harmful, and it may actually produce the opposite effect than expected,” Cabarkapa said.
The study, published in the journal Frontiers in Sports and Active Living, was co-written with Damjana Cabarkapa and Andrew Fry of the Jayhawk Performance Athletic Laboratory at KU; Jonathan Miller of KU’s Higuchi Biosciences Center; and Tylan Templin, Lance Frazer and Daniel Nicolella of the Southwest Research Institute.
The use of markerless motion capture technology is beneficial for several reasons, authors said, as other motion capture systems that use markers that must be placed on the skin or clothing have several issues, such as not staying in place and participant’s awareness of the markers, which may alter the normal movement patterns. That is vital when testing is conducted in a sport-specific setting, where efficiency is of critical importance. The use of markerless motion capture technology allows for noninvasive assessment.
Dimitrije Cabarkapa said that, to the authors’ knowledge, this is the first study to use this motion capture system to examine the biomechanical characteristics of proficient free-throw shooters. Previous research has shown that teams with better free-throw shooting, especially close to the end of the game, have a greater chance of winning. While the current study didn’t include the effects of fatigue on shooting mechanics and accuracy, researchers hope to examine that factor in upcoming studies as well as the effect of a presence of a defender on jump-shot shooting mechanics and accuracy.
The lab is part of the Wu Tsai Human Performance Alliance, a consortium of researchers working to understand optimum human performance. This alliance encompasses the University of Stanford, University of Oregon, Boston Children’s Hospital, Salk Institute, University of California at San Diego and KU.
“These findings add to the work we’ve done in the past and the body of scientific literature pertaining to basketball shooting performance that we are continuously expanding in our lab,” Dimitrije Cabarkapa said. “We’ve found that both the preparation and release phases of the shooting motion are of critical importance for attaining solid levels of shooting efficiency. The implementation of innovative technology can allow us to examine the transition phase of the shooting motion and kinematic chaining in more detail. Ultimately our goal is to have an answer to the question that every basketball fan wants to know: ‘Why did Steph Curry miss that shot?’”

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KU News Service
1450 Jayhawk Blvd.
Lawrence KS 66045
Phone: 785-864-3256
Fax: 785-864-3339
[email protected]
http://www.news.ku.edu

Erinn Barcomb-Peterson, director of news and media relations, [email protected]

Today’s News is a free service from the Office of Public Affairs

Enroll in our Basic Master Gardener Training Course that starts in Mid-September

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Guest Columnist
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Harvey County residents, don’t forget to enroll in our Basic Master Gardener Training Course that starts in Mid-September. For more information call K-State Research and Extension-Harvey County at 316 284-6930 or email [email protected] for more information. The fee for the 11 week course is $125.

Tall fescue lawns may have struggled with the heat this year as hot as it has been. When lawns stress they often thin out and can need to be reseeded to thicken up. September is the best month to reseed cool-season lawns such as tall fescue and Kentucky bluegrass. We usually recommend not planting Kentucky bluegrass past early October. However, you can get by with an early to mid-October planting for tall fescue. October 15 is generally considered the last day for safely planting or overseeding a tall fescue lawn in the fall. If you do attempt a late seeding, take special care not to allow plants to dry out. Anything that slows growth will make it less likely that plants will mature enough to survive the winter.

Seedings done after the cut-off date can be successful, but the success rate goes down the later the planting date. Late plantings that fail are usually not killed by cold temperatures but rather desiccation. The freezing and thawing of soils heave poorly rooted grass plants out of the ground, which then dry and die. Keeping plants watered will help maximize root growth before freezing weather arrives.

