Basketball Practice Log for David Virgil Hobbs

November 17, 2007-September 17, 2008, approx 40 Practices

DATE

RESULT/ACTIVITY

COMMENTS

BALL USED/PSI

SHOES USED

Thursday

November 15 '07

Waltham Y Gym

Basketball Begins To Interest Me as I Watch the Y Basketballers

The basketballers who play full court basketball started their games at 728 AM and continued till 848 AM. I was thinking, why do they reserve the whole court from 700 AM when they start at 728 AM?

I admit that as I watched them play, I was thinking to myself, that 'alot of people, are what they think others think they should be, not what they themselves think a person should be'.

This one basketballer, nice looking,clean shaven black haired adult male with a hairy chest, slim to average build, asked me if I wanted to play, he told me that they count jump shots outside the 3 point line as 3 points, I told him this was important to me because I could hit 40% of pro distance 3 pointers on the run. He was the basketballer that stood out during the games as I watched. He plays very unselfishly, very good at teamwork, alot of hustle, smart passer, smart rebounder, good on defense, good at everything other than shooting and not a bad shot.

As I watched I observed how long their games were; I saw 5 games, that averaged 12.6 minutes in length. The breaks between games averaged 3 minutes in length. I need to know such stuff if I decide to get in the kind of condition that will allow me to excel if I join their games. I'd like to join in their games but soberly speaking I realize that time and energy put into basketball is time and energy that could be put into soccer.

Friday

November 16 '07

Basketball Drills Chart

Link for Copying

Basketball Drills/Moves Chart that can be Copied

Seems like there has developed alot of basketball playing at the Y. They play full court games at 7 AM and noon almost every day, the Cambridge School of Weston practices very earnestly almost every afternoon at 300 PM.

So I caught the basketball bug, I went back to the kind of heavy thinking and planning regarding basketball dribbling moves I used to do years ago. This morning I made some quick breakthroughs sitting at my desk thinking out the chess-like strategy of the basketball dribble move; then as time wore on the thinking became hard, almost head-achy.

Just as I came to realize that being very thoughtful is important in soccer, so also I figure the importance of being very thoughtful is under-rated in basketball.

I decided not to share with the world the details re the basketball moves that I have developed. I am ahead in soccer, I share with the world my knowledge and experience of soccer; but I am behind in basketball. Reminds of the scripture:

Gen 1:16 And God made two great lights; the greater light to rule the day, and the lesser light to rule the night

But one thing I will share with the world of necessity, is that in US college, US high school, and international FIBA rules, (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Traveling_(basketball)), when you end your dribble by catching the ball, after you catch the ball, the foot that hits the ground first has to be the pivot foot; and if both feet hit the ground simultaneously, either foot can be the pivot foot. You are then free to step forward with the foot that is not the pivot foot, and then step forward with the pivot foot, so long as you release the ball before the pivot foot hits the ground.

So please do not falsely accuse me of 'traveling'.

(apparently going by NBA rules you can move more after ending the dribble by catching the ball but I am ignoring that for now)

I am willing to share with the world, with regards to basketball, a chart that can be printed that I will use when I dabble in basketball, to keep score re my performance doing drills in which I start at one point on the court, dribble to another point on the court, and then shoot. This chart can be found at:

https://www.angelfire.com/ma/vincemoon/Basketball_Drills_Chart.htm.

I really feel, that the kind of practice drills the chart is made for, and recording the scores for the practice drills the way the chart is designed to record them, is the smart approach to excellence in basketball; I have alot of experience at forging ahead in soccer using scored drills.

You might want to copy the chart from the page at the URL I have given, paste it into a new HTML page somehow using an HTML or Email Editor and then print it so as to avoid printing the advertisement on the page.

Clerical Note: This Log Entry is 505 words in length.

Saturday

November 17 '07

Waltham Y Gym

525-723 pm;

118 minutes

A (1-4) and B (1-4) basketball scored drills

Approx 40 mins

First time played basketball in at least 10 years

0 mg Melatonin previous 24 hours; drank approx 0.6 liter Paul Masson Burgundy wine in 24 hours before practice; today was a 01 C day. Also a 5-CG day.

Before practice consumed 2 cups coffee with non-dairy cream & cane sugar, wheat germ oil, hemp oil, vitamin E, fish oil, cod liver oil, mineral pill, tangerine juice, brewers yeast, cheese, peanuts, candy bars

Ate ??? 24 hours previous to practice

A1-4 and B1-4 Basketball Dribble/Shoot Drills

I devised 4 basic dribble and shoot basketball moves the past couple of days. I call these 4 moves A, B, C, and D. Each of these as of now has 4 variants. Today I practiced the four variants of A, and the four variants of B. The starting point every time today was a point approx 5 feet outside of the top of the key, 11 feet away from the free throw line, horizontally in the middle of the court.

This was the first time I have played basketball in I guess at least ten years.

I was more intelligent with the basketball than I have been in the past. Seems working every day with a computer has made me more intelligent and/or more skilled; and also I am more aware of the importance of the intellectual element in games like basketball.

Everything was counted from the first shot.

First segment I did not attempt to spin the ball or bounce it off the backboard. Results were (drill goals/attempts): A1 3/10; B1 2/10; A2 2/10; A3 4/10; A4 3/10; B2 1/10; B3 not recorded; B4 1/10. Total 19/70 27%.

Second segment I tried to put backspin on the ball but did not try to bounce the ball off the backboard. Results were (drill goals/attempts): A1 3/10; A2 5/10; A3 1/10; A4 4/10; B1 3/10; B2 3/10; B3 4/10; B4 3/10. Total 27/80 34%.

Third segment I did not try to put backspin on the ball but I tried to bounce the ball off the backboard every time. Results were (drill goals/attempts): A1 2/10; A2 0/10; A3 3/10; A4 6/10; B1 3/10; B2 1/10; B3 3/10; B4 2/10. Total 20/80 25%.

Simplistically speaking you could say results indicate that for most shots I am not a rebound the ball in off the backboard guy. But this fails to take into account that all my life I have almost never used the backboard when shooting.

Each attempt consisted of dribbling and shooting. The footwork and the dribbling part went smoothly despite the Rip Van Winkle like absence from the game for so many years. I achieved alot of penetration fast, the penetration in feet per dribbles made ratio was high, the moves worked out well, the moves were clever, I was smooth and quick up to the point of the shot, the shots were clumsy.

My plan for the next basketball outing is to try out ways of shooting such as: stylistic off backboard; stylistic spin; off backboard with spin. By stylistic I mean that there is an emphasis on grace and style in the taking of the shot.

About half way through the practice I began to feel sad, sadder than I have for a while.

I remember when I last played basketball, the USA, the nation I have lived in most of my life, was in better shape than it is now; and when I played basketball as a child it was in much better shape. Memories of such are sad.

It is sad how the economically nationalist USA of old, which was an economically healthy force for moderation as opposed to a force for hyper-elitism in the world, has been replaced by the USA of today, an economically sick force serving the cause of hyper-elitism in the world.

It is sad how the USA of old, which was managed the way middle class parents would want to see the government their children are citizens of be managed, has been replaced by a government uninterested in the children of middle class parents. The USA's middle class you might say has a certain star quality to it, this makes the demise sadder.

For me basketball brings to mind the USA nation, living in the USA nation, my American born mother; and my mother has passed away. Strange how I never felt as sad about my mother's demise, as I began to feel about half way through the basketball practice today. Today was the first time that I played basketball since my mother died. Maybe I've been avoiding basketball because I knew it would depress me.

I could tell from my performance that I can eventually be good enough to be at least an NBA scrub. True tall players could watch me and imitate me but they will always be a step behind. True they could victimize me when I was on defense but I can compensate for such by scoring 3 point shots, offensive teamwork, drawing fouls as I drive on the hoop. I could tell that if I was ten percent taller than I am now I could easily be a basketball star. But still I felt sad.

Faces in the Crowd

There was a white brown haired mother and her white brown haired daughter shooting baskets in the same side of the gym as me at the beginning. Then later there were some kids shooting baskets, and some kids being taught mountain climbing. Seemed to me that a few of them had wry smiles on their face as they watched me; which in my mind is a sign of perceptiveness on their part, because the moves I was executing are as clever as clever can get, and they dribbling and the footwork was executed smoothly and quickly.

Clerical Note: This basketball Log Entry is 902 words in length. Took approximately ??? minutes to write/type.

Adidas Powerpoint Cross-trainers, light brown sweat-socks.

Old (approx 13 years old) Spalding NBA ball inflated to 8.0 psi

Sunday Nov 18

Waltham Y

612-???

2007

A1-A4 & B1-B4 Shooting Drills

Approx 40 minutes

A1 is a jump shot off the dribble preceded by a swivel from the left side from approx 15 feet. A2 is a close shot, taken from approx 6 feet or less, shot while moving fast towards the basket, driving on the basket from the left. A3 and A4 are like A2 but slightly different. B1 is like A1 but taken from the right. B2 B3 and B4 are like A2 A3 and A4 but the hoop is driven on prior to the shot, from the right.

1. Stylish shots, with emphasis on backspin:

A1: 0/10; A2: 5/10; A3: 3/10; A4: 2/10

B1: 4/10; B2: 4/10; B3: 5/10; B4: 4/10

Adidas Bracara Indoor soccer shoes with 1 layer of 'Propel Gel' padding

Old (approx 13 years old) Spalding NBA ball inflated to 8.0 psi

Monday Nov 19

Waltham Y

510-640 PM

2007

1. Stylish shots, ball aimed to bounce off backboard on every shot, no deliberate emphasis on backspin:

B1 4/10; B2: 2/10; B3: 4/10; B4: 3/10 Total 13/40

2. Stylish spinners off the backboard

A1: 1/110; A2: 1/10; A3: 1/10; A4: 6/10

B1: 3/10; B2: 4/10; B3: 4/10; B4: 4/10

total 24/80

3. Stylish non-spinners not off backboard (no deliberate emphasis on spinning the ball)

A1: 3/10; A2: 4/10; A3: 3/10; A4: 5/10; B1: 2/10

total 17/40

Nov 19 total for day: 54/160 33.75%

Adidas Bracara Indoor soccer shoes with 1 layer of 'Propel Gel' padding

Spalding TF-1000 zk Microfiber Composite basketball bought 111/19/07 at

Tricon Sports

inflated to 8.0 psi

Tuesday Nov 20

Waltham Y

524-540 PM

2007

B2-4 Shooting Drills

15 minutes

No pre-workout vitamins minerals juices etc.

1 Stylish non-spinners, not off backboard

B2: 2/10; B3: 2/10; B4: 4/10

I could feel the lack of nutrients such as vitamins minerals juices oils that were not taken before the practice this time.

The practice was cut short because of gym activities that had been scheduled.

Faces in the Crowd

I was coughing. A nice Hispanic boy who plays soccer said to me re the cough, 'you OK, buddy?'.

The Brazilian who works at the Y was talking to me. He calls the Hispanic boys 'Spanish boys'. He said to me, 'too much little Spanish boys'.

Adidas Bracara Indoor soccer shoes with 1 layer of 'Propel Gel' padding

Spalding TF-1000 zk Microfiber Composite basketball bought 111/19/07 at

Tricon Sports

inflated to 8.0 psi

Wednesday Nov 22 647-910 PM

2007

A1-A4, B1-B4 shooting drills

143 minutes

A non-C day (C does not stand for vit C or cocaine, but I keep some things secret).

Tangerine and carrot juice, fish oil, cod liver oil, mineral pill, vit E pill,

hemp oil, wheat germ oil consumed before practice

1 Non-stylish spinners off the backboard (non-stylish means no emphasis on shooting stylishly)

A1 2/10; A2 2/10; A3 3/10; A4 2/10

B1 1/10; B2 1/10; B3 4/10; B4 6/10

total 18/80

2 Non-stylish non-spinners not off the backboard (non-stylish means no emphasis on shooting stylishly)

A1 2/10; A2 5/10; A3 5/10; A4 4/10

B1 3/10; B2 5/10; B3 3/10; B4 5/10

total 32/80

3 Non-stylish spinners not off the backboard (non-stylish means no emphasis on shooting stylishly)

A1 3/10; A2 5/10; A3 6/10; A4 5/10

B1 5/10; B2 3/10; B3 7/10; B4 5/10

total 34/80

4 Non-stylish non-spinners off the backboard (non-stylish means no emphasis on shooting stylishly)

A1 4/10; A2 3/10; A3 5/10; A4 7/10

B1 4/10; B2 5/10; B3 4/5;

total 32/65

Total for Nov 22 116/305 38.03%

Adidas Bracara Indoor soccer shoes with 1 layer of 'Propel Gel' padding

Spalding TF-1000 zk Microfiber Composite basketball bought 111/19/07 at

Tricon Sports

inflated to 8.0 psi

Friday Nov 24

Waltham Y

225-428 PM

2007

A1-A4, B1-B4 Shooting Drills

123 mins

A non-C day (C does not stand for vit C or cocaine, but I keep some things secret).

Tangerine and carrot juice, fish oil, cod liver oil, mineral pill, vit E pill,

hemp oil, consumed before practice, no wheat germ oil consumed before practice

Felt sickly, a sleep-deprived day

1 Non-stylish non-spinners off the backboard

B3 3/5; B4: 3/10

total 6/15

2 Stylish spinners not off the backboard

A1 2/10; A2 5/10; A3 3/10; A4 4/10

B1 7/10; B2 2/10; B3 3/10; B4 4/10

total 30/80

3 Stylish non-spinners off the backboard

A1 3/10; A2 1/10; A3 8/10; A4 7/10

B1 5/10; B2 1/10; B3 3/10; B4 8/10

total 36/80

4 Stylish spinners off the backboard

A1 3/10; A2 6/10; A3 6/10; A4 5/10

B1 1/10; B2 4/10; B3 6/10; B4 5/10

total 36/80

Total for Nov 24 108/245 44.1%

Adidas Bracara Indoor soccer shoes with 1 layer of 'Propel Gel' padding

Spalding TF-1000 zk Microfiber Composite basketball bought 111/19/07 at

Tricon Sports

inflated to 8.0 psi

Sunday Nov 25

515-745 PM

2007

A1-A4, B1-B4 Shooting Drills

A C day (C does not stand for vit C or cocaine, but I keep some things secret).

Tangerine and carrot juice, fish oil, cod liver oil, mineral pill, vit E pill,

hemp oil, consumed before practice, no wheat germ oil consumed before practice

A sickly, sleep-deprived day

1 Stylish non-spinners not off the backboard

A1 3/10; A2 2/10; A3 3/10; A4 6/10

B1 4/10; B2 4/10; B3 6/10; B4 4/10

total 32/80

2 Non-stylish spinners off the backboard

A1 2/10; A2 6/10; A3 8/10; A4 5/10

B1 2/10; B2 5/10; B3 5/10; B4 6/10

total 41/80

3 Non-stylish non-spinners not off the backboard

A1 3/10; A2 4/10; A3 6/10; A4 5/10

B1 1/10; B2 5/10; B3 10/10; B4 7/10

total 41/80

4 Non-stylish spinners not off the backboard

A1 2/10; A2 6/10; A3 4/10; A4 6/10

B1 1/10; B2 6/10; B3 8/10; B4 7/10

total 40/80

Total for Sunday Nov 26 154/320 = 48.1%

During the practice I noted that for B3 type shots I should get as close as possible to the basket before releasing the ball; and I should pause a little but not too much during the dribbling/footwork preceding the shot.

The practice made me feel physically better, I felt good during the practice.

Adidas Bracara Indoor soccer shoes with 1 layer of 'Propel Gel' padding

Spalding TF-1000 zk Microfiber Composite basketball bought 111/19/07 at

Tricon Sports

inflated to 8.0 psi

Tuesday Nov 27

200-400 PM

Waltham Y

2007

A1-A4 & B1-B4 Shooting Drills

120 mins

Using 3 of the 4 Methods I Determined At the Time to Be Superior

Today I reviewed the data I had gathered, and determined that four of the methods were superior (this judgement re which methods are superior is tentative). This took into account both the 15 foot shots off the dribble and the swivel, A1 and B1, and also A2-4 and B2-4 which involved hurtling in to the basket off the dribble and swivel at a high speed and releasing the ball from less than 7 feet away from the basket.

1 Stylish non-spinners off the backboard

A1 1/10; A2 4/10; A3 5/10; A4 8/10

B1 3/10; B2 8/10; B3 7/10; B4 8/10

total 44/80

2 Stylish non-spinners not off the backboard

A1 3/10; A2 3/10; A3 5/10; A4 6/10

B1 3/10; B2 6/10; B3 8/10; B4 5/10

total 39/80

3 Non-stylish non-spinners off the backboard

A1 4/10; A2 5/10; A3 8/10; A4 10/10

B1 3/10; B2 6/10; B3 7/10; B4 9/10

total 52/80

Total for today Nov 27: 135/240 56.3%

The fourth method that I determined tentatively to be superior as of today was the non-stylish spinner not off the backboard but I did not get a chance to practice it today.

Adidas Bracara Indoor soccer shoes with 1 layer of 'Propel Gel' padding

Spalding TF-1000 zk Microfiber Composite basketball bought 111/19/07 at

Tricon Sports

inflated to 8.0 psi

Thursday Nov 29

2007

Notes Taken Off the Internet re how to shoot the ball

I took these notes re how to shoot the basketball in my spiral notebook with my pen, as I was using my library computer, since my computer had been in the shop since Nov 18, due to it having come down with a bad virus. Thus the notes are not as complete as they could be.

According to www.howtodothings.com , the elbow should be under the ball, ball on finger tips not on the palm of the hand, and the eyes should be on the front rim, the ball should be aimed just beyond the front rim.

According to another source, the foot on the same side of the body as the shooting hand should be 11/2 foot forward ahead of the other foot, and it does not matter what is aimed for, but one should be consistent in terms of what is aimed for. This source advocated putting a high arc on the ball.

According to howtoplay...com, one should keep one's eyes on the target when shooting.

Another source advocated aiming for the back of the rim, focusing the eye before shooting.

Another source advocated keeping the eyes on the back of the rim when shooting.

Another source spoke of the thumb placement on the ball when shooting, it said the thumb should be at a 45 degree angle.

I reviewed the contradictory data re which foot should be forward when shooting. www.coachlikeapro.com said that for a right handed shooter, the left foot should be forward. Others disagreed. Coaches clipboard said for a right handed shooter, the right foot should be forward. Five other sources agreed with this idea that for a right handed shooter the right foot should be forward.

Focusing the eye on the left of the rim, the right of the rim, the front of the rim, the rear of the rim, were all said to be methods of aiming in use.

A source said that one should shoot with the fingertips, just prior to the highest point of the body in the jump shot.

A source said that the lowest and the middle joints of the fingers should be on the ball when shooting.

Some sources said the eyes should be on the front of the rim when shooting, others said the back of the rim.

I advised the Waltham Public Library that they should put the Google Toolbar or some such toolbar on the library computers. These toolbars allow you to hilite certain words in the text, and/or to jump to these words in the text. The Head Librarian said he would pass my suggestion on to Todd Strauss their technical guy.

Adidas Bracara Indoor soccer shoes with 1 layer of 'Propel Gel' padding

Spalding TF-1000 zk Microfiber Composite basketball bought 111/19/07 at

Tricon Sports

inflated to 8.0 psi

Thursday Nov 29

626 PM -950 PM

2007

A1 and B1 15 foot off the dribble and swivel shots, using the style advocated by basketball coaches, elbow in, under the shooting hand

Estimate 204 mins

At this point I decided that the close-in shots such as A2-4, and B2-4, had basically been mastered, and that I needed to concentrate on the shots from further out, from 15 feet, which are for now A1 and B1. Today I decided to for basically the first time in my life, shoot with the elbow under the shooting hand, the elbow in, as advocated by the coaches, using different ways of aiming the ball. All my life I had been shooting with the elbow of the shooting hand to the shoulder side of the shooting hand, which is what had come naturally to me. None of the shots today were intended to bounce off the backboard

1 Coach's Good Form (elbow in) Spinners, eye on back of rim, intend to put ball just short of back of rim

A1 1/10; B1 2/10; A1 2/10; B1 1/10

total 6/40

2 Coach's Good Form Spinners, eye on front of rim, intend to put ball just beyond front of rim

A1 3/10; B1 4/10; A1 2/10; B1 2/10

total 11/40

3 Coach's Good Form Spinners, eye on empty area in middle of hoop, intend to put ball in middle of hoop

A1 3/10; B1 5/10; A1 1/10; B1 0/10

total 9/40

4 Coach's Good Form Spinners, eye on empty area in middle of hoop, intend to put ball in middle of hoop

A1 0/10; B1 2/10; A1 3/10; B1 5/10

total 10/40

5 Coach's Good Form Spinners, eye on front of rim, intend to put ball just beyond front of rim

A1 2/10; B1 3/10; A1 1/10; B1 4/10

total 10/40

(Apparently warmed-up at this point)

6 Coach's Good Form (elbow in) Spinners, eye on back of rim, intend to put ball just short of back of rim

A1 5/10; B1 5/10; A1 6/10; B1 4/10

total 20/40

NOTE: re the following, what I mean by non-spinner, is no deliberate emphasis is made to spin the ball. The ball still spins to some extent.

7 Coach's Good Form (elbow in) non-spinners, eye on back of rim, intend to put ball just short of back of rim

A1 4/10; B1 4/10; A1 3/10; B1 1/10

total 12/40

8 Coach's Good Form non-spinners, eye on front of rim, intend to put ball just beyond front of rim

A1 3/10; B1 4/10; A1 4/10; B1 4/10

total 12/40

(Apparently warmed-up with re non-spinners at this point)

9 Coach's Good Form non-spinners, eye on empty area in middle of hoop, intend to put ball in middle of hoop

A1 3/10; B1 6/10; A1 5/10; B1 3/10

total 17/40

10 Coach's Good Form non-spinners, eye on empty area in middle of hoop, intend to put ball in middle of hoop

A1 4/10; B1 5/10; A1 3/10; B1 3/10

total 15/40

11 Coach's Good Form non-spinners, eye on front of rim, intend to put ball just beyond front of rim

A1 4/10; B1 3/10; A1 4/10; B1 3/10

total 14/40

12 Coach's Good Form (elbow in) non-spinners, eye on back of rim, intend to put ball just short of back of rim

A1 2/10; B1 5/10; A1 3/10; B1 5/10

total 15/40

Total for today Nov 29:

Coach's Good Form (elbow-in) Spinners: 66/240 27.5%

Coach's Good Form (elbow-in) non-spinners: 88/240 36.7%

Total: 154/480 32.1%

(all coach's good form (elbow-in))

Eye on Back of Rim, Spinners: 26/80 32.5%

Eye on Front of Rim, Spinners: 21/80 26.3%

Eye on Middle of Basket, Spinners: 19/80 23.4%

Eye on Back of Rim, non-spinners: 27/80 33.4%

Eye on Front of Rim, non-spinners: 29/80 36.3%

Eye on Middle of Basket, non-spinners: 32/80 40.0%

(all coach's good form (elbow-in))

Eye on Back of Rim, Spinners + non-spinners: 53/160 33.1%

Eye on Front of Rim, Spinners + non-spinners: 50/160 31.3%

Eye on Middle of Basket, Spinners + non-spinners: 51/160 31.9%

Adidas Bracara Indoor soccer shoes with 1 layer of 'Propel Gel' padding

Spalding TF-1000 zk Microfiber Composite basketball bought 111/19/07 at

Tricon Sports

inflated to 8.0 psi

Saturday Dec 1

526-750 PM

Waltham Y

2007

A1, B1 15 foot off the dribble and swivel shots,

Using Own Natural Elbow-out style

No deliberate emphasis on spinning ball

144 mins

Today was a c-day, all the usual juices oils mineral pill consumed before practice. Only 1 cup tea before practice. 1 5 mg melatonin pill taken in previous 24 hours

Today I tested out various methods for aiming the ball, all using my own natural style (elbow-out) as opposed to the style advocated by coaches.

1 Stylish non-spinners, own (elbow-out) style

eye on middle of hoop, aim for middle of hoop

A1 0/10; B1 2/10; A1 4/10; B1 5/10

total 11/40

2 Stylish non-spinners, own (elbow-out) style

eye on back of rim, aim for just short of back of rim

A1 3/10; B1 4/10; A1 3/10; B1 4/10

total 14/40

3 Stylish non-spinners, own (elbow-out) style

eye on front of rim, aim for just beyond front of rim

A1 0/10;

AVERAGE INITIAL WARM-UP POINT

B1 4/10; A1 2/10; B1 5/10

total 11/40

4 Stylish non-spinners, own (elbow-out) style

eye on front of rim, aim for just beyond front of rim

A1 2/10; B1 2/10; A1 4/10; B1 2/10

total 10/40

5 Stylish non-spinners, own (elbow-out) style

eye on back of rim, aim for just short of back of rim

A1 5/10; B1 3/10; A1 3/10; B1 2/10

total 13/40

6 Stylish non-spinners, own (elbow-out) style

eye on middle of hoop, aim for middle of hoop

A1 4/10; B1 2/10; A1 2/10;

total 8/30

Total for today Dec 1, own rebellious elbow-out style, 67/230, 29.1%

(all own rebellious elbow-out style):

Stylish non-spinners, eye on back of rim: 27/80 33.8%

Stylish non-spinners, eye on front of rim: 21/80 26.3%

Stylish non-spinners, eye on middle of hoop: 19/70 27.1%

Adidas Bracara Indoor soccer shoes with 1 layer of 'Propel Gel' padding

Spalding TF-1000 zk Microfiber Composite basketball bought 111/19/07 at

Tricon Sports

inflated to 8.0 psi

Monday Dec 3

447-??? PM

Waltham Y

2007

A1, B1 15 foot off the dribble and swivel shots,

Using Own Natural Elbow-out style

Emphasis on spinning ball

est 90 mins

Today was probably: all the usual juices oils mineral pill consumed before practice.

