The purpose of this study was to investigate basketball free throw shooting technique (release position, initial velocity, and shooting angle) and the post-release trajectory of the ball as well as to clarify shooting strategy. The participants were 5 male players belonging to a university men's basketball club (height: 1. 82 ± 0. 06 m; weight: 73. 6 ± 4. 6 kg; age: 21. 4 ± 0. 8 years; basketball experiences: 10. 4 ± 2. 1 years) . The participants were instructed to aim directly at the ring and

more »

... performed each 100 free throws. The ball trajectories were recorded by three high-speed video cameras (200 fps) . The Three-dimensional coordinates of the ball position were measured, and the shooting technique, the height of the ball trajectory at its peak, and the position of the ball over the ring were analyzed. The results were as follows: 1) the standard deviation of the position of the ball when released by each participant was extremely small (<0. 04m) , meaning the release position was almost identical for each participant; 2) there was a cooperative relationship in a successful attempt between the initial velocity and the shooting angle for each participant; 3) the shooting angle affected the height of the ball trajectory at its peak that relates to the accuracy of the shooting; and 4) the ball trajectories at their approximate peaks were constant or variable in the vertical direction depending on the participant. These results suggested that the ball release position was fixed for each participant and that the shooting angle is a more important factor in the basketball free throw shooting.