Tomato Soup

By
Debbie Dance Uhrig
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It’s a late-night burn at our abode.  Never enough hours in the day to get everything done that’s on my ‘do’ list.   I have so many projects going on.  The ‘just cleaned’ house looks like a tornado blew through.  But….I have been doing my research on food from the depression, and we are off and rolling.
One of the first things I have noticed as I approached this little study is how many of these recipes I make, however; I have no recipe!  For those of you who are
reading my column for the first time today.  I am traveling for a few weeks through foods that were popular during the Great Depression.  Black Thursday started on October 24, 1929 which started our ten-year run of the Depression.  What caused the stock market crash and the span of ten difficult years?
Slow consumer demand-
Mounting consumer debt-
Decreased industrial production-
Rapid, reckless expansion of the US Stocks Market-
A large decline in spending-
Inactivity followed by overaction by the Federal Gov’t-
Tight money policies adopted by Central Bank of America-
Stock Market Crash-
Failure of banks-
The Smoot Hawley Tariff of 1930, which raised taxes on imported goods.
In order to survive this economic time our great-grandparents had to be creative when it came to cooking.  Foods had to be cheap and wholesome.  Foods that were rationed were:  sugar, coffee, pork, fish, butter, eggs and cheese.
Farmers and those who had access to gardening were fortunate.  In my mother’s family they had many supplies because they ran a self-sufficient farm.  Truck garden, regular gardens, ponds for fish, cattle, pigs, chickens and a sorghum mill.  The picture was totally different for people residing in large cities.  For example, in 1931 New York City food lines were serving 85,000 people per day.
My recipe for the depression this week is going to be tomato soup.  I grew up on homemade tomato soup.  I never had a can of Campbell’s tomato soup until I was 43 years of age!  Seriously, the only way I knew to make it was from scratch.  Campbells had 5 flavors of soup at that time:  Tomato, Chicken, oxtail, vegetable & consommé.   Soups and stews were staple meals throughout the depression.  In some areas folks were using discarded vegetable tops and peels to help them make a soup with flavor.   Many meals had no meat whatsoever.
Spaghetti was made with bacon versus beef because it was cheaper and it lended a great deal of flavor to the sauce.   Hot dogs were a huge hit because they were cheap.  They were actually in one recipe called ‘Poor Man’s Supper.’  This would have been fried potatoes and onions with diced hot dogs.  My dad is going to get a hoot out of this one, because it was one dish he would make for us when I was a young girl.  I actually think it was one of his favorites!   At least ‘I’ thought so!
Basically, nothing was wasted, Eleanor Roosevelt even got on board providing inexpensive recipes like her prune pudding.  Spam became a staple item, those in rural areas were eating wild game.
I can tell this is going to be an interesting subject and each column could probably go on for days!  As a child growing up the conversations about the depression, I remember the most was the chatter about ham and beans.  In fact, the first time I had them in elementary school, I thought: “Wow, the cooks don’t have much to cook with right now!”   Every region, state and country had foods that were unique to their regions.   Buttermilk also became a well-used ingredient during this time frame.
OK friends, it’s perfect timing for some old-fashioned tomato soup.  Since I first wrote this recipe I have changed/altered the dish so many different times.  Sometimes I blend about 1/2 of the soup and leave the rest with pieces of tomato more visible.  I enjoy using different spices and herbs to jazz it up.  Nothing is more soul-warming than a bowl of tomato soup.  I enjoy the soup served with a marble bread grilled cheese sandwich.  If there’s no sandwich, I like to add toasted cubes of seasoned marble bread on top of the soup.   Ok, OK, here comes the recipe.  Simply yours, The Covered Dish.
TOMATO Soup
 (14.5 oz.) can diced tomatoes with garlic and onions
1 quart of tomatoes or 1 (14.5 oz.) can store bought whole tomatoes
2-3 tablespoons butter
1 pint of milk, (I used 2%)
1 pint of fat free half and half, sure use regular
Dried basil to taste
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 cup shredded cheddar cheese
1 cup milk, for thickening
3 tablespoons flour
You will be using 2 separate pans to start this soup.  Place the quart of tomatoes in a blender and smoothly mix, add about 2/3’s of the diced tomato blend.  Blend these smooth.  Pour the smooth tomato mixture and the remaining tomato pieces into a saucepan with the basil and pepper.  In another saucepan heat 1 cup of milk, 1 cup of half and half, butter and soda.  When both saucepans have reached about the same temperature combine the tomatoes into the milk mixture.  Stir to blend, add cheese, and mix until smooth.  After the soup is thoroughly warm you can whisk the flour into the remaining cup of milk.  Add the slurry to the soup and continue with a whisk or spoon until smooth.  Do not allow to boil.  Don’t leave tomato soup unattended as it can get too hot very very quickly.
Sometimes I add onions and peppers which I have sautéed in a small amount of butter, celery is another good addition.  The truth is every time I make tomato soup the recipe is slightly different.  Sometimes I don’t puree the tomatoes as much and I leave more pieces floating.  Do what pleases you the most. Debbie