2 Gaia Brand 'Sound Sleep' 'Liquid Phytocap' sleeping pills were taken during the 24 hours before practice today.

Today I tested out various methods for aiming the ball, all using my own natural style (elbow-out) as opposed to the style advocated by coaches. Today I emphasized putting backspin on the ball.

1 Stylish spinners, own (elbow-out) style

eye on middle of hoop, aim for middle of hoop

A1 0/10; B1 1/10; A1 2/10; B1 3/10

total 6/40

2 Stylish spinners, own (elbow-out) style

eye on back of rim, aim for just short of back of rim

A1 1/10; B1 4/10; A1 1/10; B1 4/10

total 7/40

3 Stylish spinners, own (elbow-out) style

eye on front of rim, aim for just beyond front of rim

A1 1/10;

AVERAGE INITIAL WARM-UP POINT

B1 1/10; A1 3/10; B1 0/10

total 5/40

4 Stylish spinners, own (elbow-out) style

eye on middle of hoop, aim for middle of hoop

A1 3/10; B1 2/10;

total 5/20

5 Stylish spinners, own (elbow-out) style

eye on back of rim, aim for just short of back of rim

A1 3/10; B1 4/10;

total 7/20

6 Stylish non-spinners, own (elbow-out) style

eye on middle of hoop, aim for middle of hoop

A1 2/10; B1 1/10;

total 3/20

Total for today Dec 3, own rebellious elbow-out style, 34/180, 18.9%

(all own rebellious elbow-out style):

Stylish spinners, eye on back of rim: 14/60 23.3%

Stylish spinners, eye on front of rim: 5/40 12.5%

Stylish spinners, eye on middle of hoop: 15/80 18.8%

The Gaia Brand 'Sound Sleep' sleeping pills seem to have thrown off the shooting badly. Also, the basketball court was filled with noisy teenagers the first half or so of the practice. Combo of these 2 factors seems to have radically reduced shooting percentage.

With the noisy teenagers running all over the court, the percentage was 16.7%. With nobody on the court the percentage was 21.1%. One would expect a percentage of around 30% at least. Overall the percentage of 18.9 was then about 37% below what one would expect; the noisy teenagers caused a reduction of about 10% taking into account that the first shots of the practice are less accurate than the later shots.

Thus I estimate that about a quarter of the blame for the unusually bad shooting can be put on noisy teenagers and about three quarters on the herbal sleeping pills (the pills might be great for some people, great if you are not shooting basketball).

Then you have the fact that this was a short practice and shots get better as the practice goes on' and several of the methods were practiced for only 20 shots at stretch instead of 40 so there was not as much time to get used to a method.

My estimate is that herbal sleeping pills etc cause less damage to things like basketball shooting as you get used to them. But as you get used to them they also have less of an impact in terms of helping you to go to sleep.

Faces in the Crowd

A black teenage female who was shooting baskets at the same basket as me muttered something about sleeping pills as she watched me missing shots. She seems clever, seems an institution like Harvard University would want to fawn over her, give her a scholarship or a job.

Adidas Bracara Indoor soccer shoes with 1 layer of 'Propel Gel' padding

Spalding TF-1000 zk Microfiber Composite basketball bought 111/19/07 at

Tricon Sports

inflated to 8.0 psi

Wednesday Dec 5

720-??? PM

2007

A1 and B1 15 foot off the dribble and swivel shots, Coach's Elbow in style

est 145 mins

All the usual oils and juices and mineral pill consumed before practice. A non-c day; a non-cg day;

4 Whole Foods Brand 'restful sleep' herbal sleeping pills consumed in 24 hours previous to practice.

Today I returned to testing the style advocated by the coaches elbow-in.

NOTE: re the following, what I mean by non-spinner, is no deliberate emphasis is made to spin the ball. The ball still spins to some extent.

1 Coach's Good Form non-spinners, eye on front of rim, intend to put ball just beyond front of rim

A1 1/10; B1 3/10;

total 4/20

2 Coach's Good Form non-spinners, eye on empty area in middle of hoop, intend to put ball in middle of hoop

A1 1/10; B1 5/10;

total 6/20

3 Coach's Good Form non-spinners, eye on empty area in middle of hoop, intend to put ball in middle of hoop

A1 0/10; B1 1/10;

total 1/20

4 Coach's Good Form non-spinners, eye on front of rim, intend to put ball just beyond front of rim

A1 1/10; B1 1/10;

total 2/20

(Apparently warmed-up at this point)

5 Coach's Good Form (elbow in) non-spinners, eye on back of rim, intend to put ball just short of back of rim

A1 4/10;

AVERAGE INITIAL WARM-UP POINT

B1 4/10;

total 8/20

6 Coach's Good Form (elbow in) non-spinners, eye on back of rim, intend to put ball just short of back of rim

A1 4/10; B1 4/10;

total 8/20

--------

7 Coach's Good Form Spinners, eye on front of rim, intend to put ball just beyond front of rim

A1 2/10;

AVERAGE SECONDARY WARM-UP POINT

(Apparently warmed-up with re spinners at this point)

B1 6/10;

total 8/20

8 Coach's Good Form Spinners, eye on empty area in middle of hoop, intend to put ball in middle of hoop

A1 4/10; B1 6/10;

total 10/20

9 Coach's Good Form Spinners, eye on empty area in middle of hoop, intend to put ball in middle of hoop

A1 2/10; B1 5/10;

total 7/20

10 Coach's Good Form Spinners, eye on front of rim, intend to put ball just beyond front of rim

A1 5/10; B1 4/10;

total 9/20

11 Coach's Good Form (elbow in) Spinners, eye on back of rim, intend to put ball just short of back of rim

A1 4/10; B1 2/10;

total 6/20

12 Coach's Good Form (elbow in) Spinners, eye on back of rim, intend to put ball just short of back of rim

A1 3/10; B1 5/10;

total 8/20

13 Coach's Good Form (elbow in) Spinners, eye on imaginary penny in middle of the hoop, intend to push imaginary penny downwards with the ball. The nice black young man who coaches basketball at the Y emphatically declared to me that this eye on the imaginary penny is the way to aim, and that the aiming methods I have been using are not correct.

A1 2/10; B1 4/10;

total 6/20

Total for today Dec 5:

Coach's Good Form (elbow-in) Spinners counting new Waltham Y Coach's penny-aim style: 54/140 38.6%

Coach's Good Form (elbow-in) Spinners NOT counting new Waltham Y Coach's penny-aim style: 48/120 40.0%

Coach's Good Form (elbow-in) non-spinners: 29/120 24.2%

Total counting the new penny-aim style shots: 83/260 31.9%

Total NOT counting the new penny-aim style shots: 77/240 32.1%

(all coach's good form (elbow-in))

Eye on Back of Rim, Spinners: 14/40 35.0%

Eye on Front of Rim, Spinners: 17/40 42.5%

Eye on Middle of Basket, Spinners: 17/40 42.5%

Eye on Back of Rim, non-spinners: 16/40 40.0%

Eye on Front of Rim, non-spinners: 6/40 15.0%

Eye on Middle of Basket, non-spinners: 7/40 17.5%

(all coach's good form (elbow-in))

Eye on Back of Rim, Spinners + non-spinners: 30/80 37.5%

Eye on Front of Rim, Spinners + non-spinners: 23/80 28.8%

Eye on Middle of Basket, Spinners + non-spinners: 24/80 30.0%

Eye on imaginary penny in middle of hoop, spinners: 6/20 30.0%

Seems the herbal sleeping pills and the shooting only 20 shots in a row for each style instead of 40 may have prevented the expected progress from taking place. But the Whole Foods Brand 'restful sleep' herbal sleeping pills seems to damage the shots less than the Gaia brand 'sound sleep' herbal sleeping pills.

Seems a good idea would be to stick with 40 shots per segment instead of switching between 20 and 40 shots per segment.

Adidas Bracara Indoor soccer shoes with 1 layer of 'Propel Gel' padding

Spalding TF-1000 zk Microfiber Composite basketball bought 111/19/07 at

Tricon Sports

inflated to 8.0 psi

Saturday December 8

515-748 PM

Waltham Y

2007

A1 & B1 shots off the dribble and swivel from 15 feet, using own rebellious elbow-out style instead of coach's style

153 minutes

Prior to practice I had all the usuals: tangerine juice, carrot juice, mineral pill, fish oil, cod liver oil, wheat germ oil, hemp oil, and some organic multi-grain 12-grain bread.

Today was a non-c, non-cg day. No melatonin was consumed in the 24 hours prior to practice. But I did have 4 of the Whole Foods Brand 'Restful Sleep' Herbal sleeping pills.

1 Stylish non-spinners, own (elbow-out) style

eye on back of rim, aim for just short of back of rim

A1 2/10; B1 4/10;

total 6/20

2 Stylish non-spinners, own (elbow-out) style

eye on front of rim, aim for just beyond front of rim

A1 0/10; B1 4/10;

total 4/20

3 Stylish non-spinners, own (elbow-out) style

eye on imaginary penny in middle of the hoop, intend to push imaginary penny downwards with the ball Waltham Y B-ball coach style.

A1 1/10; B1 2/10;

total 3/20

4 Stylish non-spinners, own (elbow-out) style

eye on imaginary penny in middle of the hoop, intend to push imaginary penny downwards with the ball Waltham Y B-ball coach style.

A1 3/10; B1 2/10;

total 5/20

5 Stylish non-spinners, own (elbow-out) style

eye on front of rim, aim for just beyond front of rim

A1 2/10;

AVERAGE INITIAL WARM-UP POINT

B1 3/10;

total 5/20

6 Stylish non-spinners, own (elbow-out) style

eye on back of rim, aim for just short of back of rim

A1 1/10; B1 2/10;

total 3/20

(Apparently warmed-up at this point)

7 Stylish non-spinners, own (elbow-out) style

eye on middle of hoop, aim for middle of hoop

A1 4/10; B1 8/10;

total 12/20

8 Stylish non-spinners, own (elbow-out) style

eye on middle of hoop, aim for middle of hoop

A1 3/10; B1 8/10;

total 11/20

9 Stylish spinners, own (elbow-out) style

eye on back of rim, aim for just short of back of rim

A1 4/10;

AVERAGE SECONDARY WARM-UP POINT

(Apparently warmed-up with re spinners at this point)

B1 6/10;

total 10/20

10 Stylish spinners, own (elbow-out) style

eye on front of rim, aim for just beyond front of rim

A1 4/10; B1 6/10;

total 10/20

11 Stylish spinners, own (elbow-out) style

eye on imaginary penny in middle of the hoop, intend to push imaginary penny downwards with the ball Waltham Y B-ball coach style.

A1 6/10; B1 5/10;

total 11/20

12 Stylish spinners, own (elbow-out) style

eye on imaginary penny in middle of the hoop, intend to push imaginary penny downwards with the ball Waltham Y B-ball coach style.

A1 3/10; B1 7/10;

total 10/20

13 Stylish spinners, own (elbow-out) style

eye on front of rim, aim for just beyond front of rim

A1 5/10; B1 6/10;

total 11/20

14 Stylish spinners, own (elbow-out) style

eye on back of rim, aim for just short of back of rim

A1 1/10; B1 5/10;

total 6/20

15 Stylish spinners, own (elbow-out) style

eye on middle of hoop, aim for middle of hoop

A1 4/10; B1 6/10;

total 10/20

16 Stylish non-spinners, own (elbow-out) style

eye on middle of hoop, aim for middle of hoop

A1 5/10; B1 5/10;

total 10/20

Total for today Dec 8:

Rebellious anti-coach (elbow-out) Spinners counting new Waltham Y Coach's penny-aim style: 78/160 48.8%

Rebellious anti-coach (elbow-out) Spinners NOT counting new Waltham Y Coach's penny-aim style: 57/120 47.5%

Rebellious anti-coach (elbow-out) non-spinners counting new Waltham Y Coach's penny-aim style: 49/160 30.6%

Rebellious anti-coach (elbow-out) non-spinners NOT counting new Waltham Y Coach's penny-aim style: 41/120 34.2%

Total counting the new penny-aim style shots: 127/320 39.7%

Total NOT counting the new penny-aim style shots: 98/240 40.8%

(all rebellious anti-coach style (elbow-out))

Eye on Back of Rim, Spinners: 16/40 40.0%

Eye on Front of Rim, Spinners: 21/40 52.5%

Eye on Middle of Basket, Spinners: 20/40 50.0%

Eye on Penny in Middle of Basket, Spinners: 21/40 52.5%

Eye on Back of Rim, non-spinners: 9/40 22.5%

Eye on Front of Rim, non-spinners: 9/40 22.5%

Eye on Middle of Basket, non-spinners: 23/40 57.5%

Eye on Penny in Middle of Basket, non-spinners: 8/40 20.0%

(all rebellious anti-coach style (elbow-out))

Eye on Back of Rim, Spinners + non-spinners: 25/80 31.3%

Eye on Front of Rim, Spinners + non-spinners: 26/80 32.5%

Eye on Middle of Basket, Spinners + non-spinners: 43/80 53.8%

Eye on imaginary penny in middle of hoop, Spinners + non-spinners: 29/80 36.3%

This was the first basketball day in which I could enjoy the pleasure of this guy not harassing me by leaving 2-3 messages a day on my phone that I would not return, even after I told him not to call me. I had to tell him not to call me a second time. Thus I had some peace of mind.

After the first hour, I realized that 'shoot your style not the coach's style', is too vague an instruction to the body from the mind. Previously with soccer I had also realized that vague instructions from the mind to the body do not work well. Perhaps this principle has application in terms of our minds instructing our bodies to do things that are good for us. After the first hour I changed to telling my body to simply shoot with the 'elbow out', which is a clear and concise instruction to the body.

Today was big victory for me once I got warmed up, after the first 6 segments, over the last 10 segments, I shot very well for 200 shots, taking into account that I was experimentally switching shooting styles every 20 shots.

Faces in the Crowd

After I started shooting really well, a couple of Y staff, a white lifeguard and the black guy 'Donald' who I used to call 'Black Buddha' came out to throw a football around in the gym as they watched me shoot seemed they somehow knew I had gotten really 'hot' at the shooting. And this guy who looked like this guy named 'Moe' came out to shoot baskets for a while. And as I walked the hallway after the practice this tall gray haired white guy with glasses said "Moe was right". "Moe" or "Mo" best I can recall had been predicting that I would become a good shooter in basketball.

Adidas Bracara Indoor soccer shoes with 1 layer of 'Propel Gel' padding

Spalding TF-1000 zk Microfiber Composite basketball bought 111/19/07 at

Tricon Sports

inflated to 8.0 psi

Monday Dec 10

447-635 PM

Waltham Y

2007

Coach's Good Form

Spinners, A1 & B1, 15 ft jump shots off the dribble and swivel

Prior to practice I had all the usuals: tangerine juice, carrot juice, mineral pill, fish oil, cod liver oil, wheat germ oil, hemp oil, and some organic multi-grain 12-grain bread. Not sure re vitamin E pill.

Today was a non-c, non-cg day. No melatonin was consumed in the 24 hours prior to practice. But I did have 2 of the Gaia Brand 'Sound Sleep' Herbal sleeping pills.

Only 1.5 hrs sleep in 24 hours prior to practice

1 Coach's Good Form Spinners, eye on empty area in middle of hoop, intend to put ball in middle of hoop

A1 5/10; B1 3/10;

total 8/20

2 Coach's Good Form (elbow in) Spinners, eye on imaginary penny in middle of the hoop, intend to push imaginary penny downwards with the ball. A1 2/10; B1 4/10;

total 6/20

3 Coach's Good Form (elbow in) Spinners, eye on imaginary penny in middle of the hoop, intend to push imaginary penny downwards with the ball. A1 1/10; B1 5/10;

total 6/20

(Apparently warmed-up at this point)

4 Coach's Good Form Spinners, eye on empty area in middle of hoop, intend to put ball in middle of hoop

A1 3/10; B1 5/10;

total 8/20

5 Coach's Good Form Spinners, eye on front of rim, intend to put ball just beyond front of rim

A1 3/10;

AVERAGE INITIAL WARM-UP POINT

B1 6/10;

total 9/20

6 Coach's Good Form (elbow in) Spinners, eye on back of rim, intend to put ball just short of back of rim

A1 4/10; B1 4/10;

total 8/20

7 Coach's Good Form (elbow in) Spinners, eye on back of rim, intend to put ball just short of back of rim

A1 3/10; B1 3/10;

total 6/20

8 Coach's Good Form Spinners, eye on front of rim, intend to put ball just beyond front of rim

A1 1/10; B1 4/10;

total 5/20

Total for today Dec 10:

Coach's Good Form (elbow-in) Spinners counting new Waltham Y Coach's penny-aim style: 56/160 35.0%

Coach's Good Form (elbow-in) Spinners NOT counting new Waltham Y Coach's penny-aim style: 44/120 36.7%

(all coach's good form (elbow-in))

Eye on Back of Rim, Spinners: 14/40 35.0%

Eye on Front of Rim, Spinners: 14/40 35.0%

Eye on Middle of Basket, Spinners: 16/40 40.0%

Eye on imaginary penny in middle of hoop, spinners: 12/40 30.0%

Today was notable for how the quality of the shooting was relatively high right from the start. The second and third segments were done using the new push down the imaginary penny in the middle of the hoop style but were still at 30%. The first segment and the fourth segment were at 40%. Remember that I count every shot taken, from the beginning of the practice in the percentages; no shots taken in the practice are not included in the report and the percentages. The shooting percentage was high for the first 160 shots of a practice.

Seems with lack of sleep, the first 70 minutes were unusually good this was followed by a decline in performance.

Adidas Bracara Indoor soccer shoes with 1 layer of 'Propel Gel' padding

Spalding TF-1000 zk Microfiber Composite basketball bought 111/19/07 at

Tricon Sports

inflated to 8.0 psi

Tuesday Dec 11

623-728 PM

2007

Conditioning

(recorded in both soccer and basketball blogs)

Treadmill, weights

Conditioning and Weights

633-653: ran 1 mile on treadmill at 3 mph. Not winded at all but slight pain in left calf

702: 90 lbs + bar, 25 reps, toes straight calf raise. Easy.

707: machine prone leg curl. 50 lbs, 25 reps. Easy.

711: 110 lbs + bar, 25 reps, toes out calf raise. Medium hard.

715 machine prone leg curl. 65 lbs, 12 reps, size L, medium hard.

721 120 lbs + bar, 25 reps, toes-in calf raise. Medium hard.

726 machine prone leg curl, 80 lbs, 12 reps, size L, medium hard.

730 Treadmill, 12 mph, 49 seconds.

Faces in the Crowd

The Philippino young man, John, was talking to a gray haired white lady in the machine weights room, I was the only other persons in the room, in the middle of the conversation he blurted out, 'he's one of the few good men'. I felt I knew he was talking about me, I was wondering how he knew about my quote of 1 Timothy 5:17-19 on all my resumes, or why he thought I was good.

Adidas Bracara Indoor soccer shoes with 1 layer of 'Propel Gel' padding

Wednesday Dec 12

745-950 PM

Waltham Y

2007

Coach's Good Form (elbow-in)

non-spinners, & rebel (elbow-out) non-spinners, A1 & B1, 15 ft jump shots off the dribble and swivel

Today was a non-c, non-cg day. No melatonin was consumed in the 24 hours prior to practice. But I did have 2 of the Gaia Brand 'Sound Sleep' Herbal sleeping pills.

Today I returned to testing the style advocated by the coaches elbow-in.

NOTE: re the following, what I mean by non-spinner, is no deliberate emphasis is made to spin the ball. The ball still spins to some extent.

1 Coach's Good Form (elbow-in) non-spinners, eye on empty area in middle of hoop, intend to put ball in middle of hoop

A1 1/10; B1 1/10;

total 2/20

2 Coach's Good Form (elbow-in) non-spinners,

eye on imaginary penny in middle of the hoop, intend to push imaginary penny downwards with the ball Waltham Y B-ball coach style.

A1 2/10; B1 2/10;

total 4/20

3 Coach's Good Form (elbow-in) non-spinners,

eye on imaginary penny in middle of the hoop, intend to push imaginary penny downwards with the ball Waltham Y B-ball coach style.

A1 2/10; B1 1/10;

total 3/20

4 Coach's Good Form non-spinners, eye on empty area in middle of hoop, intend to put ball in middle of hoop

A1 3/10; B1 3/10;

total 6/20

(Apparently warmed-up at this point)

5 Coach's Good Form non-spinners, eye on front of rim, intend to put ball just beyond front of rim

A1 5/10;

AVERAGE INITIAL WARM-UP POINT

B1 6/10;

total 11/20

6 Coach's Good Form (elbow in) non-spinners, eye on back of rim, intend to put ball just short of back of rim

A1 2/10; B1 2/10;

total 4/20

7 Coach's Good Form (elbow in) non-spinners, eye on back of rim, intend to put ball just short of back of rim

A1 2/10; B1 4/10;

total 6/20

8 Coach's Good Form non-spinners, eye on front of rim, intend to put ball just beyond front of rim

A1 5/10; B1 5/10;

total 10/20

Rebel (elbow-out) non-spinners:

9 Stylish non-spinners, own (elbow-out) style

eye on front of rim, aim for just beyond front of rim

A1 0/10;

AVERAGE SECONDARY WARM-UP POINT

(Apparently warmed-up with re rebel elbow-out spinners at this point)

B1 5/10;

total 5/20

10 Stylish non-spinners, own (elbow-out) style

eye on imaginary penny in middle of the hoop, intend to push imaginary penny downwards with the ball Waltham Y B-ball coach style.

A1 2/10; B1 skipped;

total 2/10

11 Stylish non-spinners, own (elbow-out) style

eye on imaginary penny in middle of the hoop, intend to push imaginary penny downwards with the ball Waltham Y B-ball coach style.

A1 skipped; B1 skipped

total 0/0

12 Stylish non-spinners, own (elbow-out) style

eye on front of rim, aim for just beyond front of rim

A1 skipped; B1 skipped;

total 0/0

13 Stylish non-spinners, own (elbow-out) style

eye on back of rim, aim for just short of back of rim

A1 1/10; B1 5/10;

total 6/20

14 Stylish non-spinners, own (elbow-out) style

eye on middle of hoop, aim for middle of hoop

A1 1/10;

total 1/10

Seems alot of the 'non-spinners' that go in actually are spinning quite a bit. To a lesser extent, it seems a fraction of the 'spinners' that go in are not spinning.

Faces in the Crowd

The guy who taught me the aim for the penny in the middle of the hoops style, is named Pat Ferdinand. Lest I forget, his email address is pferdinand@ymcaboston.org

Adidas Bracara Indoor soccer shoes with 1 layer of 'Propel Gel' padding

Spalding TF-1000 zk Microfiber Composite basketball bought 111/19/07 at

Tricon Sports

inflated to 8.0 psi

Friday Dec 14

825-950 PM

Waltham Y

2007

Conditioning

Treadmill

Weights

85 minutes

825: Treadmill 12 mph, 60 seconds

835: 25 reps, 120 + bar, machine calf raise, toes straight

840: 12 reps, prone leg curl, 80 lbs

852: 12 reps, leg press on strive machine, 110 lbs

905: 12 reps, 110 plus bar, shallow squat, on max-rack machine

923: shallow free-weights squat, 90 plus bar, 12 reps, easy.

927: Incline machine squat, 12 reps, 180 lbs plus bar, easy.

934: treadmill 12 mph 53 seconds

942: 25 reps, 120 + bar, machine calf raise, toes out

945: 12 reps, prone leg curl, 80 lbs

950: 25 reps, 120 + bar, machine calf raise

Treadmill input data: 165 lbs body weight, 0 incline.

Adidas Bracara Indoor soccer shoes with 1 layer of 'Propel Gel' padding

Sunday December 16

608-750 PM

Waltham Y

2007

Rebel (elbow-out)

non-spinners, & coach's good form (elbow-in) non-spinners, A1 & B1, 15 ft jump shots off the dribble and swivel

Prior to practice I had almost the usuals: tangerine juice, carrot juice, fish oil, cod liver oil, wheat germ oil, hemp oil, vit E pill; the mineral pill was replaced by an iron pill, a magnesium pill, a zinc pill, and a chromium picolinate pill. Plus 1 slice organic multi-grain 12-grain bread.

Today was a non-c, non-cg day. No melatonin was consumed in the 24 hours prior to practice.

I felt distracted since a usually talkative person had not returned my phone call I felt unsure if he was alive or dead.

1 Stylish spinners, own (elbow-out) style

eye on front of rim, aim for just beyond front of rim

A1 4/10; B1 0/10;

total 4/20

2 Stylish spinners, own (elbow-out) style

eye on imaginary penny in middle of the hoop, intend to push imaginary penny downwards with the ball Waltham Y B-ball coach style.

A1 3/10; B1 4/10;

total 7/20

3 Stylish spinners, own (elbow-out) style

eye on imaginary penny in middle of the hoop, intend to push imaginary penny downwards with the ball Waltham Y B-ball coach style.

A1 1/10; B1 3/10;

total 4/20

4 Stylish spinners, own (elbow-out) style

eye on front of rim, aim for just beyond front of rim

A1 2/10; B1 3/10;

total 5/20

5 Stylish spinners, own (elbow-out) style

eye on back of rim, aim for just short of back of rim

A1 2/10;

AVERAGE INITIAL WARM-UP POINT

B1 1/10;

total 3/20

6 Stylish spinners, own (elbow-out) style

eye on middle of hoop, aim for middle of hoop

A1 3/10; (at this point I moved from the dark rimmed basket I shot poorly at on a previous day, where today there was a father teaching his son basketball, to the red rimmed basket where I was alone).

B1 2/10

total 5/20

(Apparently warmed-up at this point)

7 Stylish spinners, own (elbow-out) style

eye on middle of hoop, aim for middle of hoop

A1 5/10; B1 2/10

total 7/20

8 Stylish spinners, own (elbow-out) style

eye on back of rim, aim for just short of back of rim

A1 5/10; B1 0/10;

total 5/20

Coach's Good Form (elbow-in) spinners:

1 Coach's Good Form (elbow-in) spinners

eye on imaginary penny in middle of the hoop, intend to push imaginary penny downwards with the ball Waltham Y B-ball coach style.

A1 2/10;

AVERAGE SECONDARY WARM-UP POINT

B1 3/10;

total 5/20

(Apparently warmed-up with re rebel elbow-out spinners at this point)

2 Coach's Good Form (elbow-in) spinners

eye on imaginary penny in middle of the hoop, intend to push imaginary penny downwards with the ball Waltham Y B-ball coach style.

B1 6/10; A1 1/10; (B1 went first by mistake)

total 7/20

Adidas Bracara Indoor soccer shoes with 1 layer of 'Propel Gel' padding

Spalding TF-1000 zk Microfiber Composite basketball bought 111/19/07 at

Tricon Sports

inflated to 8.0 psi

Monday Dec 17

817-950 PM

Waltham Y

2007

Conditioning

Treadmill, weights

93 minutes

817 12 mph for 70 seconds on treadmill

826 prone leg curl, size L, 80 lbs, 12 reps

831 machine calf raise, toes straight, bar plus 120, 25 reps

836 machine leg press on strive machine, back-4, leg-2, 110 lbs, 12 reps

843 machine shallow squat, 110 lbs plus bar, 12 reps

852 machine incline squats, 200 lbs plus bar, 12 reps, easy.

857 machine incline squats, 230 lbs plus bar, 12 reps, easy.

901 machine incline squats, 280 lbs plus bar, 12 reps, easy.

912 free shallow squats, 110 lbs plus bar, 12 reps, hard enough

922 12 mph for 60 seconds on treadmill

931 machine calf raise, toes out, bar plus 120, 25 reps

935 prone leg curl, size L, 80 lbs, 12 reps

940 machine leg press on 'strive' machine, back-4, legs-2, 110 lbs, 12 reps, easy.

945 machine incline squats, 360 lbs plus bar, 12 reps, easy.

950 free shallow squats, 110 lbs plus bar, 12 reps.

Adidas Bracara Indoor soccer shoes with 1 layer of 'Propel Gel' padding

Wednesday Dec 20

2007

ANALYSIS OF DATA FROM DEC 1 TO DEC 16.

CONCLUSION: CEASE PRACTICING SHOTS FROM 15 FEET OUT OR FURTHER IN WHICH THERE IS NO DELIBERATE

CONCLUSION BASED ON DEC 1 TO 16 DATA: DISPENSE WITH PRACTICING SHOTS FROM 15 FEET OUT OR GREATER IN WHICH THERE IS NO DELIBERATE ATTEMPT TO SPIN THE BALL

First I tried to figure out, what is the average number of shots I have to take before I am warmed up. I found that the initial warm-up point, the point at which my shooting significantly improved was as follows (number of shots taken before significant improvement):

Inititial warm up point
nov 29 200 shots
dec 5 80 shots
dec 8 120 shots
dec 10 60 shots
dec 12 80 shots
dec 16 120 shots
Thus the average not counting the weird nov 29 day which was my first day doing just 15 footers was: 460/5 = 92 shots.

Then there was the question of how many shots I had to take to get used to a new general method, when I switched from one general method to another method, after I warmed up. This has to do with situations such as switching from the coach's good form (elbow-in) spinners (shots taken with deliberate attempt to backspin the ball) to the rebel (elbow-out as I have always naturally shot) non-spinner. I found that this secondary warm-up point, the point at which my shooting significantly improved after switching general method, was as follows (number of shots taken before significant improvement):

Shift of general method warm-up point
nov 29 80 shots
dec 5 10 shots
dec 8 10 shots
dec 12 10 shots
dec 16 20 shots
Average not counting weird nov 29 day: 50/4=12.5.

Thus I conclude that the average initial warmed-up point is after 90 shots; and the average secondary warmed-up point (after a shift in the general method) is after 10 shots.

Thus I computed the scores in terms of goals/attempts, for shots that occurred after the initial 90 shot warm up point, and in the case of a switch of general method after reaching the initial warmup point, for shots that were taken after the first 10 shots were taken after the change of method:

Scores after inititial and secondary warm up points
dec 1 rebel (elbow-out) nonspinners (no deliberate attempt to spin the ball)
42/140
dec 3 rebel spinners (deliberate attempt to spin the ball)
19/90
dec 5 coach's (elbow-in as taught by coaches) nonspinners
12/30
dec 5 coach's spinners
52/130
dec 8 rebel nonspinners
29/70
dec 8 rebel spinners
74/150
dec 10 coach's spinners
25/70
dec 12 coach's nonspinners
26/70
dec 12 rebel nonspinners
14/50
dec 16 rebel spinners
18/70
dec 16 coach's spinners
3/10

Then I computed the scores from shots taken prior to the initial warm-up point which is reached after 90 shots have been taken, and in the case of a second general method introduced in a practice, the scores from the first 10 shots taken with the change of general method:

Scores before initial and secondary warm-up points
dec 1 rebel nonspinners
25/90
dec 3 rebel spinners
14/90
dec 5 coach's nonspinners
17/90
dec 5 coach's spinners
2/10
dec 8 rebel nonspinners
20/90
dec 8 rebel spinners
4/10
dec 10 coach's spinners
31/90
dec 12 coach's nonspinners
20/90
dec 12 rebel nonspinners
0/10
dec 16 rebel spinners
23/90
dec 16 coach's spinners
2/10

Thus the data showed the following result:

Shots taken after initial/secondary warmup total dec 1-16:

rebel nonspinners: 42/140, 29/70, 14/50, total 85/260 32.7%

rebel spinners: 19/90. 74/150, 18/70 111/310 35.5%

coachs nonspinners: 12/30, 26/70, 38/100 38.0%

coach's spinners: 52/130, 25/70, 3/10 80/210 38.1%

spinners % avg 36.8%; goals/attempts total 191/520 36.7%;

nonspinners % avg 35.35%; goals/attempts total 121/360 33.6%

Shots taken prior to initial/secondary warmup

rebel nonspinners: 25/90, 20/90, 0/10 45/190 23.7%

rebel spinners: 14/90, 4/10, 23/90 41/190 21.6%

coacbs nonspinners: 17/90, 20/90, 37/180 20.6%

coachs spinners: 2/10, 31/90, 2/10 35/110 31.8%

spinners % avg 26.7%; goals/attempts total 76/300 25.3%

nonspinners % avg 22.15%; goals/attempts total 85/370 23.0%

Totals counting shots taken both before and after warm-up points:

rebel nonspinners: 130/450 28.9%

rebel spinners: 152/500 30.4%

coachs nonspinners: 75/280 26.8%

coach's spinners: 115/320 35.9%

spinners % avg 33.15%; goals/attempts total 267/820 32.6%

nonspinners % avg 27.85%; goals/attempts total 205/730 28.1%

Analysis of Data

In totality, the spinners clearly excel the nonspinners; the average percentage of the spinners is 19% to 16% higher than the nonspinners depending on how you average things out.

Prior to initial/secondary warmup, again the spinners clearly excel the nonspinners, the pre-warmup percentage for spinners being 21% to 10% higher than the pre-warmup percentage for nonspinners depending on your statistical method.

And after initital/secondary warmup, the spinners are 4% to 9% better than the non-spinners depending on how you average things out.

In addition I have to take into account that a large number of the so-called non-spinners, balls shot without intention to spin, that score, are balls that end up spinning significantly on their way in to the hoop; compared to this a smaller percentage of the spinners, balls shot with deliberate intent to spin, that go in, fail to spin significantly on their way in to the hoop.

I have to take into account that:

1 although things are pretty even once warmed up between spinners and non-spinners, overall counting warmup and prewarmed up states of shooting, the spinners clearly excel the non-spinners;

2 often in games one must shoot without having had a chance to shoot lots of shots one after the other from the exact point one will be shooting from in the game;

3 in games one ends up facing a situation that is like a non-warmed up situation because shots are taken after sitting on the bench or after being in the game and not shooting;

4 the coach's spinner, which is a spinning shot, is the clear leader for the not-yet-warmed up state of shooting;

5 the coach's spinner, which is a spinning shot, leads in total score, pre-warmed up score, and warmed-up score;

6 the best performance of all was produced Dec 8 using the rebel (elbow-out) spinner;

7 very tall men can sort of line drive the ball with little spin into the hoop but I am not very tall and the backspin comes naturally for arched shots;

8 and, when I last took a serious interest in basketball more than ten years ago (I returned to a serious interest in basketball Nov 2007 after not playing basketball at all for more than 10 years), I was able to shoot a phenomenal 40% from 24 feet, pro-distance 3-pointers, using this shot in which I would shoot on the run, right after dribbling on the run to the shooting point.

Thus even though the non-spinners are fairly close to the spinners after I have had a chance to shoot lots of warm-up shots from the exact same point that I will be shooting the scored shots from, I must conclude at this point that the non-spinners should be dispensed with.

However at this point I am not prepared to conclude that deliberate backspin is the best solution for close-in, driving shots.

Wednesday

December 19

740-950 PM

Waltham YMCA

2007

Rebel (elbow-out)

non-spinners, & coach's good form (elbow-in) non-spinners, A1 & B1, 15 ft jump shots off the dribble and swivel

Prior to practice I had almost the usuals: 'Noble' tangerine juice, 'Bolthouse' carrot/passion-fruit/apple juice, 'Spectrum' fish oil, 'Twinlab' cod liver oil; 'Spectrum' wheat germ oil, 'Nature's Way' hemp oil, 'Whole Foods' vit E pill; 5 'Country Life' 'Total Mins' mineral pills, 'Whole Foods' potassium pill, 'Whole Foods' B Daily Essentials Vit B pill, 2 slices multi-grain bread; 2 cups double-strength Organic Lipton tea (1 green tea teabag, 1 brown tea teabag in each cup) w cane sugar and non dairy creamer

Today was a non-c, non-cg day. No melatonin was consumed in the 24 hours prior to practice. No sleeping pills. 1 liter Masson white zinfandel in 24 hours prior to practice

Still I felt distracted as I felt unsure if this guy I know is alive or dead.

1 Coach's Good Form Spinners, eye on empty area in middle of hoop, intend to put ball in middle of hoop

A1 4/10; B1 3/10;

total 7/20

2 Coach's Good Form Spinners, eye on front of rim, intend to put ball just beyond front of rim

A1 1/10;

B1 3/10;

total 4/20

3 Coach's Good Form (elbow in) Spinners, eye on back of rim, intend to put ball just short of back of rim

A1 1/10; B1 2/10;

total 3/20

4 Coach's Good Form (elbow in) Spinners, eye on back of rim, intend to put ball just short of back of rim

A1 1/10; B1 2/10;

total 3/20

5 Coach's Good Form Spinners, eye on front of rim, intend to put ball just beyond front of rim

A1 2/10; B1 4/10;

total 6/20

6 Coach's Good Form Spinners, eye on empty area in middle of hoop, intend to put ball in middle of hoop

A1 2/10; B1 4/10;

total 6/20

----------

7 Rebel spinners, own (elbow-out) style

eye on imaginary penny in middle of the hoop, intend to push imaginary penny downwards with the ball Waltham Y B-ball coach style.

A1 3/10; B1 1/10;

total 7/20

8 Rebel spinners, own (elbow-out) style

eye on imaginary penny in middle of the hoop, intend to push imaginary penny downwards with the ball Waltham Y B-ball coach style.

A1 4/10; B1 1/10;

total 5/20

9 Rebel spinners, own (elbow-out) style

eye on front of rim, aim for just beyond front of rim

A1 2/10; B1 6/10;

total 8/20

10 Rebel spinners, own (elbow-out) style

eye on back of rim, aim for just short of back of rim

A1 7/10;

B1 6/10;

total 13/20

11 spinners, own (elbow-out) style

eye on middle of hoop, aim for middle of hoop

A1 5/10; B1 4/10

total 9/20

12 Stylish spinners, own (elbow-out) style

eye on middle of hoop, aim for middle of hoop

A1 2/10; B1 4/10

total 6/20

I had a hot streak from segment 9 to segment 11. I found that when the shooting is off, it is good to extend the pause at the end of the dribble before the swivel and the shot. I felt like I need to: expose myself to more daylight, more sunshine, and less alcohol; resolve the missing person issue that is bothering me.

Faces in the Crowd

Mark is this gray haired clean shaven bespectacled white man; I was alone shooting in the gym and when he walked in and started using the bowflex machine I got really hot at the shooting even hitting five in a row. After the practice I told him that usually people being around seems to bring down my shooting but that my shooting got real hot when he came in. He told me that I looked to him like a 'real Bob Cousy'. For some reason he always calls me (but not everybody) 'sir', sort of slurring the first consonant in 'sir', the way this yellow haired good looking woman did when she came on to me in the gym at the Cambridge Y about 20 years ago (when she came on to me I was too shocked to find her, then I made a half hearted attempt with a letter to the Cambridge Y to find her, then I gave up on chasing her).

Adidas Bracara Indoor soccer shoes with 1 layer of 'Propel Gel' padding

Spalding TF-1000 zk Microfiber Composite basketball bought 111/19/07 at

Tricon Sports

inflated to 8.0 psi

Wednesday

July 2

2008

Waltham Y Gym

805-950 PM

105 minutes

Experiments with shooting with eyes closed from 24 feet

Before practice I consumed:

1.5 cups coffee mixed with tea and organic non-dairy creamer and Stevia sweetener;

Passion/apple/carrot juice + tangerine juice + wheat germ oil + hemp oil

Mineral and vitamin pills: vitamin B, D, E,& C pills, mineral pill, calcium pill, potassium pills

I left out the stuff that flavor-wise does not mix well into the juice, that is brewer's yeast and raw cacao powder, so these two things were not consumed prior to this practice. The practice was stellar, leading me to suspect that there might be some wisdom in following the dictates of one's taste buds after all.

Out of bed only 4 hours prior to start of practice, awake 6 hours prior to start of practice, still a stellar practice.

Today (basketball) I shot all my shots with my eyes closed 24 feet from the basket, experimenting in 4 different segments with 4 different ways of shooting; in one segment I shot 19/42, 45%; overall for the day I was 50/149, 34%, with no shots uncounted as warmup shots

Practice was like the previous basketball practice, with the order in which the various styles were used reversed. On every shot, I (a left handed shooter) sighted the basket, then closed my eyes, then stepped back with my left foot, then stepped up with my left foot bringing it approximately even with my right foot, then shot, and then after the ball left my hand opened my eyes. Thus my eyes were closed for about 2-3 seconds during each shot. The purpose of this was to train the non-visual aspects of the mind and the body, and to allow myself to be able to relax and enjoy a practice. Today I shot only from 24 feet.

Today sometimes I shot with the palm of the shooting hand on the ball during the shot which is my natural shooting style; some players shoot like this but coaches recommend that the palm of the shooting hand should not be touching the ball during the shot and that the ball should be shot with the fingertips. And sometimes I shot with the fingertips of the shooting hand on the ball and the palm of the shooting hand not touching the ball.

Today sometimes I shot with the elbow of the shooting hand pointing out to the side, and sometimes I shot with the elbow in and pointing forwards. The elbow of the shooting hand pointing out to the side is my natural style, but coaches recommend that the elbow point forward in the direction of the basket.

I have less experience shooting with my fingertips that I do shooting with the palm of my hand. I have shot with elbow pointed towards the basket for only a few hours in my life, most of my life I have shot with the elbow pointed out towards the side. I have shot using the fingertips and not the palm of the hand for only a few hours in my life.

Most of my life from boyhood on, I have shot with the elbow pointing out towards the side and the palm of the shooting hand on the ball.

There were no warmup shots prior to the first scored segment.

There was no special emphasis on follow-through today. The only mind game I used was to on every shot concentrate on the target and concentrate on getting my guide hand off the ball prior to the shot.

Segment 1 805-830 PM, 24' foot shots, 'M2' style, ball shot with fingertips (style favored by coaches), elbow out (rebellion vs coaches) during shot: 9/38, 24% (progression of baskets-made/attempts: 1/1, 2/7, 3/8, 4/19, 5/22, 6/28, 7/30, 8/31, 9/34, 9/38). Shared the basket with Ahi during this segment.

Segment 2 830-855 PM, 24' foot shots, 'M1' style, ball shot with palm of hand, elbow out as in rebellion vs coaches on both aspects during shot: 19/42, 45% (progression of baskets-made/attempts: 1/1, 2/2, 3/5, 4/6, 5/13, 6/15, 7/16, 8/21, 9/23, 10/24, 11/25, 12/26, 13/27, 14/30, 15/31, 16/39, 17/40, 18/41, 19/42). A few were in and out. Crouching lower than usual prior to coming up for the shot seemed to improve accuracy. I should devote a practice session to increasing the level of crouch prior to the shot.

Segment 3 855-925 PM, 24' foot shots, 'M4' style, ball shot with fingertips (style favored by coaches), elbow in pointing forwards (style favored by coaches) during shot: 10/37, 27%, (progression of baskets-made/attempts: 1/1, 2/8, 3/10, 4/15, 5/19, 6/22, 7/25, 8/34, 9/35, 10/37). Several were in and out.

Segment 4 925-950 PM, 24' foot shots, 'M3' style, ball shot with palm of shooting hand on ball (coaches advise against this), elbow in as coaches advise during shot: 12/32, 38% (progression of baskets-made/attempts: 1/1, 2/4, 3/5, 4/8, 5/10, 6/13, 7/14, 8/16, 9/19, 10/22, 11/28, 12/31, 12/32).

Today the overall percentage was equal to my overall percentage on 5/23/08 the one day when I shot with my eyes open. Today I set a personal record of 34% for overall percentage with the eyes closed shooting from 24 feet; my previous personal record for this was 28% on 6/?/08. In the second segment today using the completely rebellious elbow out, palm on ball style I set a new personal record for highest percentage in a segment from 24 feet at 45%, the previous personal record for this was 40% on 6/29/08.

When I have had a chance to shoot from 27 feet after shooting from 24 feet, the performance from 27 feet has surprisingly been better than the performance from 24 feet; I estimate this is because the 27 foot shooting comes after the 24 foot shooting has given me a chance to get very warmed up and well-practiced. The overall 34% performance today was better than my personal record for overall performance from 27 feet of 27% on 5/29/08; the best segment today at 45% from 24 feet, excelled the best segment ever from 27 feet which was 41% on 5/29/08.

I realize that there are days on which I shoot well and days on which I shoot poorly which complicates attempts to judge rate of improvement. Today July 2 I shot well at 34%; the basketball practice previous to today (June 28) I did not shoot well, I shot 22%; the average of today and the previous practice combined was 28%. The average of the first day shooting blind from 24' (May 26) and the second day shooting blind (May 29) from 24' was 23%. Looking at the point in between the May 26 practice and the May 29 practice, and the point in between the June 28 practice and today's July 2 practice, there were five practices in between these two points: May 29, June 1, June ?, June ?, and June 28.

Thus I could reasonably say that I improved from 23% to 28% over 5 basketball practice days. If the percentage continues to rise like this by 5 points every 5 practice days, I can expect to be at 33% in 5 days, 38% in 10 practice days, 43% in 15 practice days, 53% in 25 practice days, 63% in 35 practice days, 73% in 45 practice days, 83% in 55 practice days, and 93% 65 practice days from now. Meaning that according to this method of projection, practicing basketball every 3 days, in 195 days, about 6.5 months, I will be shooting 93% from 24 feet with my eyes closed.

Another way of looking at the projected rate of progression is that when my percentage rose from 23% to 28% over five practice days the percentage rose by 22% because 28 minus 23 equals 5, and 5 divided by 23 = 0.217 which rounds off to 0.22. From this way of looking at it, my percentage will in five more practice days be 1.22 x 28=34%; 10 practice days from now it will be 1.22 x 34=41%; 15 practice days from now it will be 50%; 25 practice days from now it will be 74%; 30 practice days from now it will be 90%. Meaning that practicing basketball every 3 days, according to this second different method of projection, in 90 days or 3 months I will be able to shoot 90% from 24 feet with my eyes closed.

Averaging the conclusions reached by the above two methods of projection, I will be shooting at 91% from 24 feet with my eyes closed, in 143 days, about 4.7 months from now. Additionally I would be negligent to fail to factor in the fact that when I settle on one of the shooting methods I am using as the preferred method, my rate of improvement will most probably accelerate.

I know there are important people who think I should focus on soccer alone. However my rate of progress in shooting 24 foot basketball shots with my eyes closed (eyes closed from the point before I do the preparatory footwork involved in the shot to the point after I release the ball) tells me that I should continue with practicing basketball every three days. It could be that the cross-training mix of basketball, baseball pitching and soccer improves soccer in ways that would not be achieved if I practiced soccer alone. I realize that my weaknesses in basketball are my vertical jump and conditioning; but the latest reports from the world of sports science give me reason to hope that I can get my vertical jump and my conditioning up to a level that is acceptable for high-level basketball. In between taking shots when I practice basketball I have been practicing dribbling the ball with my right hand (I am left footed); I have been pleased with my progress practicing dribbling side to side and forward and backwards with my right hand.

Basketball Shooting Stats

Starting May 23 '08

Key: M1=palm of shooting hand on ball during shot, elbow of shooting arm out pointing to side during shot: M2= palm of shooting hand off ball during shot, ball shot with fingertips, elbow of shooting arm out pointing to side during shot; M3=palm of shooting hand on ball during shot, elbow of shooting arm in pointing forwards during shot; M4=palm of shooting hand off ball during shot, ball shot with fingertips, elbow of shooting arm in pointing forwards during shot; OR1=the segment was the first segment done during the practice, OR2=the segment was second segment done during the practice, OR3=the segment was the third segment done during the practice, and etc; ELU=elbow position unspecified; 24'=ball shot from 24 feet, 27'=ball shot from 27 feet etc; 24' total = total score from 24 feet, 27' total = total score from 27 feet; grand total = total score from all distances. Blind=before starting the footwork done prior to the shot I closed my eyes, and then opened my eyes after the ball was released. Percentage figures in parentheses are the average of the percent scores for various methods, as opposed to the total of made/attempts (this could be important because with my method of scoring, in a given segment, when more shots are going in there are less attempts).

Date

24'

to-

tal

27'

to-

tal

30'

total

grand

total

5/23

/08

eyes open

during shot

9/31

29%

or1

elu

12/34

35%

or3

elu

10/27

37%

or5

elu

total

31/92

34%

(34%)

7/29

24%

or2

elu

14/30

47%

or4

elu

10/27

or6

37%

elu

total

31/86

36%

(36%)

62/

180

34%

(35%)

elu

62/

180

34%

(35%)

elu

5/26

/08

blind

6/41

15%

or1

9/32

28%

or2

6/39

15%

or3

8/35

23%

or4

29/

147

20%

(20%)

5/29

17%

or5

5/27

19%

or6

5/23

22%

or7

7/23

30%

or8

22/

102

22%

(22%)

51/

249

21%

(21%)

5/29/

blind

15/

37%

or4

16%

or3

20%

or2

12/

29%

or1

42/

166

25%

(25.5%)

12/

33%

25%

or7

15/

41%

or6

10%

or5

40/

149

27%

(27%)

82/

315

26%

(26%)

6/1/

blind

emphasis

follow-through

8/48

17%

or1

10/45

22%

or2

12/

26%

or3

17/

40%

or4

/182

26%

(26%)

47/

182

26%

(26%)

6/?/

blind

no emphasis

on follow- through

23%

or4

31%

or3

12/

31%

or2

16%

or1

36/

145

25%

(25%)

36/

145

25%

(25%)

6/?/

blind

no emphasis

on follow- through

13/

39%

or2

23%

or1

24%

or4

10/

27%

or3

41/

148

28%

(28%)

41/

148

28%

(28%)

6/28

blind

emphasis

on follow- through

22%

or3

23%

or4

24%

or1

18%

or2

28/

130

22%

(22%)

28/

130

22%

(22%)

7/2

blind

emphasis

on follow- through

19/42

45%

or2

9/38

24%

or1

12/32

38%

or4

10/37

27%

or3

50/

149

34%

(34%)

50/

149

34%

(34%)

Adidas Bracara Indoors Shoes with 1 layer Propel Gel Padding;

Spalding TF-1000 Microfiber Composite Basketball, inflated to 8.0 psi as usual

Friday

July 11

Waltham Y Gym

920-933 AM; 430-655 PM

158 minutes

Experiments with shooting with eyes closed from 24 feet

Before the 13 minutes of practice in the morning I consumed: just one cup double strength brown tea with cane sugar and organic half n half. I had been awake for 15 hours when I started the aborted morning segment.