The Legend of Sink Hole Sam

By
Steve Gilliland
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Once upon a time near a sleepy little town called Inman, in a land far, far away known as Kansas, a legend was born; a legend that would bring this quiet town notoriety for a time those 100 years ago. The legend became that of Sink Hole Sam.

Believe it or not, prior to the 1920s, a string of small freshwater lakes stretched across part of central Kansas, coming within a couple miles of the town of Inman. It is reported that people from around the state actually came here to fish in those lakes, and the duck hunting there was said to be so good that hunters would fill wagons with harvested ducks and haul them with teams of horses north to the town of Conway where they would be sent by train to exclusive restaurants in Kansas City. Eventually the lakes were drained, leaving Lake Inman, and a few low pockets of water now known as “sinkholes.” Inman Lake remains as the largest natural lake in the state. The biggest of the sinkholes took the astonishing name,” the Big Sinkhole.” Here, a legend was born in the form of a large serpent-like creature that became Sink Hole Sam.

Alright, alright let’s get real here. I suppose that back in the day certain “liquid refreshments” were easily obtained in the back rooms of most hardware stores and from what I hear, tranquil little Inman, KS was an exception. But how many visits to the back room would it take to fabricate stories about freshwater lakes here where some years its so dry that fire hydrants chase dogs up the street and kids are actually urged to pee in the pool?

Anyway, people speculated that Sam had been living in some prehistoric underground cavern that had somehow filled with water from the sinkhole, allowing him to finally venture forth. Evidently no one got close enough to see if the critter should be named Sam or Samantha, but I’ll stay true to the legend and use “Sam.” Two “unidentified” Inman men fishing at the sinkhole first reported seeing Sam. Soon after, Inmanites Albert Neufeld and George Regehr spotted him also. Albert sought to save the town by taking pot shots at poor Sam from a nearby bridge (I suspect the bridge was not really all that nearby!) Of course, descriptions of the beast varied according to the audience and the time of day, but Sam ended up being a very large snake-like critter, about fifteen feet long and the diameter of an automobile tire.

Now, everyone likes a good legend, and the discovery of Sam was no exception. The story spread like hot peanut butter! Newspapers caught wind of the tale, (no pun intended) and locals started getting calls from strangers all across the country. Today, some residents still recall seeing hundreds of cars parked around the big sinkhole hoping “Sammy” would make a curtain call.

In an attempt to quell speculation about their new prehistoric mascot, (here the legend takes a sharp southern detour) some “great scientific minds” were brought on board in the persons of Ernest Dewey and his assistant Dr. Erasmus P. Quattlebaum. Earnest D. and the Dr. informed Inman that Sam was a “Foopengerkle,” one of a species thought to be the “extinctest” creatures ever to inhabit the Kansas Plains. This must be where he became Sam rather than Samantha, because Ernest and Dr. Q. maintained that no female “Foopengerkles” ever existed. Their final report urged caution, since Sam did not seem to realize he was extinct.

Like I said, everyone likes a good legend. Millions of dollars have been spent attempting to disprove the existence of Bigfoot and The Loch Ness Monster. As far as I know, all such attempts have failed, so both creatures must still live, if only in myth. Sink Hole Sam put Inman on the map and in the news those many years ago, and no one has ever disproven his existence to me. After all, this is America, and stranger things have happened! Like I said, everyone likes a good legend…Continue to Explore Kansas Outdoors!

Steve can be contacted by email at [email protected].