Before the afternoon/evening part of the practice I had a cup of coffee from the Tiger-mart Exxon on Main St., with organic half n half and white sugar. During the practice I drank purified 'drinking' water not the Electrolyte water.

When I started the afternoon/evening practice I had been awake for 26 hours.

I might be wrong but the 'electrolyte' water seems to taste weird if you drink some, then a day later drink from the same bottle again.

Today (basketball) I shot all my shots with my eyes closed 24 feet from the basket, experimenting in 6 different segments with 6 different ways of shooting

first I shot 34% using the four methods I have been experimenting with since May 26, then I shot with two new methods not experimented with before. No shots were uncounted as warmup shots.

Note: Up till now I have described styles of shooting I have been experimenting with as 'shooting with the palm of the hand'. Actually this style of shooting involves the palm of the hand only at the beginning of the shot and the area from the finger-pads at the top of the palm to the fingertips used during the final phase of the shot.

Practice was like the previous basketball practice, with the order in which the various styles were used reversed. On every shot, I (a left handed shooter) sighted the basket, then closed my eyes, then stepped back with my left foot, then stepped up with my left foot bringing it approximately even with my right foot, then shot, and then after the ball left my hand opened my eyes. Thus my eyes were closed for about 2-3 seconds during each shot. The purpose of this was to train the non-visual aspects of the mind and the body, and to allow myself to be able to relax and enjoy a practice. Today I shot only from 24 feet.

Today sometimes I shot with the palm of the shooting hand on the ball at the beginning of the shot which is my natural shooting style. When I shoot like this, at the beginning of the shot the ball rests in the palm of the hand, but then before the ball is released the ball rolls up to the area from the finger-pads on the upper part of the palms of the hand to the fingertips. Coaches are emphatic that the ball should not be shot with the palm of the hand, but when I shoot with the palm of the hand on the ball at the beginning of the shot, in the final analysis I shoot with the the area from the pads of the fingers at the top of the palm to the fingertips which is what coaches advise.

Today sometimes I shot with only the fingertips of the shooting hand on the ball during the entire shot-process. Apparently a minority of coaches recommend this (or something very similar) as the proper shooting form; but a theory is that using the fingertips only is a heresy that developed due to a misunderstanding of what coaches have meant when they have talked about not using the palm of the hand during the shot. I suspect a source of misunderstanding could be that when the ball is shot as the majority of the coaching world says it should be, it is shot with the ball resting in the area between the pads of the fingers at the upper part of the palm and the fingertips, but the last part of the hand to touch the ball is the fingertips which impart the final backspin to the ball.

Today for the first time since I returned to basketball on May 23, sometimes I shot with only the area between the fingertips and the pads of the fingers on the upper part of the palm touching the ball during the entire shooting process. Best I can tell, looking at how emphatic the coaching world is re not shooting with the palm, this is the hand-on-ball method that the coaching world favors. Whatever the case may be shooting in this manner assures that I will basically be complying with what most coaches advise.

Today sometimes I shot with the elbow of the shooting hand pointing out to the side, and sometimes I shot with the elbow in and pointing forwards. The elbow of the shooting hand pointing out to the side is my natural style which I have used most of my life, but coaches recommend that the elbow point forward in the direction of the basket.

There were as usual no unscored warmup shots prior to the first scored segment or in between the segments.

Today during all the segments I emphasized crouching down lower than usual prior to beginning the shot, and eyeing the basket for longer than usual prior to starting the shot.

Segment 1 920-933 AM, 430-442 PM, 24' foot shots, 'M3' style, ball shot with palm of hand on ball at beginning of shot (seems coaches dislike this) and elbow pointing towards basket as coaches advise during shot: 10/32, 31% (progression of baskets-made/attempts: 1/6; 2/7; 3/8; 4/11; 5/13; 6/14. At this point I had to quit because of an unscheduled invasion of the gym by the Y day-campers. I returned to finish the segment from 430-442 PM: 7/21; 8/24, 9/27, 10/29, 10/32). This segment was disadvantaged due to having to go through the un-warmed up phase twice.

Segment 2 445-510 PM, 24' foot shots, 'M4' style, ball shot using fingertips only during entire shot process (some coaches advocate using only the fingertips during the shot), elbow in pointing forwards (style favored by coaches) during shot: 13/39, 33%, (progression of baskets-made/attempts: 1/4, 2/7, 3/8, 4/13, 5/18, 6/23, 7/27, 8/31, 9/33, 10/34, 11/35, 12/37, 13/39).

Segment 3 510-535 PM, 24' foot shots, 'M1' style, ball shot with palm of hand on ball during beginning of shot (coaches are emphatically against shooting with the palm of the hand), elbow out and to the side (coaches oppose this) during shot: 13/35, 37% (progression of baskets-made/attempts: 1/2, 2/4, 2/6, -headband taken off-, 3/10, 4/16, 5/17, 6/22, 7/24, 8/26, 9/29, 10/31, 11/32, 12/33, 13/35).

Segment 4 535-600 PM, 24' foot shots, 'M2' style, ball shot using fingertips only during entire shot process (some coaches advocate using only the fingertips during the shot), elbow out and to the side (coaches oppose this) during shot: 12/37, 32% (progression of baskets-made/attempts: 1/3, 2/4, 3/6, 4/7, 5/10, 6/15, 7/16, 8/20, 9/23, 10/24, 11/26, 12/32, 12/37).

Segment 5 605-630 PM, 24' foot shots, 'M5' style, ball shot with palm of shooting hand off ball during entire shot process, only area from fingerpads at top of palm to fingertips used during shot process (coaches emphatically oppose 'using the palm' during the shot, most coaches advise that the fingerpads to fingertips area should be used during the shot), elbow out pointed to side during shot (coaches say the elbow should be pointed not out to side but towards basket during shot): 9/34, 26% (progression of baskets-made/attempts: 1/7, 2/9, 3/10, 4/13, 5/14, 6/16, 7/17, 8/30, 9/31, 9/34).

Segment 6 630-655 PM, 24' foot shots, 'M6' style, ball shot with palm of shooting hand off ball during entire shot process, only area from fingerpads at top of palm to fingertips used during shot process (coaches emphatically oppose 'using the palm' during the shot, most coaches advise that the fingerpads to fingertips area should be used during the shot), elbow pointed forwards towards basket during shot (coaches say the elbow should be pointed towards basket during shot): 8/38, 21% (progression of baskets-made/attempts: 1/2, 2/17, 3/25, 4/28, 5/30, 6/31, 7/36, 8/38). I was at 3/25 but I kept my cool, shot 5/13 for the remainder of the segment.

Notes on the Practice:

On two or three shots I panicked while my eyes were closed. I was thinking to myself, a person is not supposed to be able to make shots with his eyes closed! This is fantastically difficult! But this feeling of panic only infected two or three of the 143 shots shot today.

At the beginning of the practice I began to notice that I was crouching lower than usual prior to the shot, and eyeing the basket for a longer time prior to the shot, and that this was working; I decided to continue with the extra eyeing and the extra crouch for the entire practice.

The last segment I shot using the method that as far as I can tell is closest to what is advocated by most coaches. During the entire shot process only the area from the pads at the top of the palm to the fingertips touched the ball. The segment went very badly for the first 25 shots. I was having trouble getting enough distance and arc on the shots.

As usual I mentally focused on concentrating on the target and keeping my guide hand off the ball during the shot. As usual I found that having the guide hand on the ball during the shot or losing concentration decreased the chance of the shot going in.

On some of the shots I found that my wrist moved counter clockwise during the release, like a pitcher throwing a breaking ball--and still the shot went in.

In the morning I shot for 13 minutes before being interrupted. I missed the first 5 shots and then went 6/9, 67%. During and after this aborted 67% hot streak, I strongly felt that I was about to enter into a new plateau of shooting the ball consistently at a much higher percentage than previously. While I was shooting I felt like: shooting a high percentage is normal for me now; I can do it; I've matured to the point where shooting at a high pervcentage is normal, I expect it of myself, there is no reason I should not shoot at a high percentage, it is only natural that I should be getting up to a high percentage now.

I guess that about five shots per segment were in and out, very close. I developed a positive attitude re such shots which can be very upsetting: they indicate that my accuracy is good.

The fact that many of the shots almost went in, combined with the fact that many of the shots that went in were absolutely perfect, bodes well for the future.

General Notes

Seems to me that a source of confusion regarding the proper method for shooting the ball is, that there is a difference between a part of the hand being used for a portion of the shot process and a part of the hand being used for the entire shot process and that this difference is ignored in the discussions. It is significant at what time in the shot process a part of the hand is used, and ignoring this confuses things.

So far out of eight practices shooting with my eyes closed from 24 feet: I have shot 90/311, 29%, with the palm of my hand on the ball at the beginning of the shot and the elbow pointing outwards to the side during the shot (method M1, my best method so far). I have shot 77/302, 25%, with the palm of my hand on the ball at the beginning of the shot and the elbow pointing towards the basket (method M3, my third best method so far). Today with only the fingerpads at the upper part of the palm to the fingertips touching the ball during the entire shot process, with the elbow out to the side I shot 26% and with the elbow pointed forwards towards the baskets as coaches advise I shot 21%.

It is too early to judge methods 5 and 6 but the data points to the idea that although coaches emphatically sermonize against having the palm of the hand on the ball when shooting, having the palm of the hand on the ball during the beginning of the shot may be superior to not having the palm of the hand on the ball at any time during the shot process. The data points to the idea that by ignoring the difference between having the palm of the hand on the ball at the beginning of the shot process and having the palm of the hand on the ball when the ball is released, coaches could be screwing things up.

You can find an essay I wrote re how the hand should be placed on the ball during a shot, along with quotations from and links to internet sources, at:

https://www.angelfire.com/ma/vincemoon/bballhandduringshot.htm

Then you have the question of whether the elbow should be pointing out towards the side (elbow pointing to shooter's left for left handed shooter) which is my natural heretical traditional way of shooting, or pointing forwards towards the basket, which is the method all the coaches advise. If we look at the data for just the past two practices, and ignore the first six practices, we give the coach's elbow-in method which is new to me, a six practice uncounted grace period.

In the last two practices, with the elbow heretically pointed out towards the side (methods M1 and M2) I shot 53/152 35%, and with the elbow pointed towards the basket (methods M3 and M4) I shot 45/140 32%. This indicates that the coaches may be at best wasting time by attempting to get players to shoot with their shooting elbow pointed towards the basket. It indicates that at worst the coaches could be reducing their team's scores by 9%, and impairing shooters who naturally shoot with their elbow pointed to the side, due to their emphatic obsession with the elbow being pointed towards the basket when the ball is shot.

The best shooters shoot with the ball directly above their head or slightly to the shooting hand side of the head. Try holding your hand up above your head or slightly to the side of your head (same side of your head as your upheld arm is on) with the elbow pointed forwards, then try holding your hand above your head or slightly to the side of your head with the elbow pointing to the side of the body the hand you are holding up is on. Notice how the elbow pointing out at about a 45 degree angle is natural and relaxed, whereas the elbow pointing forwards is stressful, unnatural, twisted, tense. If you shoot starting with the elbow pointed out to the side, the elbow will end up pointing towards the basket at the end of the shot anyway (which reminds me of what I earlier said in this entry about how a source of confusion is ignoring WHEN during the shot process the palm of the hand is on the ball).

The idea that the elbow should be pointed towards the basket at the beginning of the shot simply because the basket is what is being aimed at makes no sense to me. When the best pitchers throw a pitch, their elbow is not pointed at the target throughout the course of their delivery. Same for the best football quarterbacks. When the most accurate soccer players kick the ball their knee is not always pointed at the target during the course of the kick. The idea that a part of body involved in propelling an object towards a target must always be pointed at the target simply does not hold water. The human brain/body is naturally able to make the complex adjustments involved when the elbow swings from pointing out to pointing towards the target during the course of a basketball shot. Such adjustments are no more complex than the complex calculations used to get a ball into the basket with the elbow pointed towards the basket during the shot.

Most coaches (about 99% of them) appears to be emphatically wrong on yet another count, which is their vociferous insistence that the ball should be dribbled with the fingertips only. A giant problem with their idea that I have discovered, is that when you dribble the ball forwards and backwards and then forwards again like a pendulum, you simply have to use the palm of your hand or you will not succeed.

Try dribbling forwards and backwards like a pendulum as you walk or as you stand still, as I have been doing in between shots with my right hand. You will find that in order to execute this kind of forwards and backwards dribbling competently, you have to catch the ball with the palm of your hand facing forwards when the ball comes backwards, and then with the palm of your hand on the ball twist your hand so that it is facing downwards as you dribble the ball forwards. It is simply not possible, so far as I can now tell, to competently do this kind of forwards and backwards dribbling with the fingertips alone. True as you release the ball the fingertips are the last part of the hand to to touch the ball, but that does not mean the palm of the hand is never on the ball during the dribble--which again reminds me of the importance of taking into account at WHEN during the execution of a task with a ball, a part of the hand is in contact with the ball or a part of the body is pointed in some direction.

As I continue to practice I might discover things that force me to backtrack on certain ideas, but as of now I see a certain pattern emerging: almost 100% of coaches being emphatically wrong on three different counts, striking out in terms of palm contact with ball during shot; elbow direction during shot, and palm contact during dribble; with all of the error related to a failure to take into acount the importance of WHEN something is done during a ball-related process. This kind of coaching incompetence could result in wastage of time and energy and impaired performance. Relatedly, apparently the false idea that the fingertips alone should be used during a shot spread widely, because in discussions coaches etc. failed to take into account WHEN it is important to have the fingertips on the ball during a shot.

You can find an up to date table showing my basketball shooting stats since I re-entered the world of basketball on May 23 '08 at:

https://www.angelfire.com/ma/vincemoon/dvhobbsshootingstats.htm

Prognosis for the Future:

Averaging the percentage on the first day of practice and the percentage on the second day of practice you get 23%. Averaging the percentage on the 7th day of practice and the percentage on the 8th day of practice (today) you get 34%. Thus you could save I have gone up from 23% to 34% in just six practice days. Projecting this current rate of improvement into the future using a pessimistic method, I will be shooting 90% from 24 feet, with my eyes closed, in 30 days. Projecting using an optimistic method, I will be shooting approx 90% in 15 days. Averaging the optimistic and the pessimistic, the projection now is that continuing at the current rate of improvement, I will be shooting 90% from 24' with my eyes closed after just 22 more practice days. You can see my earlier projection and a detailed analysis of projection methods in the July 2 entry at:

www.angelfire.com/ma/vincemoon/soccairtwelve.htm .

Note from Dreamland:

I had a couple of dreams about basketball in the past week that I think I can share without being guilty of betraying important secrets.

In one dream I had made the Chicago Bulls basketball team. An overweight white black-haired boy of about twelve years old was watching me practice. He was shaking his head from side to side as he watched me. He was shaking his head because he considered me to be superior to Rondo of the Celtics. In another segment of the dream I was discussing my success in basketball. I waved around my hands, which were larger than my hands are in real life as I talked. I was saying that activities such as rebounding in basketball are not based on vertical movement alone, they are based also on horizontal movement (without first building up speed I take at least 11 foot long paces while air-dribbling the soccer ball).

In another dream the Boston Red Sox were looking at video of my practicing free-throws. They saw video when I was not good at free throws and also video taken after I improved; and they looked at a blog of some kind on the internet that had my comments re the process of improving my free throw shot. Somehow they found this study of me improving my free throw shooting applicable to baseball.

Note re Gym Schedule

Re the day campers who were not scheduled to enter the gym but took it over anyway, one of their leaders said that they use the gym from 9 AM - 4 PM M-F. Another Y-staffer had told me differently, she said that they use it when it is raining. Yet another Y'staffer told me they use half the gym 9-4 M-F. Getting so many different stories reminded me of customer service at certain corporations. One of the told me to contact Patrick Ferdinand at extension 106 and that he would have the definitive word on the situtation.

Adidas Bracara Indoors Shoes with 1 layer Propel Gel Padding;

Spalding TF-1000 Microfiber Composite Basketball, inflated to 8.0 psi as usual

Wednesday

July 16

2008

Waltham Y Gym

445-600 PM;

815-930 PM

150 minutes

Experiments with shooting with eyes closed from 24 feet

cup coffee 1000 AM; pieces of steak, vegetarian stuff from salad bars at whole foods 2-3 PM; tea 400 PM; springwater during first segment, Glaeau 'energy vitaminwater' during 2nd segment

Had been awake 8 hours when first session started, 12 hours when second session started.

Today (basketball) I shot all my shots with my eyes closed 24 feet from the basket, experimenting in 6 different segments with 6 different ways of shooting

Shot only 23% in total; much worse than 34% of previous two basketball days; M4 segment was only 13%; M3 segment only 19%.

Repeated text in small font:

Note: Up until recently I have described styles of shooting I have been experimenting with as 'shooting with the palm of the hand'. Actually this style of shooting involves the palm of the hand only at the beginning of the shot and the area from the finger-pads at the top of the palm to the fingertips used during the final phase of the shot.

Practice was like the previous basketball practice, with the order in which the various styles were used generally reversed. On every shot, I (a left handed shooter) sighted the basket, then closed my eyes, then stepped back with my left foot, then stepped up with my left foot bringing it approximately even with my right foot, then shot, and then after the ball left my hand opened my eyes. Thus my eyes were closed for about 2-3 seconds during each shot. The purpose of this was to train the non-visual aspects of the mind and the body, and to allow myself to be able to relax and enjoy a practice. Today I shot only from 24 feet.

There were as usual no unscored warmup shots prior to the first scored segment or in between the segments.

Today especially at the beginning, I did not emphasize as much as in the previous segment, crouching down lower than usual prior to beginning the shot, and eyeing the basket for longer than usual prior to starting the shot.

Segment 1 445-510 PM, 24' foot shots, 'M2' style, ball shot using fingertips only during entire shot process (some coaches advocate using only the fingertips during the shot), elbow out and to the side (coaches oppose this) during shot: 9/36, 25% (progression of baskets-made/attempts: 1/1, 2/13, 3/16, 4/18, 5/25, 6/27, 7/29, 8/32, 9/34, 9/36). 5 shots very close, 'in and out'.

Segment 2 510-535 PM, 24' foot shots, 'M1' style, ball shot with palm of hand on ball during beginning of shot (coaches are emphatically against shooting with the palm of the hand), elbow out and to the side (coaches oppose this) during shot: 8/32, 25% (progression of baskets-made/attempts: 1/1, 2/2, 3/3, 4/8, 5/17, 6/19, 7/28, 8/30, 8/32). 2 shots very close, in/out.

Segment 3 535-600 PM, 24' foot shots, 'M4' style, ball shot using fingertips only during entire shot process (some coaches advocate using only the fingertips during the shot), elbow in pointing forwards (style favored by coaches) during shot: 4/32, 13%, (progression of baskets-made/attempts: 1/12, 2/15, 3/27, 4/29, 4/32). 4 shots very close, in/out. Panic produced by the poor shooting led to me forgetting basics such as getting the guide hand off the ball and concentrating. Seemed failing to get the guide hand off the ball c an be due to to fatigue, as the guide hand becomes more relied upon during the shot process.

Segment 4 815-840 PM, 24' foot shots, 'M3' style, ball shot with palm of hand on ball at beginning of shot (seems coaches dislike this) and elbow pointing towards basket as coaches advise during shot: 7/37, 19% (progression of baskets-made/attempts: 1/10, 2/12, 3/19, 4/20, 5/21, 6/35, 7/36, 7/37). 3 shots 'in/out', very close. This segment disadvantaged due to having to start out cold after stopping shooting for 135 minutes. Many of the shorts were 'short', lacking distance, a sign of fatigue. At this point I began to realize that getting the footwork right before the shot, improved accuracy.

Segment 5 840-905 PM, 24' foot shots, 'M6' style, ball shot with palm of shooting hand off ball during entire shot process, only area from fingerpads at top of palm to fingertips used during shot process (coaches emphatically oppose 'using the palm' during the shot, most coaches advise that the fingerpads to fingertips area should be used during the shot), elbow pointed forwards towards basket during shot (coaches say the elbow should be pointed towards basket during shot): 10/39, 26% (progression of baskets-made/attempts: 1/1, 2/2, 3/4, 4/6, 5/13, 6/14, 7/19, 8/21, 9/31, 10/34, 10/39). 4 'in/out', very close. Several shot were short, lacking distance. Avoiding the feet being too far apart prior to the shot improved accuracy.

Segment 6 905-930 PM, 24' foot shots, 'M5' style, ball shot with palm of shooting hand off ball during entire shot process, only area from fingerpads at top of palm to fingertips used during shot process (coaches emphatically oppose 'using the palm' during the shot, most coaches advise that the fingerpads to fingertips area should be used during the shot), elbow out pointed to side during shot (coaches say the elbow should be pointed not out to side but towards basket during shot): 11/37, 30% (progression of baskets-made/attempts: 1/3, 2/7, 3/8, 4/16, 5/26, 6/27, 7/28, 8/30, 9/33, 10/35, 11/37). 4 shots very close, 'in/out types.

Notes on the Practice:

Overall today (a day of fatigue) I shot 19% with the shooting elbow in as coaches advise, and 27% with the shooting elbow out which coaches oppose. I shot 19% using the fingertips alone (some coaches advise this), 22% with the palm on the ball at the beginning of the shot, and 28% using only the area from the fingerpads at the top of the palm to the fingertips during the shot (most coaches advise this). The best shooting of the day was done with the fingerpads to the fingertips as coaches advise combined with the elbow out sideways which coaches do not like.

The shooting was much worse, overall 23%, than the previous two basketball sessions which both featured overall 34% shooting. 22 shots were very close, almost went in but did not, seemed like today I was at least slightly off enough to throw off the very close ones. If all of these 22 close ones had gone in the percentage overall would have been 33%; but when I shoot 34% there are also shots that almost go in but do not go in. If half the close ones had gone in the percentage would have been 28% which still would have left a degeneration to be accounted for.

There are several possible suspects re the degeneration: I had been awake 8 hours when I started the first session and 11 hours when I started the second; before I started the first session I heard a sports radio guy who I had respected mutter between the lines, 'that's right...we're gay'; and then later I heard him and his cohorts howling with this depraved sounding loud laughter; Sasanka, who never does what I say no matter how many times he is told, left yet another message (nothing significant said) on my answering machine before the first segment started although he has repeatedly been told (by me) to stop hounding me; I gobbled up an unusually large amount of food 2-3 hours before starting the first segment; I had only spring water to drink and not the Glaceau brand 'vitaminwater' containing cane sugar and caffeine during the first session (I fear I am getting addicted to the cane-sugar and caffeine containing 'vitaminwater'); I was unusually tired due to having spent 342 minutes on soccer on Monday and due to having for the first time pitched with max speed on Tuesday; pitching with max speed the day before, Tuesday, could have done something to my arm.

What annoys me about the gay movement is that I see the schools of thought that preach against engaging in homosexual conduct as being like schools of tennis that teach a certain style of tennis; and I find the gay movement to be intolerant, sort of like some kind of tennis police running around shutting down schools of tennis that teach a style of tennis that they do not approve of.

When I get a chance I would like to take a look at what I did on the days before I shot well during a basketball session, compare this to what I did on the days before I shot poorly during a baskethall session. Friday July 11 I shot 34%; this was preceded by a baseball day, then two days of rest, then the 34% basketball. Wednesday July 2 I shot 34%, this was preceded by a soccer day, a day of rest, then the baseball, and then the 34% basketball session. Wednesday July 16 I shot 23% this was preceded by a day of rest, then a day with 342 minutes of soccer, then a day featuring the baselball being thrown at max speed for the first time. Looks like general fatigue and arm fatigue were the primary culprits with regards to today's degenerate performance.

For now my plan is to change my cycle from a soccer day followed by a baseball day to a basketball day, to a soccer day followed by a basketball day followed by a baseball day; this will put the basketball before the baseball instead of vice-versa.

In between the two sessions I took the preliminary steps to block Sasanka from being able to call me on the phone. After I did this I found that getting angry at Sasanka while practicing, which impairs performance, no longer occurred. I figure it is better to block him from calling and not be angry at him, as opposed to not blocking him from calling combined with my practices being disrupted by feelings of anger.

I think I learned today that when things go bad it is important to remember to implement basics such as mental concentration on the target, and keeping the guide hand off the ball.

Coaches apparently tend to emphasize having the feet spread apart for the sake of balance during the shot. But I think I learned something new today which is that my accuracy is impaired if my feet are too far apart when I shoot. When the two feet and the hand shooting the ball are all close to each other as in a cluster, this seems to enhance the amount of force that is delivered to the ball--thus less effort is required to propel the ball. It also appears to improve aim.

You can find a usually up-to-date table showing my basketball shooting stats since I re-entered the world of basketball on May 23 '08 at:

https://www.angelfire.com/ma/vincemoon/dvhobbsshootingstats.htm

Adidas Bracara Indoors Shoes with 1 layer Propel Gel Padding;

Spalding TF-1000 Microfiber Composite Basketball, inflated to 8.0 psi as usual

Monday

July 21

2008

Drake Playground

adjacent

to Plympton

Elem Sch, off Bacon St., Waltham

MA,

545-910 PM;

210 minutes

Experiments with shooting with eyes closed from 24 feet

large glass iced coffee bought at Exxon Tigermart consumed approx

100-200 PM;

Custom-made

Chinese style Pork stir-fry eaten approx 3 hours before practice started

juices naturally containing vitamin C and juice naturally containing vitamin A beta-carotene, plus all the oils (wheat germ, cod, hemp) plus the vitamin pills plus the mineral pills plus brewers yeast plus raw cacao powder consumed approx 3 hours before practice started.

Had been awake for approx 9 hours when practice started.

Glaeau 'energy vitaminwater' consumed during practice session.

Today (basketball) I shot all my shots with my eyes closed 24 feet from the basket, OUTDOORS in WET conditions, experimenting in 6 different segments with 6 different ways of shooting. First four segments, shot before it became dark, I shot 31% despite being outdoors on a wet day.

Repeated text in small font:

Today sometimes I shot with only the area between the fingertips and the pads of the fingers on the upper part of the palm touching the ball during the entire shooting process. Best I can tell, looking at how emphatic the coaching world is re not shooting with the palm, this is the hand-on-ball method that the coaching world favors. Whatever the case may be shooting in this manner assures that I will basically be complying with what most coaches advise.

There were as usual no unscored warmup shots prior to the first scored segment or in between the segments.

Today I emphasized shooting with style, stylistically, good form.

I started out at 400 PM in the Waltham Y gym. I took a few shots and then at 413 PM the gym was invaded by the YMCA day-camp kids because it had started raining really hard outside. I went back to the locker room and discovered that for the first time in hundreds of days, I had forgotten to put the gym lock on my locker, and I had left my apartment keys, my car keys, my wallet with my credit cards debit card and other important cards and cash, in the locker without a lock on my locker. I was thinking to myself, for the first time in hundreds of days I forget to put the lock on the locker, and then it rains real hard so that I am forced back to the locker room after 13 minutes and thus detect my error; I felt as if God had sent rain to protect me from the disastrous loss of my keys and my wallet. I looked at the locker room and noticed the sign that has been on the locker room door for days, which declares that someone lost his gold chain with a cross on it and it has still not been returned to him.

So I had to practice the basketball shooting outdoors today at the Drake playground adjacent to the Plympton Elementary School off Bacon St. in Waltham. There were puddles of water on the court and every time the ball rolled or bounced off the court it traveled into wet territory. Thus throughout the practice my hands and the ball were wet, but I decided not to bother with drying my hands and the ball off before every shot.

Segment 1 545-610 PM, 24' foot shots, 'M2' style, ball shot using fingertips only during entire shot process (some coaches advocate using only the fingertips during the shot), elbow out and to the side (coaches oppose this) during shot: 8/20, 40% (progression of baskets-made/attempts: 1/2, 2/4, 3/5, 4/7, 5/12, 6/18, 7/19, 8/20).

Segment 2 630-655 PM, 24' foot shots, 'M1' style, ball shot with palm of hand on ball during beginning of shot (coaches are emphatically against shooting with the palm of the hand), elbow out and to the side (coaches oppose this) during shot: 6/27, 22% (progression of baskets-made/attempts: 1/5, 2/6, 3/9, 4/10, 5/21, 6/24, 6/27).

Segment 3 655-720 PM, 24' foot shots, 'M4' style, ball shot using fingertips only during entire shot process (some coaches advocate using only the fingertips during the shot), elbow in pointing forwards (style favored by coaches) during shot: 10/31, 32%, (progression of baskets-made/attempts: 1/2, 2/11, 3/14, 4/15, 5/21, 6/22, 7/25, 8/26, 9/30, 10/31). The score was exactly the same with this method, 10/31, in the previous practice. This M4 style is the style that collapsed disastrously to 13% in the basketball practice previous to the previous basketball practice.

Segment 4 755-820 PM, 24' foot shots, 'M3' style, ball shot with palm of hand on ball at beginning of shot (seems coaches dislike this) and elbow pointing towards basket as coaches advise during shot: 11/34, 32% (progression of baskets-made/attempts: 1/7, 2/12, 3/13, 4/16, 5/17, 6/24, 7/26, 8/27, 9/28, 10/32, 11/34).

Approximately when this segment ended, I heard a teenage white male playing on the other basket say, "yea...he's good". I felt sure that he was talking about me...sometimes I or you can just tell re such things, because we have been playing with other boys on basketball courts since we were toddlers. Little did he know, that I was shooting with my eyes closed. At the YMCA I do not hear comments like that much. At the Y yesterday I think I heard the Y deity Patrick Ferdinand glance in my direction while I was doing the soccer and say, "yea...he's good"--but I felt like I was being more than just 'good'. But to just say I'm good is not the same thing as calling me Pele or Maradona which I've heard a few times when practicing outdoors. Yea once the best soccer player amongst the Spanish boys called me a Pele when he saw me practicing but such does not happen much at the Y.

Segment 5 820-845 PM, (Most of this segment shot in low visibility low light condition, unlighted basketball court) 24' foot shots, 'M6' style, ball shot with palm of shooting hand off ball during entire shot process, only area from fingerpads at top of palm to fingertips used during shot process (coaches emphatically oppose 'using the palm' during the shot, most coaches advise that the fingerpads to fingertips area should be used during the shot), elbow pointed forwards towards basket during shot (coaches say the elbow should be pointed towards basket during shot): 6/34, 18% (progression of baskets-made/attempts: 1/2, 2/4, 3/6, (at this point the visibility was low), 4/18, 5/21, 6/22, 6/34).

Segment 6 845-910 PM, (entire segment shot in very low visibility low light level condition, unlighted basketball court) 24' foot shots, 'M5' style, ball shot with palm of shooting hand off ball during entire shot process, only area from fingerpads at top of palm to fingertips used during shot process (coaches emphatically oppose 'using the palm' during the shot, most coaches advise that the fingerpads to fingertips area should be used during the shot), elbow out pointed to side during shot (coaches say the elbow should be pointed not out to side but towards basket during shot): 8/31, 26% (progression of baskets-made/attempts: 1/1, 2/2, 3/7, 4/8, 5/17, 6/22, 7/26, 8/29).

Notes on the Practice:

The first four segments used methods I am more experienced with and were shot while the light was reasonably bright, resembling daylight on a cloudy day. During these first four segments, despite the fact that I was outdoors on a wet day, I shot 35/112, 31%. The average of the four different percentage scores for the four different segments was 31.5%. This with no shots uncounted as warmup shots.

After this, the light conditions became very dark, the basketball court was unlighted. I shoot with my eyes having been closed for two to three seconds before the ball is released but I still depend on info from my eyes for the shot. The last two segments were shot with methods that are new to me on a wet outdoors court in very low visibility condition. I doubt whether the scores on these last two segments should be counted in the averages.

I guess I am pleased with today's practice because it showed that I am continuing to establish my shooting in the low 30s percentage wise, a step up for me from the mid-twenties of a month or so ago.

Today I shot all the shots with an emphasis on good style, good form. I felt that today alot of the missed shots were still shot well. Emphasizing style, good form, gives you yet another thing to worry about in addition to keeping the guide hand off the ball and concentrating on the target. But at the same time emphasizing good form keeps you from worrying too much about whether the shot will go in or not. My feeling as of now is that I should continue to experiment with emphasizing good form, realizing that the new emphasis on good form could take some time to get used to.

I seem to sort of start out poorly in segments and then claw my way back up to a respectable score...such is what one might expect seeing that every segment I am shooting with a new different style. Segment 3 I started out 2/13 and then shot 8/18 44% for the rest of the segment. Segment 4 I started out 2/12 and then shot 9/22 41% for the rest of the segment. Such is significant because there will come a time when all the shooting will be done with the same style and so the disadvantage of having to repeatedly get used to a new style will no longer be suffered. I guess you could call the ability to recover from 15% in the first 10 minutes of a segment to shoot 45% in the final 15 minutes of the segment a sign of what Limbaugh calls 'character', what 'liberals' call 'personality'. I must admit that when Limbaugh praises what he calls 'character', I think of comical cartoon characters I used to watch on Saturday mornings.

After it got dark using methods 6 and 5 in the final two segments, I started out 3/6 with method 6 and 4/8 with method 5 and then degenerated; sometimes I wonder if muscular fatigue that develops as a result of shooting with the same method over and over again causes a decline in shooting accuracy.

You can find a usually up-to-date table showing my basketball shooting stats since I re-entered the world of basketball on May 23 '08 at:

https://www.angelfire.com/ma/vincemoon/dvhobbsshootingstats.htm

Adidas Bracara Indoors Shoes with 1 layer Propel Gel Padding;

Spalding TF-1000 Microfiber Composite Basketball, inflated to 8.0 psi as usual

Friday

July 25

2008

Waltham Y Gym

445-935 PM;

290 minutes experimenting with shooting basketball shots from 24 and 27 feet with eyes closed using various different styles

cup coffee bought at Exxon Tigermart consumed 315- PM-345 PM;

One piece multigrain bread eaten 330 PM

juice naturally containing vitamin C , (but for a change no juice naturally containing vitamin A beta-carotene) plus all the oils (wheat germ, cod, hemp) plus the vitamin pills plus the mineral pills plus brewers yeast plus raw cacao powder consumed approx 1.25 hours before practice started.

Had been awake for approx 2.5 hours when practice started.

Drank '365' brand Nutrient Enhanced Water during the workout. It is less sugary tasting than the Glaceau Vitaminwater and does not contain caffeine like the Glaceau Vitaminwater.

Today (basketball) I shot all my shots with my eyes closed 24 feet and 27 feet from the basket; shot 26% from 24 feet and 25% from 27 feet

Repeated text in small font:

There were as usual no unscored warmup shots prior to the first scored segment or in between the segments.

Today again, I emphasized shooting with style, stylistically, good form.

Segment 1 445-510 PM, 24' foot shots, 'M3' style, ball shot with palm of hand on ball at beginning of shot (seems coaches dislike this) and elbow pointing towards basket as coaches advise during shot: 9/30, 30% (progression of baskets-made/attempts: 1/3, 2/7, 3/9, 4/10, 5/11, 6/16, 7/23, 8/26, 9/28, 9/30). The Lexington HS basketball player and his buddy were shooting at the saame basket during this segment.

Segment 2 510-535 PM, 24' foot shots, 'M4' style, ball shot using fingertips only during entire shot process (some coaches advocate using only the fingertips during the shot), elbow in pointing forwards (style favored by coaches) during shot: 7/34, 21%, (progression of baskets-made/attempts: 1/4, 2/10, 3/11, 4/13, 5/17, 6/19, 7/22, 7/34). significantly down from the 32% shot previous basketball day with this method. More than usual were close misses, in and out types. By this time I was the only person shooting at the basket.

Segment 3 541-606 PM, 24' foot shots, 'M1' style, ball shot with palm of hand on ball during beginning of shot (coaches are emphatically against shooting with the palm of the hand), elbow out and to the side (coaches oppose this) during shot: 14/41, 34% (progression of baskets-made/attempts: 1/2, 2/4, 3/8, 4/9, 5/15, 6/16, 7/17, 8/23, 9/26, 10/27, 11/29, 12/32, 13/34, 14/41). Significantly up from the 22% shot with this method in the previous basketball practice. More than usual were close misses, in and out type shots.

Segment 4 610-635 PM, 24' foot shots, 'M2' style, ball shot using fingertips only during entire shot process (some coaches advocate using only the fingertips during the shot), elbow out and to the side (coaches oppose this) during shot: 10/38, 26% (progression of baskets-made/attempts: 1/3, 2/5, 3/13, 4/15, 5/22, 6/23, 7/27, 8/28, 9/31, 10/36, 10/38). Significantly down from the 8/20 40% shot previous basketball practice with this method.

Segment 5 645-710 PM, 24' foot shots, 'M5' style, ball shot with palm of shooting hand off ball during entire shot process, only area from fingerpads at top of palm to fingertips used during shot process (coaches emphatically oppose 'using the palm' during the shot, most coaches advise that the fingerpads to fingertips area should be used during the shot), elbow out pointed to side during shot (coaches say the elbow should be pointed not out to side but towards basket during shot): 8/34, 24% (progression of baskets-made/attempts: 1/4, 2/9, 3/12, 4/14, 5/16, 6/21, 7/23, 8/25, 8/34). Percentage approx the same as previous day using this method. By this time due to fatigue alot of the shots were short. This segment was preceded by four uncounted shot accidentally shot using the wrong method.

Segment 6 712-737 PM, 24' foot shots, 'M6' style, ball shot with palm of shooting hand off ball during entire shot process, only area from fingerpads at top of palm to fingertips used during shot process (coaches emphatically oppose 'using the palm' during the shot, most coaches advise that the fingerpads to fingertips area should be used during the shot), elbow pointed forwards towards basket during shot (coaches say the elbow should be pointed towards basket during shot): 6/34, 18% (progression of baskets-made/attempts: 1/8, 2/15, 3/16, 4/17, 5/23, 6/24, 6/34). Previous basketball practice day this method was exactly the same, 6/34 18%. This is the method in which everything is done the way most coaches say it should be done. More than usual were close misses, in and out type shots.

27 foot shots:

Segment 7 735-755 PM, 27' foot shots, 'M3' style, ball shot with palm of hand on ball at beginning of shot (seems coaches dislike this) and elbow pointing towards basket as coaches advise during shot: 7/30, 23% (progression of baskets-made/attempts: 1/4, 2/5, 3/6, 4/15, 5/22, 6/25, 7/27, 7/30). More than usual were close misses, in and out type shots.

Segment 8 755-815 PM, 27' foot shots, 'M4' style, ball shot using fingertips only during entire shot process (some coaches advocate using only the fingertips during the shot), elbow in pointing forwards (style favored by coaches) during shot: 7/29, 24%, (progression of baskets-made/attempts: 1/1, 2/7, 3/11, 4/12, 5/14, 6/19, 7/29). Percentage with this method today was actually lower from 24 feet.

Segment 9 815-835 PM, 27' foot shots, 'M1' style, ball shot with palm of hand on ball during beginning of shot (coaches are emphatically against shooting with the palm of the hand), elbow out and to the side (coaches oppose this) during shot: 6/29, 21% (progression of baskets-made/attempts: 1/4, 2/8, 3/18, 4/20, 5/23, 6/29). Lots of the shots were close misses, in and out type shots.

Segment 10 835-855 PM, 27' foot shots, 'M2' style, ball shot using fingertips only during entire shot process (some coaches advocate using only the fingertips during the shot), elbow out and to the side (coaches oppose this) during shot: 8/29, 28% (progression of baskets-made/attempts: 1/4, 2/8, 3/10, 4/11, 5/16, 6/18, 7/19, 8/26, 8/29. Percentage with this method today was actually lower from 24 feet. More than usual were close misses, in and out type shots.

Segment 11 855-915 PM, 27' foot shots, 'M5' style, ball shot with palm of shooting hand off ball during entire shot process, only area from fingerpads at top of palm to fingertips used during shot process (coaches emphatically oppose 'using the palm' during the shot, most coaches advise that the fingerpads to fingertips area should be used during the shot), elbow out pointed to side during shot (coaches say the elbow should be pointed not out to side but towards basket during shot): 8/30, 27% (progression of baskets-made/attempts: 1/8, 2/10, 3/13, 4/16, 5/26, 6/27, 7/28, 8/30). Percentage with this method today was actually lower from 24 feet.

Segment 12 915-935 PM, 27' foot shots, 'M6' style, ball shot with palm of shooting hand off ball during entire shot process, only area from fingerpads at top of palm to fingertips used during shot process (coaches emphatically oppose 'using the palm' during the shot, most coaches advise that the fingerpads to fingertips area should be used during the shot), elbow pointed forwards towards basket during shot (coaches say the elbow should be pointed towards basket during shot): 8/30, 27% (progression of baskets-made/attempts: 1/1, 2/5, 3/6, 4.13, 5/15, 6/17, 7/18, 8/19, 8/30). Percentage with this method today was actually lower from 24 feet.

Notes on the Practice:

Looks like the emphasis on shooting with 'style' implemented today resulted in a lack of simple concentration on the target.

Today I felt tired, seemingly due to the 3.5 hours of nonstop soccer yesterday--but there was 3.5 hours soccer the day before the July 18 basketball practice during which I shot better; could be that the feeling tired was partly due to having been awake for only 2.5 hours when practice started. It is a fairly new thing with me, that soccer should come before basketball in the rotation instead of baseball coming before basketball in the rotation of practice days (change was made because seemed throwing baseball hard threw basketball accuracy off when baseball was done on day before basketball). I suspect that the sense of fatigue whatever its cause was the reason that the second segment involving shooting with the fingertips was off--I've read that shooting with the fingertips throws off long shots which leads to the idea that shooting with the fingertips will be off when there is fatigue. I also suspect the unusual level of fatigue(or the not being fully awake yet) was to a large extent responsible for the poor performance with the newer methods such as M5 and M6--seems fatigue or not being fully awake throws off newer methods more than methods I am more experienced with.

The feeling tired effecting my shooting reminds me of the importance of rotating the different methods so they all get equal representation in terms of being used first, second third, last, etc.

The question becomes, if the problem was fatigue, how come segment 11 shot using the M5 method from 27 feet featured a higher percentage than segment 5 shot earlier in the practice using the M5 method from 24 feet...how come segment 12 shot using the M6 method from 27 feet featured a higher percentage than segment 6 shot earlier in the practice using the M6 method from 24 feet? One answer that comes to mind is that when I shot segments 5 and 6 I was tired but not tired enough to be relaxed whereas when I shot segments 11 and 12 I was tired and tired enough to be relaxed. Another possibility is that by the time segments 11 and 12 rolled around, I had gotten so used to shooting, so warmed up, that this counteracted the fatigue factor.

Another possible answer is that prior to segment 10 I discovered a new attitude to use in shooting--the heroic macho attitude. I began to realize that I can simply choose to replace the stressed-out nervous, depressed-about-missing-shots with a heroic macho attitude featuring enthusiasm, relaxation, zeal. This change of attitude was triggered by seeing a beautiful T-shirt the janitor guy was wearing. The shirt showed a heroic looking guy wearing a beret against a sky-blue and clouds-white background...the shirt brought to mind the idea of heavenly heroism. So I shot segments 10, 11 and 12 at 27% with a relaxed heroic demeanor instead of the typical worried stressed depressed demeanor I shot segments 7 8 and 9 (also from 27 feet) at 23% with; and segments 7 8 and 9 were shot with methods I am more familiar and competent with. Thus as of now I suspect that the relaxed heroic demeanor could improve the shooting percentage by at least 5%.

Could be that a possible reason the shooting was off today was that a man I call 'Schnapps' has been wanting too much social time from me. Schnapps' thirst for social time can weary, stress, and depress me.

Today with four out of the six methods used, the shooting was better from 27 feet than it was from 24 feet. Overall today I shot 54/211 26% from 24 feet, and 44/177 25%, almost exactly the same, from 27 feet. This reminds me that on the two previous days when I shot from 27 feet, back on May 26 and May 29 (both eyes closed while shooting days) on both occasions the shooting from 27 feet was surprisingly 1-2% better than the shooting from 24 feet. When I shoot from 27 feet I put my body into the shot more than I do when I shoot from 24 feet; when I shoot from 27 feet I am more exuberant, more relaxed, happier. Such leads me to suspect that when shooting from 24 feet I should get my body into the shot more and/or be more exuberant and/or be happier.

I noticed today that often when I shoot I deviate from good form in the sense that my left hand moves counter-clockwise so that my left palm is pointing to my right as I release the ball, like a pitcher throwing a curve ball. Often when I execute this curve ball like motion the shot goes in. I guess I should try to eliminate this wrist turn, or experiment with it to see how percentages vary when I use such a wrist turn compared to when I do not use it.

Today I proved that the May 29 shooting 27% with eyes closed from 27 feet performance was not a fluke. But today the 24 foot shooting was down to only 26%. There are various suspects to blame for the 24 foot distance shooting being off today:

I had only been awake for 2.5 hours today when the practice started; July 21 when I shot 31% from 24' I had been awake for 9 hours when the practice started, and July 18 I had been awake for 7 hours when the practice started.

Today and yesterday I did not consume the beta-carotene containing fruit juice before the practice. July 18 and July 21 I did consume the beta-carotene containing fruit juice before the practice.

July 21 the nutrients cocktail and food were consumed 3 hrs before practice started, july 18 the nutrients cocktail and food were consumed 2 hrs before practice started, today July 25, the nutrients cocktail and food was consumed 1.75 hours before practice started.

Today the coffee was consumed 1.5-1 hour before practice started, July 21 the coffee was consumed 4-5 hours before practice started, July 18 the coffee was consumed 5-6 hours before practice started.

Today, July 21, and July 18 were all basketball practice days on which the Glaceau brand 'Energy Vitaminwater' was consumed during the practice; so variation in the type of sports drink consumed could not be the culprit.

The day before basketball on July 18 there was 210 minutes of soccer, the day before basketball on July 21 there was 145 minutes of soccer, the day before basketball today there was 210 minutes of soccer; this indicates that the fatigue from the soccer on the previous day is not the culprit.

Thus it appears that the prime suspects for the off performance today are: short time interval between waking and start of practice; beta-carotene juice not consumed day of practice or day before practice; coffee consumed just 1.5 hours before practice instead of 5-6 hours before practice.

Faces in the Crowd

Today I revised the faces in the crowd section of the previous day (it contains a discussion of basketball). Also today I note what I forgot to note yesterday, which is that yesterday while I was practcing soccer, this black man wearing a mustache who was playing '21', a basketball game with a couple of guys, at one point glanced at me and then looked at the guys he was playing with and said, "that's incredible"--I could tell he meant what I was doing with the soccer ball was 'incredible'. As far as I am concerned "incredible" describes me better than merely "good" which is how Patrick Ferdinand described me (no disrespect or dislike of Patrick Ferdinand intended or implied).

As the Lexington HS basketballer and his buddy were leaving the practice I could swear that I heard his buddy tell him that I wrote about him in my log. Maybe I should start checking the stats for this page re visitors.

As I was at the liquor store buying something after practice I was clean-shaven, wearing a sleeveless t-shirt. The women who were working as cashiers sort of shook their heads re feminine men as they looked at me. What they meant was that I am not feminine looking and society is favoring feminine men. I noticed while looking in the mirror at the New York Deli that my face is more masculine compared to the faces of alot of men around here; my faces is wider than alot of the faces; my body is more athletic than alot of the bodies.

Notes From Dreamland

I had a dream last night that Boston Celtics GM Danny Ainge was managing some NFL pro football team in a western state; and due to his decisions I made that NFL team as a wide receiver.

You can find a sometimes up-to-date table showing my basketball shooting stats since I re-entered the world of basketball on May 23 '08 at:

https://www.angelfire.com/ma/vincemoon/dvhobbsshootingstats.htm

Adidas Bracara Indoors Shoes with 1 layer Propel Gel Padding;

Spalding TF-1000 Microfiber Composite Basketball, inflated to 8.0 psi as usual

Tuesday July 29,

2008

Waltham Y, 750-945 PM

115 minutes experimenting with shooting basketball shots from 24 feet with eyes closed using various different methods; entire practice done using a mental-stress expended per shot minimization approach.

Cup coffee consumed at approx 615 PM, 1.5 hrs before practice.

juice naturally containing vitamin C , (but for a change no juice naturally containing vitamin A beta-carotene) plus all the oils except cod (wheat germ, hemp) plus the vitamin pills plus the mineral pills, no brewers yeast or cacao powder this time, consumed approx 1.50 hours before practice started.

Had been awake for approx 6.5 hours when practice started.

Drank approx nothing during the practice.

Today (basketball) I shot all my shots with my eyes closed 24 feet from the basket;

For the first time today I implemented mental-stress/effort expended per shot minimization; today I shot 2.0 shots per minute compared to the 1.4 shots per minute I shot in the usual way during the previous basketball practice; using the shooting methods used today I shot 26.5% the previous practice and 28% today.

Repeated text in small font:

There were as usual no unscored warmup shots prior to the first scored segment or in between the segments.

Today, I attempted to shoot the shots with a minimal amount of physical/mental stress and effort.

Earlier looking back on the basketball practices, it had seemed to me, that the amount of physical and mental stress, tension, energy-expenditure, and effort per shot taken had been exorbitant. So I had resolved to perform a basketball practice in a way that minimized physical/mental energy-expenditure, stress, tension, and effort, and to note the results--which is what was done during today's practice.

Segment 1 750-819 PM (25 minutes spent shooting), 24' foot shots, 'M1' style, ball shot with palm of hand on ball during beginning of shot (coaches are emphatically against shooting with the palm of the hand), elbow out and to the side (coaches oppose this) during shot: 10/48, 21% (1/2, 2/7, 3/8, 4/17, 5/22, 6/26, 7/33, 8/38, 9/45, 10/46, 10/48). I shot 34% using this method the previous basketball practice. These shots were shot using the dark basket opposite the bright red basket where I usually shoot. The dark basket area is cooler and not as brightly lit as the red basket area. The number of shots that almost went in was unusually high.

Note that the number of shots in 25 minutes was much higher than usual in segment 1 and the rest of the segments shot today. This was due to my resolve to expend less mental energy (brooding about the coming shot, sighting the ball, etc) per shot. This segment 1, I had trouble getting used to the new way of doing things (shooting alot more shots per minute etc), trouble even understanding exactly what this new way of doing things involved. I think the shots were somewhat off during this segment because I was trying too hard to be casual, I was trying too hard to use less physical effort while shooting the ball.