 

Clock’s a’Ticking

By
Milo Yield
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Thayne Cozart
Milo Yield
Time seems to be speeding up toward Saturday, Sept. 16. That’s the date for our big Milo Yield Damphewmore Acres downsizing auction. We’ve got a lot done preparing for the auction, but there’s a lot more to do and it doesn’t seem like much time to get it all done.
One part of the auction is decided. Everything for sale will be close to the house. That’s because we have more household related “stuff” for sale than we do farm and garden “stuff.” And, thanks to our huge garage, a lot of the auction can be held indoors. The sale starts at 10 a.m.
We have a regular auction ad running this week in the paper where you can read the auction listing (aka: Thayne & Sharon Cozart). But, for folks who just want to know the general categories of auction listings, here they are: furniture and household, music boxes, shadow boxes, huge selection of wall hangings, 2 firearms, hunting/fishing/recreation, trolling motor, wildlife art prints and decoys, commemorative knives, lawn and garden tools, hand tools, cattle panels, tomato cages, fencing, stock tank, golf cart, and Rhino rotary mower, storage shelves.
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Our new home is getting closer and closer to completion. If the construction schedule holds to plan, we should be able to move into our new digs near Riley, Kan., the first week of October. That date will be here before we know it.
***
In sorting through all my old papers and items I’ve saved down through the decades, I keep finding outdated material that I think deserves to go into my columns. Though outdated, it’s still pertinent to the rural community.
With the fall crop harvest already underway, and with all types of agriculturists keenly watching the commodity markets daily, I thought this piece that I found, entitled “Murphy’s Laws For Commodity Traders,” would hit a sweet spot. The paper clipping that I discovered said the author was unknown. Be that as it may, here it is.
All points listed below hinge around this Commodity Market Axiom: “The market goes your way the day after your stop is hit. Corollary: The big move begins the day after your option expires.”
l. It is morally wrong to allow a sucker to keep his money.
2. Everybody has a trading strategy that won’t work.
3. For every expert who says the market is going up, there is one who says it’s going down.
4. If you can drink it, don’t trade it.
5. If you are tempted to play with bellies, go find your spouse.
6. The successful speculator is one who dies before his time comes.
7. He who sells uncovered options goes broke.
8. If you feel like doubling up on a profitable position, slam your dialing finger in your desk drawer, or hit it with a hammer, until the feeling goes away.
9. The perfect strategy works every time until you start using it.
10. If your strategy seems to be working well, you haven’t been using it long enough. .
11. The guy who owns the horse when it dies is the loser.
12. When it comes to luck or skill, you can’t beat luck.
13. Livestock won’t eat $4 corn or $400 soybean meal.
14. When the plate of cookies goes around the table, take a couple.
15. When the market is wrong, it doesn’t pay to be right.
16. He who sells what isn’t his’n, pays the price or goes to prison.
17. Be right — sit tight.
18.The best way to make a small fortune is to start with a large one.
19. He who knows, doesn’t tell; he who tells, doesn’t know.
20. When you’re hot, you’re hot; when you’re not, take a vacation.
21. The market knows more than the sum total of everyone watching it.
22. What everyone knows, ain’t worth knowing.
23. The market will do whatever it has to in order to fool the majority.
24. Fundamentals are seldom what they appear to be, and are never fun.
25. If you always do what you’ve always done, you’ll always get what you’ve always got.
26. The first five letters of”broker” spell “broke.”
27. The market punishes those who make mistakes.
***
Another item I found says this: “Young adults and teenagers, if you are tired of being hassled by unreasonable parents, now it the time for action. Leave home and pay your own way while you still know everything.”
That saying applied to”young” me. I headed to college at 17 and knew it all. Today, six decades later, I realize that back then I knew much about nuthin’.
Today, I know so much that I spend a lot of time complaining. Perhaps, I’ve become one of those persons Spiro T. Agnew, Vice President in the Nixon administration, was citing when he said, wisely: “In the United States today we have more than our share of Nattering Nabobs of negativity.” Have a good ‘un.
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