Segment 1 I felt the sting of unpleasant social and business meetings I had the previous day, I felt as if I had been bitten by a snake whose venom was still effecting me. But by the end of segment 2 I had gotten over the venomized feeling.

Segment 2 820-845 PM, 24' foot shots, 'M3' style, ball shot with palm of hand on ball at beginning of shot (seems coaches dislike this) and elbow pointing towards basket as coaches advise during shot: 17/52, 33% (progression of baskets-made/attempts: 11/5, 2/6, 3/11, 4/17, 5/19, 6/21, 7/25, 8/27, 9/30, 10/33, 11/35, 12/36, 13/41, 14/42, 15/45, 16/50, 17/52). I shot 30% using this method the previous basketball practice. This segment I made 14 of the last 34 shots which is 41%--which tells me something re how well I would be shooting if I was not switching between various styles of shooting. I began to get used to minimizing the amount of mental effort involved per shot by shooting more shots; I began to understand how to properly implement my intention to minimize effort per shot; I shot the shots in a relaxed loose way without being overly lackadaisical. This segment was also shot at the dark basket I do not usually shoot at. The number of shots that almost went in but did not was more than usual.

Segment 3 854-919 PM (25 minutes spent shooting), 24' foot shots, 'M5' style, ball shot with palm of shooting hand off ball during entire shot process, only area from fingerpads at top of palm to fingertips used during shot process (coaches emphatically oppose 'using the palm' during the shot, most coaches advise that the fingerpads to fingertips area should be used during the shot), elbow out pointed to side during shot (coaches say the elbow should be pointed not out to side but towards basket during shot): 14/52, 27% (progression of baskets-made/attempts: 1/1, 2/18, 3/19, 4/23, 5/29, 6/32, 7/38, 8/40, 9/42, 10/45, 11/46, 12/49, 13/50, 14/51, 14/52). Previous basketball practice I shot 27% the same using this method. This segment was shot at the basket I usually shoot at the one painted bright red. The first 22 shots I made only 3, 14%; the last 30 shots I made 11, 37%. A mind-boggling number of shots almost went in but did not.

Best I can tell the improvement during the second half of the shooting coincided with: an inner resolve to concentrate simply on putting the ball into the basket; and, a realization that a deliberate lack of carefulness while shooting is not the wise way to implement the intention to minimize stress and effort during this particular practice session.

Segment 4 920-945 PM, 24' foot shots, 'M6' style, ball shot with palm of shooting hand off ball during entire shot process, only area from fingerpads at top of palm to fingertips used during shot process (coaches emphatically oppose 'using the palm' during the shot, most coaches advise that the fingerpads to fingertips area should be used during the shot), elbow pointed forwards towards basket during shot (coaches say the elbow should be pointed towards basket during shot): 15/50, 30% (progression of baskets-made/attempts: 1/3, 2/5, 3/8, 4/10, 5/12, 6/18, 7/19, 8/22, 9/29, 10/32, 11/34, 12/38, 13/41, 14/43, 15/48, 15/50). Previous basketball practice I shot only 18% using this method. This segment was shot at the bright red basket where I usually shoot again.

By the time I shot this segment 4, I understood the difference between minimizing mental effort and minimizing physical effort; and I had understood the difference between minimizing physical effort and minimizing physical tension. The goal today was to minimize physical and mental effort stress tension etc. By the end of the day I understood that the proper way to implement this general goal of minimizing effort/stress/tension is to minimize the mental effort/stress/tension in between the shots, but at the same time to continue to do my best to put the ball in the basket on every shot--attempts to minimize mental and physical effort during the shot process itself lead to a kind of nihilistic meaningless chaos.

Notes on the Practice:

The previous practice I shot the way I usually do, with more mental effort, mental stress, involved in every shot and in between shots, and on average in each 25 minute segment I shot 35 shots, 1.4 shots per minute. Today I resolved to minimize the mental effort/stress expended per shot taken, and I shot 50 shots per 25 minute segment, 2.0 shots per minute. This because I was spending less time in between shots on activities such as brooding, sulking, trying to get my attitude right, thinking things out, sighting the basket before the shot etc. So in this mental-stress-minimized practice I shot 43% more shots per 25 minute segment than I usually do. Meaning, shooting in the mental-stress-minimized style, in 2.5 hours I get off as many shots as I would in about 3.5 hours shooting in the usual brooding style.

Results wise using the four methods used today the average of the percent scores today was 28% and the previous basketball practice it was 26.5%.

These results tell me that shooting using the mental-stress-between-shots-minimized style, surprisingly produces results at least as good as shooting in the usual brooding thoughtful less shots taken per hour style. This indicates to me that: the mental-stress-minimization style of practicing shots should be implemented at least on a significant percentage of the basketball practice days; and, the thoughtful, brooding, longer-pauses-between-shots, more-time-taken-sighting-the-basket-before-shots style of practicing in reality does not produce better results.

Today again I noted, that often when I shoot, I twist the palm of my left shooting hand inwards, sort of like throwing a curve-ball in baseball, so that it is facing to my right after the ball is released, and that when I do this the ball often goes in. It might be a good idea to at some time in the future experiment to see what the percentage made difference is comparing the palm of the hand moving towards the basket during the shot to the palm of the left shooting hand moving to my right during the shot. When I pitch the baseball with my left hand, I am more accurate when I twist the left throwing hand so that from my perspective it is facing to my right after the ball has been released.

Today, before the practice I again omitted the brewers yeast, the cacao powder, the cod liver oil, carrot juice from the pre-workout nutrients cocktail but again today the problem of overly frequent stools was back. This could be because today before the workout I had some vegetables and pork stir-fry along with the nutrients cocktail. My understanding of the problem as of now is that either the stir-fry caused the hyper-frequent stools, or there are elements in the nutrients cocktail that do not cause a problem by themselves but do cause a hyper-frequent stools problem when they are consumed at the same time as certain other foods. In this regard I have noted that fruit juice drinks containing carrot juice do not cause hyper-frequent stools problem when they are consumed by themselves, but do seem to cause such problems when they are consumed at the same time as certain other substances.

You can find a sometimes up-to-date table showing my basketball shooting stats since I re-entered the world of basketball on May 23 '08 at:

https://www.angelfire.com/ma/vincemoon/dvhobbsshootingstats.htm

Adidas Bracara Indoors Shoes with 1 layer Propel Gel Padding;

Spalding TF-1000 Microfiber Composite Basketball, inflated to 8.0 psi as usual

Tuesday August 5,

2008

715-950 PM

Waltham Y

155 minutes experimenting with shooting basketball shots from 24 feet with eyes closed using various different methods; entire practice done using a mental-stress expended per shot minimization approach; kept detailed notes re how shots that went in were shot; no nicotine gum chewed during practice

Very big Cup coffee consumed gradually 600-630 PM

Two slices Barowsky multigrain bread, juice naturally containing vitamin C , juice naturally containing vitamin A beta-carotene plus all the oils except cod (wheat germ, hemp) plus the vitamin pills plus the mineral pills, no brewers yeast or cacao powder this time, consumed approx 0.75 hours before practice started. No problem from inclusion of the beta carotene containing carrot juice today.

Had been awake for approx 6 hours when practice started.

Drank small amount, approx 16 oz Glaceau Energy vitaminwater during the practice, approx 6 oz Glaceau Multi-v Vitaminwater during practice.

Today (basketball) I shot all my shots with my eyes closed 24 feet from the basket; for first time, chewed no nicotine gum during the practice; for first time, kept detailed notes re how the shots that went in were shot; returned to testing all six shooting styles; kept detailed notes re number of shots vomited out by the basket that almost went in but did not (one out of every 6.3 shots)

Both going without nicotine gum and taking the more detailed notes seemed to improve performance slightly

Average percentage for all the different segments today was 27%; best segment was segment 3 using method M3 (palm of hand on ball at beginning of shot, elbow pointed towards basket, ball shot with area from fingerpads to fingertips) at 33%.

Worked out Projection Showing I am within range of shooting 83% from 24 feet with my eyes open

Repeated text in small font:

There were as usual no unscored warmup shots prior to the first scored segment or in between the segments.

Today, again I attempted to shoot the shots with a minimal amount of thought involved per shot, and a high number of shots taken per minute; starting in the third segment for the first time I began recording how the shots that went in the basket were shot, this slowed down the shots per minute balancing out the increase in shots per minute derived from minimizing delays between shots. Today, I kept close count of the number of shot that almost went in but did not--meaning shots featuring the ball rolling around the inside of the rim before rolling out, the ball hitting the inside of the back of the rim and then the inside of the front of the rim before bouncing out, the ball hitting the front of the rim, then the backboard, then the front of the rim again before bouncing away, that kind of thing.

Segment 1 715-740 PM , 24' foot shots, 'M1' style, ball shot with palm of hand on ball during beginning of shot (coaches are emphatically against shooting with the palm of the hand), elbow out and to the side (coaches oppose this) during shot: 13/46, 28% (progression of baskets-made/attempts: 1/6, 2/9, 3/13, 4/18, 5/26, 6/27, 7/28, 8/31, 9/38, 10/40, 11/42, 12/43, 13/44, 13/46). After the first 17 shots, I was 10/29, 34%. Previous basketball practice using this method I shot 14/53 26%. 6 shots almost went in but did not; if these shots had gone in, the percentage would have been 41%.

Segment 2 740-805 PM, 24' foot shots, 'M2' style, ball shot using fingertips only during entire shot process (some coaches advocate using only the fingertips during the shot), elbow out and to the side (coaches oppose this) during shot: 10/38, 22% (progression of baskets-made/attempts: 1/1, 2/3, 3/8, 4/11, 5/22, 6/34, 7/37, 8/38, 9/42, 10/43, 10/45). This method was skipped the previous two practices. The last time it was used was July 25 when I scored 26% using it. 11 shots were very close, in and out type shots. If these 11 shots had gone in, the percentage would have been 55%.

At this point for the first time since returning to basketball in late May 2008, I began to keep track of how the shots that went in were shot.

Segment 3 805-830 PM, 24' foot shots, 'M3' style, ball shot with palm of hand on ball at beginning of shot (seems coaches dislike this) and elbow pointing towards basket as coaches advise during shot: 12/36, 33% (progression of baskets-made/attempts: 1/3, 2/4 (sin, arc, form, jump); 3/9 (spin arc form jump); 4/10 (spin arc form jump, low release); 5/12 (spin, arc, form, jump); 6/14 (spin, arc, form, jump, limited follow-through); hand diagonal left on release); 7/16 (spin, arc, jump, form, slight body backwards lean on release); 8/17 (spin arc jump); 9/24; (at this point therre were several misses due to hand sort of going over the ball on release); 10/28 (spin arc jump form); 11/32 (spin arc jump form, hand follow-through towards basket); 12/36 (spin arc form jump, hand follow-through towards basket). 7 shots almost went in but did not; if these 7 shots had gone in the percentage would have been 56%. Previous practice this method was 25%.

Segment 4 830-855 PM, 24' foot shots, 'M4' style, ball shot using fingertips only during entire shot process (some coaches advocate using only the fingertips during the shot), elbow in pointing forwards (style favored by coaches) during shot: 10/37, 27% (progression of baskets-made/attempts: 1/2 (arc-, ball squeezed from hand, slight sideways spin); 2/3 (spin, arc, jump, form); 3/8 (spin, arc, jump, form, hand sideways on release); 4/10 (spin, arc, jump, form, elbow); 5/12 (spin, arc, jump, form, hand sideways on release); 6/15 (spin, arc-, jump, hand sideways on follow-through); 7/22 (sideways spin-, arc, jump, hand sideways on release); 8/27 (arc+, spin, form, jump, hand follow-through towards basket); 10/34 (arc+, spin-, form, jump); 10/37). 4 shots almost went in but did not; if these had gone in the percentage would have been 38%. This method was skipped the previous two practices. The last time it was used was July 25 when I scored 23% using it.

Segment 5 900-925 PM, 24' foot shots, 'M6' style, ball shot with palm of shooting hand off ball during entire shot process, only area from fingerpads at top of palm to fingertips used during shot process (coaches emphatically oppose 'using the palm' during the shot, most coaches advise that the fingerpads to fingertips area should be used during the shot), elbow pointed forwards towards basket during shot (coaches say the elbow should be pointed towards basket during shot): 9/39, 23% (progression of baskets-made/attempts:

1/2 (arc+, spin, form, jump, ball started low at beginning of shot); 2/16 (spin, arc-, jump, form); 3/20 (sideways spin, arc, jump, form, hand sideways on release); 4/23 (spin+, arc+, jump, form, shooting hand pointed towards basket on follow-through); 5/25 (spin+, arc+, jump, form body, ball low at beginning of shot); 6/26 (sideways spin, arc-, jump, hand sideways on release); 7/27 (spin+, arc+, jump, form); 8/35 (sideways spin, arc, jump, hand sideways on release); 9/37 (spin+, arc+, jump, form, ball/body low on release); 9/39). 7 shots almost went in but did not; if these shots went in the percentage would have been 41%. Previous practice this M6 method was at 24%. Not counting the first 19 shots of this segment, the percentage was 35%. Today and in the previous practice also, there were plenty of short shots using this method, I think due to fatigue.

Segment 6 925-950 PM, 24' foot shots, 'M5' style, ball shot with palm of shooting hand off ball during entire shot process, only area from fingerpads at top of palm to fingertips used during shot process (coaches emphatically oppose 'using the palm' during the shot, most coaches advise that the fingerpads to fingertips area should be used during the shot), elbow out pointed to side during shot (coaches say the elbow should be pointed not out to side but towards basket during shot): 11/38, 29% (progression of baskets-made/attempts: 1/2 (spin+, arc+, jump, form, elbow, elbow slightly out during shot); 2/6 (slight sideways spin+, arc+, jump, form, hand sideways on release); 3/7 (spin+, arc, jump, form); 4/10 (spin+, arc, jump+, form); 5/12 (spin+, arc+, jump, form); 6/14 (spin, arc+, jump, form, body+, ball low at beginning of shot); 7/18 (spin, arc, jump+, form, body+, ball low at beginning of shot); 8/24 (spin+, arc+, jump, form, shooting hand follow-through towards basket); 9/25 (spin, arc+, jump, form); 10/28 (slight sidespin, arc, jump, form, hand sideways on release); 11/38 (aspin, arc, jump, form). 2 shots almost went in but did not; if these had gone in the percentage would have been 34%. Previous practice this segment was shot at 28%. Today and in the previous practice also, there were plenty of short shots using this method, due to fatigue. Not counting the final 11 shots the percentage this segment was 36%.

Notes on the Practice:

Re the nicotine gum, for the four methods used today that were also used in the previous practice, on average the percent of shots that scored or went in was 28.25% today, and 25.75% during the previous practice August 1. For the two methods shot today that have not been used since July 25, the percentage today was 24.5% whereas on July 25 the percentage was 24.5% also. This indicates that the nicotine gum can be dispensed with during a practice session. Today it seemed that as a result of abstaining from nicotine gum during the practice I was more relaxed and enjoyed myself more. True alot of baseball players chew tobacco; but this is not baseball--the basketball shooting is more relaxed and wet-noodle like than pitching or hitting; in basketball in aiming the shot there is the dimension of depth to deal with, in pitching this dimension is not so important.

Re the starting to take detailed notes on how shots that scored were shot: I noticed that immediately, as soon as I started taking these detailed notes, my shooting began to become more standardized in the sense that I began to shoot most of the shots with a jump, with good form, and what I would call a proper level of arc and spin. In the first two segments before I started taking these more detailed notes, I shot 25%; in the final four segments after I started taking the more detailed notes I shot on average 28%. Looking only at the methods that were used in the previous practice also, before I started taking the detailed notes I shot 28% using M1, previous practice I shot 26% using M1. After I started taking the more detailed notes today I shot 28% using M3, M6 and M5, whereas the previous practice I shot 26% using M3, M6 and M5.

The fact that keeping detailed notes re how balls that went in were shot seemed to have an immediate effect of reducing the variety in terms of the ways that I shot the ball, reminds me that I had earlier noted that one of the best basketball shooters said he shoots every shot the same way, whereas I seem to almost shoot every shot in some different way.

Re the number of shots that almost went in but did not, the range was from only 2 in segment 6 using the M5 method, to 11 in segment 2 using the M2 method. The average today was 6.2 shots almost going in per segment. 37 out of 234 shots almost went in but did not; one out of every 6.3 shots almost went in but did not. Prior to today generally it had seemed that about 1 out of every 8.75 shots almost went in. but did not. Thus it appears that the number of shots that almost go in but do not, is not constant from day to day or segment to segment.

Eventually with the progression of skill, the shots that almost go in but do not can be expected to go in the basket for a score. On average looking at today's data, this means that when the shots that are almost going in begin to go in, the made/attempts percentage will rise by 57%. This means for instance that looking at the method that achieved the highest score today, M3 in the third segment which was 33%, when the shots almost going in begin to go in, the 33% will rise to 33 x 1.57 = 52%. Beyond this, I estimate off-hand that when I start to practice just one method all the time, this will cause the percentage to rise by 20%; thus I can expect the 52% to rise to 1.20 x 52 = 62%. Beyond this, in late May when I shot with my eyes open on May 23 the percentage was 34%; the first day with my eyes closed the percentage was 20%; the second day with my eyes closed the percentage was 25%. This indicates that I can expect the percentage with my eyes open to be 36% higher than the percentage with my eyes closed, because 34 minus 25 is 9, and 9 divided by 25 is 0.34. Thus in the final analysis I can now say that I am within striking distance of shooting 83% from 24 feet with my eyes open, because 1.34 times 62 = 83.

By way of comparison, the best NBA 3-point shooters (NBA 3 point line is 24 feet from the basket, sometimes closer) shoot about 40% from 3 point range; and somewhere I heard that people generally shoot about 5% better (meaning like 45% in practice 40% in a game) in practice than they do in a game.

This kind of mathematical projection may seem far fetched but it serves its purposes. I and also sometimes scornful others, have doubts as to whether the kind of practice I have been doing is getting me anywhere. I and others have doubts re whether all the time and energy I have been putting into basketball is worth it. The projection that I am in striking distance of shooting 83% from 24 feet with my eyes open helps me to reason with myself with regards to such doubts. Just as armies are effected by 'morale' so also are individuals and such projections helps to elevate my morale.

Seems that although the rate of improvement in percentage of shots made has not been spectacular with regards to shooting with my eyes closed from 24 feet, there has been a general improvement in accuracy which is reflected in the large number of shots that today almost went in but did not (such shots do annoying things like swirl around the inside of the rim or bounce between the back of the rim and the front of the rim before being vomited out by the basket). Similarly I noticed that although the rate of improvement in terms of pitching strikes with my eyes closed has not been tremendous, it seems that practicing pitching with my eyes closed has greatly improved my velocity, my ability to throw spinning breaking balls, and my ability to throw pitches accurately with my eyes open.

Generally both in baseball pitching and basketball, there has been gradual progress which has been masked by the fact that in every month there have been ups and downs; with each month that passes new records have been set.

Notes From Dreamland

I felt nauseated during the entire practice today because of a nightmare I had the night before practice, but still I did not have a bad day, which reminds me of how two days ago I felt a little nauseated due to having consumed (a reasonable amount of) alcohol the night before but still performed well. The night before today's practice I had a pleasant dream and also a nightmare, but in the end in the practice the memory of the pleasant dream was more than cancelled out by the memory of the nightmare.

In the nightmare, I was part of some kind of naval detachment that was dressed in civilian clothes. We were using some kind of scaffolding to hang on to the top of the very high side of some kind of naval ship. We were peering over the side wall of the ship looking at what was going on on the deck of the ship about 50 feet below. Down on the deck there were these demons. Some of them looked like fish with human-like eyes; others looked like human beings about ten inches tall. One of the ten inch tall ones looked like a miniature version of a tall thin white male with a big brown mustache, he was angry at us. Their habitat appeared to be these pools and puddles of water on the deck of the ship. They were dangerous demons because of their aggressive zeal for destroying human souls and bodies and their competence in the art of destroying human souls and bodies. The guy next to me was a brown-skinned clean-shaven American black guy who was armed with micro-nuke hand grenades or something like that. He kept shouting about how he was going to use these micro-nuke hand grenade type things on the demons on the deck of the ship below, but he never did. I grew frustrated with him and started shouting at him telling him to use his weapons on the demons but he did not. I began to feel tired of the struggle and let myself fall into the water below outside the ship. I sank below the water and began to swim away underwater. Then I felt inside of myself, that micronukes had finally been used on the demons and that this had disrupted their success in sort of eating up living human souls and bodies. One of the demons swam by me without seeing me; it looked like a big fish about twice as big as me, and had big human like eyes but the whites of the eyes were a yellowish color instead of white. The use of the micronukes had disrupted this demon-fish's consumption of human souls and bodies but had not destroyed it. One of the fish demons almost got me by the heel. When it almost got me by the heel I could feel inside, what it was like to be consumed by one of these fish demons and in the process lose not just your life but also your soul, feeling this was a very nauseating feeling (a feeling which to a lesser extent stayed with me during today's practice). Then later I saw a demon sitting on a bus that was crowded with people. This demon had a round head like a human child, but fish-like scales instead of skin on its head and face. It had a big eye in the middle of its forehead. It had a ten inch tall white man with longish black slightly waved hair and a black beard and mustache in its hand. This man was not a demon like the ten inch tall men on the naval boat we were looking into. Looking at him I thought he was John the Baptist or something like that. The demon with an eye in the middle of its forehead put the man inside of its mouth and used the man's blood as lipstick.

In the pleasant dream, I was on the Waltham High School football team (American style helmeted tackle football). I was in a huddle with my team-mates, I was not the quarterback, I was on the side of the huddle. As far as I could tell all my team-mates were white their complexion was something between 'ruddy' (the Bible says King David was 'ruddy') and tanned. We were all brave and good...seemed like being around brave and good people made me brave and good. Then I was on the porch of this gigantic house. The wood of the house had been stained this color that was somewhere between crimson and dark brown. The porch of the house was huge, it stuck out about 30 yards from the wall of the house, and went on, sometimes turning at angles for at least 100 yards in both directions from where I was on the house. The gigantic house reminded me of this house that I have thought, belongs to a beautiful white female who lives in Waltham. The gigantic house belonged to the city of Waltham. There was a gigantic dining room in the house that was big enough to accomodate hundreds of people. I was standing on the porch of the house, speaking with a white man who was about six feet two inches tall dressed in dark slacks and a white long-sleeved collared shirt. I could not see him clearly but there seemed to be something somewhat heroic and virtuous about him--half of me thought he had a mustache and half of me thought he was clean-shaven I could not clearly see him. I told him that he should take these long planks of wood that were about 25 feet long and about a yard wide and colored the same color as the porch of the gigantic house, and put them up on the outside of of the porch sticking straight up perpendicular to the floor of the porch, because there was a danger that this evil neighboring town might start bombarding the house with rocks.

Adidas Bracara Indoors Shoes with 1 layer Propel Gel Padding;

Spalding TF-1000 Microfiber Composite Basketball, inflated to 8.0 psi as usual

Friday August 8, 2008

810-950 PM

100 minutes experimenting with shooting basketball shots from 24 feet with eyes closed using various different methods; entire practice done using a mental-stress expended per shot minimization approach; kept detailed notes re how shots that went in were shot;

drank sports drink only after shots that went into the basket and scored

Cup coffee (I think it was a big one) consumed approx gradually 715-745 PM

moderate amount of spaghetti/noodles with meat spaghetti sauce, one chicken drumstick, eaten 730-745 PM;

juice naturally containing vitamin C , juice naturally containing vitamin A beta-carotene plus all the oils except cod (wheat germ, hemp) plus the vitamin pills plus the mineral pills, plus

'whole foods' brand vitamin a/d pills made from cod liver oil, no brewers yeast or cacao powder this time, consumed approx 0.75-0.50 hours before practice started. No problem from inclusion of the beta carotene containing carrot juice today.

Had been awake for only 3.0 hours approx when practice started.

Drank 20 oz Glaceau Energy vitaminwater during the practice,

Today (basketball) I shot all my shots with my eyes closed 24 feet from the basket; for second time, kept detailed notes re how the shots that went in were shot; for first time, allowed myself to take sips of sports drink only when a shot went in

Shot 12/26 46% using method M5 in third segment; shot 11/25 44% using method M6 in fourth segment--used detailed records of how successful shots were shot combined with drinking sports drink only after a shot went in

Repeated text in small font:

There were as usual no unscored warmup shots prior to the first scored segment or in between the segments.

Today, again I attempted to shoot the shots with a minimal amount of thought involved per shot, and a high number of shots taken per minute; for the second basketball practice in a row, I recorded how the shots that went in the basket were shot; for the first time, I applied the 'Pavlovian' method I have been using in soccer to basketball--after a shot went in I rewarded myself with some sports drink, whereas I denied myself sports drink at all other times. Today I returned to chewing nicotine gum, which I abandoned in the previous practice, because I had been awake for such a short time when I started the practice

Key to understanding the notes: for example, 3/8 means a shot went in so that after it went in I had made 3 out of 8 attempts; in parentheses after numbers such as 3/8, there are given short hand descriptions re how the shots that went in were shot; arc+ = more arc than usual on ball; arc = average amount of arc; arc - = less arc than usual; spin+ = more spin than usual on ball; spin = average amount of spin on ball; spin- = less spin than usual on ball; sideway spin means that the side of the ball facing me was spinning from my right to my left on its way to the basket; jump+ = more jump than usual during shot; jump = average amount of jump during shot; jump- = less jump than usual during shot; body+ = more of the general force of the rising/jumping body put into the shot; BTB = body moved towards the basket during the shot; SHFTB = shooting hand follow-through towards basket, meaning on the follow-through of the shot my shooting hand moved towards the basket; p45 = shooting hand palm facing upwards at 45 degree angle prior to release of ball; form- = the general form of the shot was unusually 'low' in quality; form = the general form of the shot was average in quality; form+ = the general form of the shot was superior, meaning in terms of the general movements of the body the shot was especially stylish, well-formed, graceful etc; wrist+ means the wrist was used more than usual in the shot; wrist- means the wrist played an unusually unimportant role in the shot; elbow+ means the elbow was used more than usual during the shot; shoulder+ means the shoulder was used more than usual during the shot; balanced = the various parts of the body all contributed to the shot in a balanced way; shft sideways means the follow through with my left shooting hand featured the palm of my left shooting hand facing to my right;

Segment 1 810-835 PM, 24' foot shots, 'M3' style, ball shot with palm of hand on ball at beginning of shot (seems coaches dislike this) and elbow pointing towards basket as coaches advise during shot: 7/36 19% (progression of baskets-made/attempts: 1/6 (form, arc, spin, body+, body towards basket during shot, jump, SHFTB); 2/7 (spin, arc+, jump, body+, btb, shftb, p45); 4/18 (spin-, arc, jump, form, shftb, wrist+); (note: at this point I began using the 'Pavlovian' method of rewarding myself with sips of sports drink after making a shot but not allowing myself sports drink when I missed a shot); 5/23 (spin, arc, jump, form, shftb, wrist+); 6/33 (arc+, spin, low ball release ball released approx chest high, wrist+); 7/35 (arc-, spin-, elbow+); 7/36).

I felt dazed during this segment because it had only been about 3.25 hours since I had woken up. I felt as if I was going to have a very hard time putting the ball in the basket for the remainder of the practice. Previous basketball practice I shot 33% using this method.

Segment 2 835-900 PM , 24' foot shots, 'M1' style, ball shot with palm of hand on ball during beginning of shot (coaches are emphatically against shooting with the palm of the hand), elbow out and to the side (coaches oppose this) during shot: 13/46, 28% (progression of baskets-made/attempts: 1/7 (arc, spin, jump-, form, shftb, shoulder+, elbow+); 2/12 (arc-, spin-, jump, form, p45; wrist-); 3/13 (arc+, spin+, jump, body+, wrist+); 4/18 (arc, spin-, jump, form-, balanced); 5/20 (arc+, spin-, jump, form-, body+, shoulder+); 6/24 (arc-, spin, jump, form, wrist+, shftb); 7/25 (arc-, slight sideways spin, jump, form, wrist+, shft sideways); 8/30 (arc+, spin, jump+, form, btb, p45). Previous basketball practice I shot 28% using this method, same as today.

Segment 5 900-925 PM, 24' foot shots, 'M5' style, ball shot with palm of shooting hand off ball during entire shot process, only area from fingerpads at top of palm to fingertips used during shot process (coaches emphatically oppose 'using the palm' during the shot, most coaches advise that the fingerpads to fingertips area should be used during the shot), elbow out pointed to side during shot (coaches say the elbow should be pointed not out to side but towards basket during shot): 12/26, 46% (progression of baskets-made/attempts: 1/2 (arc+, spin+, form, jump+, body+, wrist+); 2/7 (arc+, spin+, form+, jump+, body+); 3/11 (arc, spin+, form, jump+, wrist+, body+); 4/12 (arc, spin+, form+, jump, wrist+, body+, slight btb); 6/14 (arc, spin+, jump, wrist+, body+, form+, slight btb); 7/15 (arc, spin, wrist+, body+, jump+, slight btb); 8/20 (arc, spin+, wrist+, body+, jump+, slight btb, shft slightly sideways); 9/21 (arc, spin+, wrist+, jump+, body+, slight btb); 10/23 (arc-, spin-, jump, form, wrist+, shftb); 11/25 (arc-, spin-, wrist+, jump+, body+, btb, shftb); 12/26 (arc, spin+, wrist+, jump, btb, body+, shftb).

This is the highest percentage score I have ever achieved in a segment shooting from 24 feet with my eyes closed. This segment started 4 hours after I had woken up. It involved two new approaches: 1) the Pavlovian method wherein I reward myself with sips of sports drink when I succeed with a shot, implemented for the first time; 2) the keeping detailed record of how shots that succeeded were shot, used for the second time. This was the first time the Pavlovian approach was combined with the detailed records re how shots that succeeded were shot. Previous basketball practice I shot only 28% using this M5 method.

Segment 6 925-950 PM, 24' foot shots, 'M6' style, ball shot with palm of shooting hand off ball during entire shot process, only area from fingerpads at top of palm to fingertips used during shot process (coaches emphatically oppose 'using the palm' during the shot, most coaches advise that the fingerpads to fingertips area should be used during the shot), elbow pointed forwards towards basket during shot (coaches say the elbow should be pointed towards basket during shot): 11/25, 44% (progression of baskets-made/attempts: 1/3 (arc, spin, form+, jump, wrist+, body+, slight btb, shftb); 2/4 (arc-, spin+, jump, wrist+, shftb); 3/6 (arc-, spin+, wrist+, form+, jump+, body+, slight btb, shftb); 4/7 (arc+, spin+, form, jump, wrist+); 5/10 (arc, spin+, wrist+, jump+, body+, slight btb, form+); 6/12 (arc, spin, form+, jump, wrist+, body+, slight btb); 7/16 (spin+, arc, wrist+, jump+, slight btb, form+); 8/17 (arc, spin, wrist+, shftb, shft sideways); 9/18 (arc, spin+, wrist+, shftb, body+, jump); 10/23 (arc, spin, wrist+, shftb, jump+, body+); 11/25 (arc, spin+, wrist+,form+, shftb, jump+, body+).

I think this is the second highest percentage I ever achieved from 24 feet with my eyes closed; and it came immediately after my best segment ever from 24 feet with my eyes closed. As in the previous segment the rewarding shots that scored with sports drink was combined with detailed records re how shots that went in were shot.

Notes on the Practice:

The last two segments were my best ever and my second best ever as far as I can recall. Once the dazed feeling which I felt at the beginning of the practice was overcome, the practice became my best ever. During the third and fourth segments in which the shooting percentage was so high, my mental approach was simply to concentrate hard on putting the ball into the basket.

Today's experience seemed to validate a hypothesis I had earlier arrived at. Earlier noting how my percentage from 27 feet had been generally equal to or higher than my percentage from 24 feet, I had hypothesized that this is because when I shoot from 27 feet I get my body into the shot more. Today on many of the shots that went in I was putting my body into the shot more than usual by jumping a little harder than usual while shooting and jumping slightly towards the basket while shooting.

In the days before the start of today's practice my thinking re the rewarding successful shots with sips of sports drink had been as follows: I have what you could call a 'stoic' personality when doing sports practices, I feel aproximately the same when I succeed as I do when I fail. Therefore I need to reward myself with sports drink or some such thing when I succeed, so that I experience some difference in the way I feel when I succeed compared to the way I feel when I fail.

The day after the practice I was talking with this annoying man who I have known for a long time. Although I am telling the truth re the shooting percentages in this practice, he loudly refused to believe that I could shoot 46% from 24 feet the pro, NBA three point distance. He said that he estimated that I would be able to shoot 20% from 24 feet the pro NBA three point distance.

Adidas Bracara Indoors Shoes with 1 layer Propel Gel Padding;

Spalding TF-1000 Microfiber Composite Basketball, inflated to 8.0 psi as usual

Thursday August 28

2008

720-950 PM

Waltham Y Gym

150 minutes basketball shooting with eyes closed from 24 feet using M1, M2, M3, M4, M5, and M6 styles.

juice naturally containing vitamin C , juice naturally containing vitamin A beta-carotene plus all the oils including cod (wheat germ, hemp, fish, red palm oils) plus the vitamin pills (including cod liver oil pills) plus the mineral pills, + brewers yeast + cacao powder + cinnamon powder consumed approx 2.0 hours before practice started.

Felafel, humus, tadziki, syrian bread eaten approx 1 hour before practice started; stuffed green peppers and macaroni eaten approx 8 hours before practice started

Had been awake for approx 11 hours when practice started, not counting 1.5 hour nap that ended 4.5 hours before practice started.

Drank approxc 40 oz Vitaminwater 'energy' and 'relaxed' types during practice; and approx 16 oz electrolyte water

Today (basketball) I shot all my shots with my eyes closed 24 feet from the basket; again, kept detailed notes re how the shots that went in were shot; again, allowed myself to take sips of sports drink only when a shot went in

Today the 'Relaxed' type of 'Vitaminwater' seemed to impair shooting performance; emphasizing moving the body towards the basket during the shot seemed to improve the fingertips style shots; emphasizing both body towards basket and the use of the wrist seemed to improve shots using area from pads at top of palm to fingertips

Repeated text in small font:

There were as usual no unscored warmup shots prior to the first scored segment or in between the segments.

Today, again I attempted to shoot the shots with a minimal amount of thought involved per shot, and a high number of shots taken per minute; for the second basketball practice in a row, I recorded how the shots that went in the basket were shot; again, I applied the 'Pavlovian' method I have been using in soccer to basketball--after a shot went in I rewarded myself with some sports drink, whereas I denied myself sports drink at all other times. Today I returned to chewing nicotine gum, which I abandoned in the previous practice, because I had been awake for such a short time when I started the practice

Segment 1 720-745 PM , 24' foot shots, 'M1' style, ball shot with palm of hand on ball during beginning of shot (coaches are emphatically against shooting with the palm of the hand), elbow out and to the side (coaches oppose this) during shot: 11/34, 32% (progression of baskets-made/attempts: 1/10 (arc-, spin-, form-); 2/14 (wrist-); 3/19 (spin-, shftb); 4/21 (arc+, spin+, form+, shftb); 5/22 (spin+, form+, shftb); 6/25 (arc+, form+, shftb, body+); 7/28 (arc+, form+, shftb, body+); 8/30 (arc+, form+, shftb, body+); 9/31 (arc-, form+, shftb, body+); 10/32 (spin+, form+, shftb, body+); 11/34 (arc+, form+, shftb, body+, jump+, btb).

This was the first basketball shooting I had done since August 8 20 days ago. After the first 20 shots, I shot 8/14, 57%!

Segment 2 745-810 PM, 24' foot shots, 'M2' style, ball shot using fingertips only during entire shot process (some coaches advocate using only the fingertips during the shot), elbow out and to the side (coaches oppose this) during shot: 9/34, 26% (progression of baskets-made/attempts: 1/2 (arc+, body+, arm+, shftb, btb); 2/10 (arc+, body+); 3/12 (jump+, btb, wrist+, shft sideways); 4/15 (spin-, jump+, btb, wrist+); at this point I tried emphasizing btb and wrist+ deliberately on every shot and missed 9 shots in a row; then I switched to emphasizing btb only for the remainder of the segment; 5/25 (arc+, btb); 6/27 (btb); 7/31 (arc+, spin+, btb, shftb, form+); 8/33 (arc-, btb, shftb); 9/34 (arc-, spin-, btb).

After first 9 shots shot 8/25 32%, notable since had not shot baskets for 20 days. Things did not go well (0/9, 0%) when I emphasized both moving the body towards the body during the shot and also using the wrist more during the shot. Things went well, (4/9, 44%) when I emphasized moving the body towards the basket during the shot and did not emphasize use of the wrist also. Unusually high number of shots almost went in but did not. Seems that with this fingertips method, emphasizing the use of the wrist does not work well.

Segment 3 810-835 PM, 24' foot shots, 'M3' style, ball shot with palm of hand on ball at beginning of shot (seems coaches dislike this) and elbow pointing towards basket as coaches advise during shot: 11/27 41%. Throughout the segment I emphasized body movement towards the basket during the shot and use of the wrist, based upon my experience during the previous practice. Every shot involved emphasis on moving the body towards the basket slightly on the jump, and using the wrist during the shot; thus 'btb', and 'wrist+', are not recorded as it is taken for granted that every shot involved 'btb' and 'wrist+'. (progression of baskets-made/attempts: 1/1; 2/5 (arc+, spin+, shftb, form+); 3/8 (shftb, form+); 4/10 (shftb, form+); 5/13 (shftb, form+); 6/15 (shftb, form+); 7/18 (spin-, shftb); 8/19 (arc+, spin+, shftb); 9/20 (arc+, spin+); 10/25 (spin-, shftb); 11/26 (shft sideways); 11/27.

Looks like with this M3 method, emphasizing moving the body slightly towards the basket on the shot and emphasizing use of the wrist, based on previous experimentation, worked well.

Segment 4 835-900 PM, 24' foot shots, 'M4' style, ball shot using fingertips only during entire shot process (some coaches advocate using only the fingertips during the shot), elbow in pointing forwards (style favored by coaches) during shot; throughout the segment I emphasized moving the body towards the basket during the shot, thus 'btb' is not recorded because every shot featured 'btb': 9/40, 23% (progression of baskets-made/attempts: 1/3 (shftb, form+); 2/4 (shftb, form+); 3/5 (shft sideways, form-); 4/16 (arc+, shftb); 5/21 (arc+, shftb); 6/23 (shftb, form+, wrist+); 7/30 (form+, p45); 8/35 (form+, shftb, wrist+); 9/40 (arc+, spin+, form+, wrist+, shftb).

Seemed attempt to increase btb without increasing wrist use, led to a problem of underemphasis of the wrist. Note towards the end as I realized this, several shots went in with an emphasis on the wrist to go along with the emphasis on moving the body towards the basket during the jump shot. In this segment after the first 5 shots, I shot just 6/35, 17%. I atttribute the decline in shooting percentage that started after the first 5 shots of this segment and continued into the next segment, to a switch in the sports drink I rewarded myself with when a shot went in. For segments 1-3 I rewarded myself with the 'Energy' type of the 'Vitaminwater' Sports Drink. Then starting with segment 4 and continuing into segment 5, when a shot went in I rewarded myself with the 'Relaxed' type of 'Vitaminwater' sports drink.

Segment 5 900-925 PM, 24' foot shots, 'M5' style, ball shot with palm of shooting hand off ball during entire shot process, only area from fingerpads at top of palm to fingertips used during shot process (coaches emphatically oppose 'using the palm' during the shot, most coaches advise that the fingerpads to fingertips area should be used during the shot), elbow out pointed to side during shot (coaches say the elbow should be pointed not out to side but towards basket during shot); throughout this segment on every shot I emphasized on every shot, the body moving towards the basket during the jump shot and the use of the wrist: 6/40, 15% (progression of baskets-made/attempts: 1/5 (form+, shftb, arc+); 2/7 (arc+, shftb, form+); 3/18 (spin-, shft sideways); 4/26 (arc, arm+, form-); 5/31 (shft sideways); 6/32 (arc-); 6/40.

Previous time this method was used 20 days ago, I shot 12/26, 46%. Today (this segment and previous) was the first day I sipped the 'Relaxed' type of 'Vitaminwater' sports drink while shooting baskets.

Segment 6 925-950 PM, 24' foot shots, 'M6' style, ball shot with palm of shooting hand off ball during entire shot process, only area from fingerpads at top of palm to fingertips used during shot process (coaches emphatically oppose 'using the palm' during the shot, most coaches advise that the fingerpads to fingertips area should be used during the shot), elbow pointed forwards towards basket during shot (coaches say the elbow should be pointed towards basket during shot); on every shot I emphasized use of the wrist and moving the body slightly towards the basket during the jump shot, thus the 'wrist+' and 'btb' are not noted for the shots: 11/32, 34% (progression of baskets-made/attempts: 1/1 (arc+, spin+, shftb, form+); 2/12 (arc+, shftb, form+); 3/13 (arc+, spin+); 4/14 (arc+, spin+, form+, shftb); 5/15 (arc+, spin+, form+, shftb, forwork prior to shot slowed down); 6/15 (arc-); 7/22 (arc+, spin+, shot started low); 8/26; 9/27 (arc+, spin+, shftb, slow down footwork prior to shot); 10/31 (arc+, spin+, shftb, slow down footwork prior to shot); 11/32 (spin+, slow down footwork prior to shot).

Looks like the emphasis on wrist and moving the body towards the basket during the shot produced a high percentage. This segment I was drinking 'electrolyte' water and not the 'relaxed' version of 'Vitaminwater' when I made a shot; and guess what--the percentage went up. Slowing down the footwork before the shot appeared to improve things (my aging soccer shoes are slipping on the wooden court floor). This segment I remembered that when I get tired I have to remember to put extra energy into each shot.

Notes on the Practice:

Prior to the practice I had dreams about basketball. In one dream I was practicing doing right handed layups (I am left handed). In another dream, I played Kobe Bryant one on one in basketball and Kobe beat me 145-101. In yet another dream I was at a fun resort and had a friend named 'Walter Ayerya' (I have never met or known or even heard of a 'Walter Ayerya').

During the practice I was confused re why the percentage went down in segments 4 and 5; there seemed to be so many different possible suspect factors. But when I got home and typed out the stats and notes from the notebook into the computer, the answer became obvious--which shows why keeping notes can be useful. In segments 4 and 5 I was drinking the 'relaxed' type of 'Vitaminwater'; in segments 1-3 I was drinking the 'energy' form of 'Vitaminwater'; in segment 6 I was drinking simple 'electrolyte' water. The 'relaxed' type of 'Vitaminwater' is made to relax the person drinking it; it contains Jackfruit, Guava, and Theanine; it does not seem to produce good results shooting baskets.

Today with the M2 method (fingertips) I emphasized 'btb' and wrist with bad results, then just btb with good results; with the M3 method I emphasized 'btb' and wrist with excellent results; with the M4 method I emphasized 'btb' with bad results; with the M5 method I emphasized 'btb' and wrist with bad results; with the M6 method I emphasized 'btb' and wrist with good results. Ignoring the M4 and M5 results due to the apparent influence of the 'Relaxed' type of 'Vitaminwater' it appears that: when using the fingertips alone in contact with the ball during the shot, emphasizing 'btb' works but emphasizing wrist does not; using the other methods, emphasizing both 'btb' and wrist produces good results. Apparently, the wrist emphasis is difficult when just the fingertips are in touch with the ball.

Relatedly, in some emails I mistakenly said that back in May I shot 15/37 41% with my eyes closed using the fingertips, this is how I remembered it, actually the method used when I accomplished this feat involved the ball shot with the area from the fingerpads to the fingertips, the palm of the hand on the ball at the beginning of the shot, and the elbow in.

Adidas Bracara Indoors Shoes with 1 layer Propel Gel Padding;

Spalding TF-1000 Microfiber Composite Basketball, inflated to 8.0 psi as usual

Wednesday September 3,

2008

815-945 PM

Waltham Y Gym

90 minutes basketball shooting with eyes closed from 24 feet using M1, M2, M3, M4, M5, and M6 styles. 15 minute segments used for first time.

juice naturally containing vitamin C , juice naturally containing vitamin A beta-carotene plus oils (wheat germ, hemp, red palm) plus the vitamin pills (including cod liver oil pills), mineral pills (ran out), no calcium pill (ran out), consumed approx 1.5 hours before practice started.

Tortilla chips and salsa sauces eaten approx 2-4 hours before practice

Cup coffee, drank it just 45 mins before practice.

Woke up in morning 9.5 hours before practice started.

Drank just 'electrolyte water' and chewed no nicotine gum during practice.

Today ...the only good segments were M4 (36%, fingertips, elbow in), shot without emphasis on wrist use, and M3 (29%, palm on ball at beginning of shot, elbow in). All the segments except the M4 segment were shot with emphasis on wrist use and movement of the body towards the basket while shooting. The most obvious unusual factor was that I had been doing moving work lifting heavy objects the previous day.

Repeated text in small font:

There were as usual no unscored warmup shots prior to the first scored segment or in between the segments.

Today, again I attempted to shoot the shots with a minimal amount of thought involved per shot, and a high number of shots taken per minute; again, I recorded how the shots that went in the basket were shot; again, I applied the 'Pavlovian' method I have been using in soccer to basketball--after a shot went in I rewarded myself with some sports drink, whereas I denied myself sports drink at all other times. Today I did not chew nicotine gum and during the practice I drank only sports drink. In all except on segment I moved towards the basket on the jump and emphasized use of the wrist. In every segment I slowed down the footwork prior to the shot because my foot has been slipping on the footwork.

Segment 1 815-845 PM, 24' foot shots, 'M2' style, ball shot using fingertips only during entire shot process (some coaches advocate using only the fingertips during the shot), elbow out and to the side (coaches oppose this) during shot: 4/29, 14% (progression of baskets-made/attempts: 1/9 (form+, shftb); 2/13 (arc+, form+, shftb); 3/20 (form+, shftb); 4/26 (form+, shftb); 4/29.

Previous basketball practice this method was at 26%.

Segment 2 845-900 PM, 24' foot shots, 'M4' style, ball shot using fingertips only during entire shot process (some coaches advocate using only the fingertips during the shot), elbow in pointing forwards (style favored by coaches) during shot; during this segment I forgot to emphasize the use of the wrist, but remembered to move the body towards the basket during the shot: 8/22, 36% (progression of baskets-made/attempts 1/3 (arc+, shftb, form+); 2.6 (spin-); 3.8 (spin-); 4/12; 5/16 (arc+, form+); 6/17 (elbow+); 7/20 (elbow+, wrist+, shftb); 8/22 (elbow+, shftb) ).

During this segment I forgot to emphasize use of the wrist; on the other segments today I remembered to emphasize use of the wrist; this segment was by far the highest scoring segment. Previously I had begun to suspect, that for the methods using the fingertips, emphasizing the use of the wrist is counterproductive, this segment reinforces that idea. Previous day this method was at 23%.

Segment 3 845-900 PM , 24' foot shots, 'M1' style, ball shot with palm of hand on ball during beginning of shot (coaches are emphatically against shooting with the palm of the hand), elbow out and to the side (coaches oppose this) during shot: 5/30, 17% (progression of baskets-made/attempts: 1/4 (arc-); 2/6 (arc-); 3/11; 4/16 (shftb, form+); 5/25; 5/30.

Previous basketball practice this segment was at 32%.

Segment 4 900-915 PM, 24' foot shots, 'M3' style, ball shot with palm of hand on ball at beginning of shot (seems coaches dislike this) and elbow pointing towards basket as coaches advise during shot: 7/24 29%. (progression of baskets-made/attempts: 1/3 (shftb, form+, pause with ball above head prior to shot); 2/5 (shft sideways); 3.8 (form+, shftb); 4.15 (shftb, form+); 5/16 (form+); 6/22 (form+, shftb); 7/24 (form+, arc-).

Previous practice this method was at 41%, with movement of body towards basket and use of wrist emphasized as they were emphasized today. This M3 segment (elbow in, palm of hand on ball at beginning of shot) and the M4 (elbow in, fingertips) segment were the only methods that worked well today.

Segment 5 915-930 PM, 24' foot shots, 'M6' style, ball shot with palm of shooting hand off ball during entire shot process, only area from fingerpads at top of palm to fingertips used during shot process (coaches emphatically oppose 'using the palm' during the shot, most coaches advise that the fingerpads to fingertips area should be used during the shot), elbow pointed forwards towards basket during shot (coaches say the elbow should be pointed towards basket during shot): 5/29, 17% (progression of baskets-made/attempts: 1/9 (spin-); 2/11 (arc+, spin+, shtb, pause with ball above head during shot); 3/18; 4/20 (spin+, shftb, form+); 5/22 (arc+, spin+, form+, shftb, shooting hand pause above head during shot).

Previous basketball practice this segment was at 32%.

Segment 6 930-945 PM, 24' foot shots, 'M5' style, ball shot with palm of shooting hand off ball during entire shot process, only area from fingerpads at top of palm to fingertips used during shot process (coaches emphatically oppose 'using the palm' during the shot, most coaches advise that the fingerpads to fingertips area should be used during the shot), elbow out pointed to side during shot (coaches say the elbow should be pointed not out to side but towards basket during shot); 5/29, 17% (progression of baskets-made/attempts: 1/11 (arc+, spin+, shftb, form+); 2/2 (spin+, shft to point 3' below basket); 3/3 (spin+, form+, shftb); 4/17 (arc+, spin+, shftb); 4/17 (arc+, spin+, shftb); 5/18 (shftb, elbow+); 5/30.

Previous practice this method was at 15%.

Notes on the Practice:

The shooting percentage was overall quite low. There are various possible suspects as usual: today all the segments except one were shot with emphasis on moving the body towards the basket during the shot and using the wrist; yesterday, day before yesterday, and four days ago I had been doing this stressful moving job involving carrying heavy objects around; before the practice I was subjected to stress by an unreasonable person who gave me an angry speech; I had been awake for 9.25 hours when I started the practice; all I had to eat during the day before the practice was Tortilla chips, salsa picante and salsa rojas sauce plus the nutrients drink; I had 70 ml Vodka the evening before the practice; most of the shots were shot with emphasis on moving body towards the basket during the shot and using the wrist; during the practice I combined drinking only water with not chewing nicotine gum; slowing down the footwork prior to the shot, due to my wornout indoor soccer shoes slipping on the recently varnished floor, resulted in more time spent with the eyes closed prior to the shot; each segment lasting only 15 minutes instead of the usual 25 minutes reduced the percentage.

Irrelevant(?) Stuff:

If half the population is above average in intelligence, and half is above average in personality, then one could estimate that a quarter of the population is above average in both intelligence and personality. Does it make sense to persecute this minority that is above average in intelligence and personality? How much can a smart unethical person benefit society? How much can an unintelligent ethical person benefit society? Can a society that suppresses new different ideas be a wise society? Are wicked looking people attractive? Are stupid looking people attractive? Do humans enjoy unattractive people? If beautiful people and those who are not beautiful are equals aside from looks, does the beautiful person have an advantage? If intelligent people and less intellligent people are equals aside from intelligence, does the intelligent person have an advantage? A society that persecutes the minority that is relatively intelligent and ethical, is a piece of junk.

I have come up with a name for overweight white females of typical type intelligence personality and looks, I call them marshmallows. Does it make sense to discriminate against people who are not marshmallows? Is it seemly that a marshmallow who gets a job should do a little victory dance, shaking her overweight stomach, letting out an unethical unintelligent sounding laugh? Seems to me that the proper place for that kind of victory dance is hell. More on marshmallows later perhaps. I realize God has thoughts re marshmallows; what God thinks is important; but if we do not know what God thinks, then what we think God thinks is important.

Adidas Bracara Indoors Shoes with 1 layer Propel Gel Padding;

Spalding TF-1000 Microfiber Composite Basketball, inflated to 8.0 psi as usual

Sunday Sept 7,

2008

520-750 PM

Waltham Y Gym

150 minutes basketball shooting with eyes closed from 24 feet using M1, M2, M3, M4, M5, and M6 styles. 25 minute segments.

Not sure re nutrientes food propr to practice. Due to delay prior to typing up notes.

Woke up approx 4 hours prior to strt practice.

Drank just 365 brand 'nutrient enhanced water' and 365 brand 'fitness water' during practice. Chewed nicotine gum.

Had approx 175 ml vodka evenining prior to practice.

Today ...the shooting was off again, I suspect due to consuming vodka the evening before, which was combined with a minimal amount of food.

Repeated text in small font:

There were as usual no unscored warmup shots prior to the first scored segment or in between the segments.

Today, again I attempted to shoot the shots with a minimal amount of thought involved per shot, and a high number of shots taken per minute; again, I recorded how the shots that went in the basket were shot; again, I applied the 'Pavlovian' method I have been using in soccer to basketball--after a shot went in I rewarded myself with some sports drink, whereas I denied myself sports drink at all other times. Today I chewed nicotine gum and during the practice I drank only sports drink. In all except on segment I moved towards the basket on the jump and emphasized use of the wrist. In every segment I slowed down the footwork prior to the shot because my foot has been slipping on the footwork.

Segment 1 520-545 PM, 24' foot shots, 'M5' style, ball shot with palm of shooting hand off ball during entire shot process, only area from fingerpads at top of palm to fingertips used during shot process (coaches emphatically oppose 'using the palm' during the shot, most coaches advise that the fingerpads to fingertips area should be used during the shot), elbow out pointed to side during shot (coaches say the elbow should be pointed not out to side but towards basket during shot); 8/39, 21% (progression of baskets-made/attempts: 1/3 (arc-, spin-, shftb); 2/6; 3/16 (shft-fpab); 4/17 (arc+, shft-fpab); 5/24 (arc+, shftb, form+); 6/28 (wr+, shftb, form+); 7/32 (form+, shftb); 8/36 (shft-fpab); 8/39).

Segment 2 545-610, 24' foot shots, 'M6' style, ball shot with palm of shooting hand off ball during entire shot process, only area from fingerpads at top of palm to fingertips used during shot process (coaches emphatically oppose 'using the palm' during the shot, most coaches advise that the fingerpads to fingertips area should be used during the shot), elbow pointed forwards towards basket during shot (coaches say the elbow should be pointed towards basket during shot): 7/37, 19% (progression of baskets-made/attempts: 1/1 (arc-, form+, shftb); 2/9 (arc+, spin+, form+, shft-fpab); 3/14 (arc+, sp+, form+, shftb); 4/21 (arc-, sp-, shft-sideways); 5/23 (form+, shftb); 6/34 (arc+, sp+, form+, shtb); 7/36 (arc+, form+shft-fpab); 7/37).

Segment 3 610-635 PM, 24' foot shots, 'M3' style, ball shot with palm of hand on ball at beginning of shot (seems coaches dislike this) and elbow pointing towards basket as coaches advise during shot: 8/32 25%. (progression of baskets-made/attempts: 1/6 (arc+, shftb, form+); 2/9 (wrist-, arc+, sftb, body+); 3/11 (arc+, sp+, body+, shft=fpab); 4/26 (arc-, shftb, form+); 5/28 (spin+, shftb, form+); 6/29 (form+, wr+); 7/30 (arc-, sp+, shftb, wr+); 8/32 (sp+, shftb, form+).

At this point ran out of the 20 oz bottle of 365 brand nutrient enhanced water tropical punch power type, started drinking the 365 brand mango flavored fitness water.

Segment 4 635-700 PM , 24' foot shots, 'M1' style, ball shot with palm of hand on ball during beginning of shot (coaches are emphatically against shooting with the palm of the hand), elbow out and to the side (coaches oppose this) during shot: 8/38, 21% (progression of baskets-made/attempts: 1/9(arc+, sp+, shft-fpab, form+); 2/12 (arc+, sp+, shftb, form+); 3/`3 (arc-, sp-, shft was palm forward, wrist of my left shooting hand tilted to my right, form+); 4/21 (sp+, wr+, shftb, form+); 5/23 (arc+, sp+, wr+, shtb, form+); 6/25 (wr+, shftb, form+); 7/35 (wr+, arc-, sp-, form+, shftb); 8/37 (wr+,arc-, sp+, shftb, form+); 8/38).

Segment 5 700-725 PM, 24' foot shots, 'M4' style, ball shot using fingertips only during entire shot process (some coaches advocate using only the fingertips during the shot), elbow in pointing forwards (style favored by coaches) during shot; during this segment I emphasized both body-to-basket and wrist use, because in the previous basketball practice I forgot to emphasize the use of the wrist, but remembered to move the body towards the basket during the shot with this method, even though with all the methods I emphasized both wrist and body-to-basket in the previous practice): 8/30, 27% (progression of baskets-made/attempts: 1/8 (shtb, form+); 2/9 (shftb, form+, sp+); 3/16 (shft-fpab, form+); (forgot to use wrist on 3 shots at this point, these 3 not counted in score); 4/20 (shftb, form+); 5/22 (sp+, shftb, form+); 6/24 (sp+, shftb, form+); 7/25 (shftb); 8/28 (arc-, shft-sideways), 8/30).

Segment 725-750-635 PM, 24' foot shots, 'M2' style, ball shot using fingertips only during entire shot process (some coaches advocate using only the fingertips during the shot), elbow out and to the side (coaches oppose this) during shot: 8/38, 21% (progression of baskets-made/attempts: 1/7 (wr+, shftb, form+); 2/11 (arc+, sp+, wr+, shftb); 3/22 (form+); 4/23 (shftb, pause before shot); 5/25 (shftb, form+); 6/30 (shftb, form+); 7/33 (shftb, form+, sp+); 8/38 (shftb, form+, arc-).

Notes on the Practice:

In almost every segment, an unusual amount of shots almost went in but did not. For the second day in a row the shooting percentage was down, down to a point even lower than on the very first day. To keep this in perspective now I shoot with minimal delay between shots whereas earlier I took my time; now I experiment with 6 different methods whereas earlier I experimented with only four methods giving more time to each method.

I noted today how difficult it is to judge whether there was average more than average or less than average spin on the ball; how difficult it is to judge if the quality of form during the shot was above average, below average, or just average.

My guess re the shooting performance being off tonight, is that there are three leading suspects in order of importance: 1) the drinking approx 175 ml vodka the evening before the practice. During the practice I felt dizzy and dazed. Hard liquor the evening before seems to effect basketball more than soccer or baseball. 2) the erosion of my left indoor soccer shoe, I have been wearing the indoor soccer shoes during basketball practices. I habitually move my left foot back and then up prior to the shot and if my left foot is slipping there is a problem with this movement. 3) having associated with a somewhat upsetting and annoying person the day before. Seems that the harder stuff like vodka has less effect when combined with plenty of food.

General Notes

Re a 'marshmallow' being given a desk job instead of me, a question that arises in the mind is, compare the fruits of me working behind the desk and meeting people, to the fruit of the marshmallow working behind the desk and meeting people.

Adidas Bracara Indoors Shoes with 1 layer Propel Gel Padding;

Spalding TF-1000 Microfiber Composite Basketball, inflated to 8.0 psi as usual

Wednesday

Sept 10

2008

720-950 PM

Waltham Y Gym

150 minutes basketball shooting with eyes closed from 24 feet using M1, M2, M3, M4, M5, and M6 styles. 25 minute segments.

Had a small pepperoni pizza from Anna's on Main St Waltham 3.5 hours before practice started. Also had tea made with 2-3 teabags per cup, one or two cups. No nutrients cocktail consumed before workout today.

Woke up approx 4.5 hours prior to start practice.

Drank Glaceau energy and powr-c type sports drinks during workout (40 oz); also drank approx 20 oz Glaceau electrolyte water during practice. Chewed nicotine gum during practice.

Had approx 150 ml vodka evenining prior to practice. But did not feel dizzy or dazed today maybe I'be gotten used to it by now; it has less effect on my now when I drink it, and also has less effect on me the next day now that I am getting used to it

Today the shooting continued to improve compared to the previous two or three basketball days. Method 5 (36%) and Method 1 (34%), which are almost like twins, led the way. Used the Powerline cross-training shoes instead of the indoor socer shoes. This prevented slippage on the footwork. A huge number of shots almost went in but did not with methods 3 and 6.

Repeated text in small font:

There were as usual no unscored warmup shots prior to the first scored segment or in between the segments.

Today, again I attempted to shoot the shots with a minimal amount of thought involved per shot, and a high number of shots taken per minute; again, I recorded how the shots that went in the basket were shot; again, I applied the 'Pavlovian' method I have been using in soccer to basketball--after a shot went in I rewarded myself with some sports drink, whereas I denied myself sports drink at all other times. Today I chewed nicotine gum and during the practice I drank sports drink. In all segments I emphasized use of the wrist, but tried NOT to move the body towards the basket during the shot. Today I switched to the Adidas Powerline cross-trainer shoes, these did not slip when I did the footwork prior to the shot, so today I did not minimize or slow down my footwork prior to the shot.

arc, spin, form, jump, body mentioned only when these unusual, such as arc+, arc-, spin+, spin- etc; if arc spin jump, form not unusual then not mentioned. Did not record wrist emphasis on shot because on every shot I emphasized the use of the wrist today. The use of the elbow today was not minimized or maximized.

Segment 1 720-745 PM, 24' foot shots, 'M4' style, ball shot using fingertips only during entire shot process (some coaches advocate using only the fingertips during the shot), elbow in pointing forwards (style favored by coaches) during shot; during this segment I emphasized both body-to-basket and wrist use, because in the previous basketball practice I forgot to emphasize the use of the wrist, but remembered to move the body towards the basket during the shot with this method, even though with all the methods I emphasized both wrist and body-to-basket in the previous practice): 9/40, 23% (progression of baskets-made/attempts: 1/4 (arc+, form+, shftb); 2/11 (shftb, form+); 3/15 (shftb, form+); 4/25 (shftb, form+); 5/28 (arc+, spin+, form+, shftb); 6/29 (arc+, form+, shftb); 7/31 (shft-fpab);8/34 (arc+, form+, shftb); 9/35 (arc+, form+, shftb); 9/40.

Segment 2 745-810 PM , 24' foot shots, 'M1' style, ball shot with palm of hand on ball during beginning of shot (coaches are emphatically against shooting with the palm of the hand), elbow out and to the side (coaches oppose this) during shot: 11/32, 34% (progression of baskets-made/attempts: 1/2 (arc+, form+, shft-palm forward and tilted right (PFTR)); 2/4 (elbow+, shftb, form+); 3/8 (shftb, form+, elbow+); 4/11 (shftb-pftr); 5/16 (form+, shftb); 6/19 (form+, shftb-pftr); 7/22 (shftb); 8/24 (form+, shftb-pftr); (at this point ran out of the 20 oz of Glaceau energy type sports drink, switched to glaceau power-c type sports drink); 9/25 (arc-, spin-, shftb); 10/26 (shftb, form+); 11/28 (arc+, spin+, form+, shftb); 11/32).

Segment 3 810-835 PM, 24' foot shots, 'M3' style, ball shot with palm of hand on ball at beginning of shot (seems coaches dislike this) and elbow pointing towards basket as coaches advise during shot: 9/36 25%. (progression of baskets-made/attempts: 1/1 (arc+, spin+, form+, shftb); 2/11 (arc+, spin+, form+, shftb); 3/13 (arc-, spin-, shftb); 4/15 (arc+, spin+, shftb, form+); 5/17 (arc+, spin+, shftb, form+); 6/22 (arc+, spin+, shftb); 7/26 (spin+, shftb-sideways); 8/32 (arc+, spin+, shftb, form+); 9/36 (spin+, form+, shftb).

The number of shots that almost went in but did not, in and out type shots, was much higher than usual this segment.

Segment 4 835-900 PM, 24' foot shots, 'M6' style, ball shot with palm of shooting hand off ball during entire shot process, only area from fingerpads at top of palm to fingertips used during shot process (coaches emphatically oppose 'using the palm' during the shot, most coaches advise that the fingerpads to fingertips area should be used during the shot), elbow pointed forwards towards basket during shot (coaches say the elbow should be pointed towards basket during shot): 7/36, 19% (progression of baskets-made/attempts: 1/4 (arc+, spin+, form+, shftb); 2/8 (form+, shftb, elbow+, spin+); 3/15 (form+, spin+, shftb); 4/21 (arc+, spin+, form+, shftb, shooting hand low and close to head, in front of middle of forehead at ball release); 5/28 (arc+, spin+, shftb, form+, shooting hand low in front of forehead at ball release); 6/31 (arc+, shftb, form+); 7/36 (arc+, spin+, shftb, form+).

A gigantic number of shots almost went in but did not this segment. This may have been the worst segment ever, in terms of in and out type shots.

Segment 5 900-925 PM, 24' foot shots, 'M5' style, ball shot with palm of shooting hand off ball during entire shot process, only area from fingerpads at top of palm to fingertips used during shot process (coaches emphatically oppose 'using the palm' during the shot, most coaches advise that the fingerpads to fingertips area should be used during the shot), elbow out pointed to side during shot (coaches say the elbow should be pointed not out to side but towards basket during shot); 12/33, 36% (progression of baskets-made/attempts: 1/1 (arc+, spin+, shftb, form+, ball release center low near head = BRCLNH); 2/2 (arc+, form+, shftb); 3/5 (arc-,spin-, brclnh, form+, shftb); 4/8 (arc+, brclnh, form+, shftb); 5/10 (arc+, spin+, form+, shftb); 6/11 (arc+, shft-sideways); 7/18 (arc+, spin+, form+, shftb); 8/26 (arc+, spin+, form+, shftb); at this point ran out of the Glaceau power-c type sports drink and switched to glaceau electrolyte type water; 9/28 (arc+, spin+, form+, shftb); 10/29 (arc+, shft=pftr); 11/30 (arc+, spin+, shftb, brclnh, form+); 12/33 (arc+, spin+, shftb, brclnh, form+)

Segment 6 925-950 PM, 24' foot shots, 'M2' style, ball shot using fingertips only during entire shot process (some coaches advocate using only the fingertips during the shot), elbow out and to the side (coaches oppose this) during shot: 8/36, 22% (progression of baskets-made/attempts: 1/7 (arc+, spin+, shftb, form+); 2/9 (arc+, spin+, shftb, form+); 3/16 (arc+, spin+, shftb, form+); 4/22 (arc-, spin-, shftb, form-); 5/23 (arc+, spin+, shftb, form+, brclnh); 6/26 (arc+, spin+, shftb, form+, brclnh); 7/31 (arc+, spin+, shftb, form+); 8/32 (arc+, spin+, shftb, form+, elbow+); 8/36.

Adidas Powerline crosstrainer shoes

Spalding TF-1000 Microfiber Composite Basketball, inflated to 8.0 psi as usual

Wednesday

Sept 17

2008

750-950 PM

Waltham Y Gym

120 minutes basketball shooting with eyes closed from 24 feet using M1, M2, M3, M5, and M6 styles. 25 minute segments.

Had burger king hamburger 45 minutes before practie started, cup of 1 teabag tea, aprox 1.5 hours before practice started. .

Woke up approx 4 hours prior to start practice. Out of bed approx 2 hours prior to start practice.

Drank Glaceau 'energy' type vitaminwater, approx 40 oz, during practice.

Had approx 75 ml vodka evening prior to practice.

Today (basketball) I shot all my shots (as usual left-handed) with my eyes closed 24 feet from the basket; again, kept detailed notes re how the shots that went in were shot; again, allowed myself to take sips of sports drink only when a shot went in; again gave self minimal time between shots

Today I emphasized use of the ELBOW; on most of the shots I also placed the left foot ahead of my right foot when shooting and twisted my body slightly to my right during the shot. Up till now, I have always been placing my left foot about even with my right foot during the shot. As usual I stepped back and then up with my left foot prior to the shot.

The scores today emphasizing the use of the ELBOW combined with the left foot ahead of the right combined with twisting the body slightly to the right during the shot were high (taking into account innovations at first render high performance difficult to achieve): segment 1 M2 method, 29%; segment 2 M% method, 43%; segment 3, M6 method, 28%; segment 4 M3 method 34%; segment 5 M1 method, 26%; average percentage all methods: 32%.

Repeated text in small font:

There were as usual no unscored warmup shots prior to the first scored segment or in between the segments.

Today, again I attempted to shoot the shots with a minimal amount of thought involved per shot, and a high number of shots taken per minute; again, I recorded how the shots that went in the basket were shot; again, I applied the 'Pavlovian' method I have been using in soccer to basketball--after a shot went in I rewarded myself with some sports drink, whereas I denied myself sports drink at all other times. Today I chewed nicotine gum and during the practice I drank sports drink. In all segments I emphasized use of the ELBOW, but tried NOT to move the body towards the basket during the shot. Today I switched to the Adidas Powerline cross-trainer shoes, these did not slip when I did the footwork prior to the shot, so today I did not minimize or slow down my footwork prior to the shot.

Key to understanding the notes: for example, 3/8 means a shot went in so that after it went in I had made 3 out of 8 attempts; in parentheses after numbers such as 3/8, there are given short hand descriptions re how the shots that went in were shot; arc+ or a+ = more arc than usual on ball; arc = average amount of arc; arc - = less arc than usual; a++ = muich more arc than usual on shot; spin+ or s+ = more spin than usual on ball; spin = average amount of spin on ball; spin- or s- = less spin than usual on ball; sideway spin means that the side of the ball facing me was spinning from my right to my left on its way to the basket; jump+ = more jump than usual during shot; jump = average amount of jump during shot; jump- = less jump than usual during shot; body+ = more of the general force of the rising/jumping body put into the shot; BTB = body moved towards the basket during the shot; SHFTB = shooting hand follow-through towards basket, meaning on the follow-through of the shot my shooting hand moved towards the basket; p45 = shooting hand palm facing upwards at 45 degree angle prior to release of ball; form- = the general form of the shot was unusually 'low' in quality; form = the general form of the shot was average in quality; form+ or f+ = the general form of the shot was superior, meaning in terms of the general movements of the body the shot was especially stylish, well-formed, graceful etc; wrist+ or w+ means the wrist was used more than usual in the shot; wrist- or w- means the wrist played an unusually unimportant role in the shot; elbow+ means the elbow was used more than usual during the shot; shoulder+ means the shoulder was used more than usual during the shot; balanced = the various parts of the body all contributed to the shot in a balanced way; shft sideways means the follow through with my left shooting hand featured the palm of my left shooting hand facing to my right; shft-fpab=on follow-through fingers were pointed at basket as opposed to wrist flicking down--wrist flicking down is represented by simply shtb; pftr = on follow through the Palm was facing Forward and Tilted to my Right; Ball Released when hand Centered and Low and Near Head = BRCLNH; left foot ahead of right foot at release=LFARF; body twisted to right on release = BTROR); LFARF & also BTROR = LB; SHFT = shooting hand follow through;

arc, spin, form, jump, body mentioned only when these unusual, such as arc+, arc-, spin+, spin- etc; if arc spin jump, form not unusual then not mentioned.

I Did not record ELBOW emphasis on shot because on every shot I emphasized the use of the ELBOW today. The use of the wrist today was not minimized or maximized. The jump was upwards and not towards the basket during the shot. On most of the shots, after going through an identity crisis, I combined emphasis of the ELBOW with placing the left foot ahead of the right foot during the shot, and twisting my body slightly to my right during the shot (I shoot left handed). Up till now I have always been placing the left foot approx even with the right foot during the shot.

Segment 1 750-815 PM, 24' foot shots, 'M2' style, ball shot using fingertips only during entire shot process (some coaches advocate using only the fingertips during the shot), elbow out and to the side (coaches oppose this) during shot: 9/31, 29% (progression of baskets-made/attempts: 1/1 (a++, shftb, f+);v2/6 (a++, shftb, f+); 3/7 (a++, shftb, f+); 4/10 (a+, shftb, f+); 5/16 (a++, shftb, f+); 6/23 (a++, s-, shftb); 7/29 (a++, s+, shftb, left foot ahead of right foot at release, which is LFARF); 9/31 (a+, shftb, f+); 10/34 (a+, shtb, f+, lfarf).

Segment 2 815-840 PM, 24' foot shots, 'M5' style, ball shot with palm of shooting hand off ball during entire shot process, only area from fingerpads at top of palm to fingertips used during shot process (coaches emphatically oppose 'using the palm' during the shot, most coaches advise that the fingerpads to fingertips area should be used during the shot), elbow out pointed to side during shot (coaches say the elbow should be pointed not out to side but towards basket during shot); 12/28, 43% (progression of baskets-made/attempts: 1/4 (a+, shftb, f+, lfarf); 2/5 (a+, shftb, f+, s+, lfarf); 3/7 (a+, shftb, f+); 4/8 (a+, shftb, f+, lfaf, body twisted to right on release, which is BTROR); 5/10 (shftb); 6/12 (a+, s+, f+, shftb); 7/15 (a+, s+, f+, shftb, lfarf, btror...lfaf & btror = LB); ...at this point I went through an identity crisis re whether to use LFAF or not and whether to use BTROR or not...then prior to the 8/22 shot I decided to use both LFAF & BTROR henceforth...8/22 (a+, f+, shftb, LB); 9/23 (a+, f+, shft-sideways, LB); 10/24 (a+, s+, f+, shftb, LB); 11/25 (a+, s+, f+, shftb, LB); 12/28 (a++, s+, f+, shftb, LB).

I noticed that when you detect that you are shooting in two different ways, sometimes one way and sometimes the other, after you detect the fact, you have to make up your mind which method you are going to use. Before you notice the fact you can get away with not deciding which method to use, but after you notice that you are shooting sometimes this way and sometimes that, you have to make up your mind which method you are going to use. Starting with the 8/22 shot I decided that for the rest of the practice I would use the LB method.

Segment 3 840-905 PM, 24' foot shots, 'M6' style, ball shot with palm of shooting hand off ball during entire shot process, only area from fingerpads at top of palm to fingertips used during shot process (coaches emphatically oppose 'using the palm' during the shot, most coaches advise that the fingerpads to fingertips area should be used during the shot), elbow pointed forwards towards basket during shot (coaches say the elbow should be pointed towards basket during shot): 9/32, 28% (progression of baskets-made/attempts:

1/4 (a++, s+, f+, LB); 2/8 (same as prev); 3/11 (a+, s+, f+, LB, shftb); 4/12 (a+. f+, w+, LB, shftb); 5/14 (a++, s+, f+, LB); 6/22 (shftb, LB); 7/26 (shft-sideways, LB); 8/30 (shftb, f+, LB); 9/32 (a+, s+, f+, LB, shftb).

There were lots of new elements involved in segment 3 this segment using the M6. I advise myself to be patient with this method with the new elements. The shots that did not go in were well shot. In this segment I was using the fingerpads to fingertips on the ball approach, the elbow in, the emphasis on the elbow in the shot, the left foot forward, the twisting the body to the right during the shot, in all there were five new elements combined into the shot in this segment.

Segment 4 905-930 PM, 24' foot shots, 'M3' style, ball shot with palm of hand on ball at beginning of shot (seems coaches dislike this) and elbow pointing towards basket as coaches advise during shot: 13/38 34%. (progression of baskets-made/attempts:

1/2 (a+, s+, f+, shftb, LB); 2/10 (a+, s+, shft sideways, LB); 3/12 (a+, s+, f+, shftb, LB); 4/14 (a+, s+, f+, shftb, LB); 5/15 (shftb, f+, LB); 6/18 (a+, f+, LB); 7/19 (a+, s+, shftb, LB); 8/21 (a+, s+, shftb, f+, LB, w+); 9/22 (a+, shftb, f+, LB, w+); 10/25 (a+, s+, w+, f+, shftb, LB); 11/32 (a+, s+, w+, f+, shftb, LB); 12/33 (same as previous); 13/34 (a+, w+, f+, shftb, LB); 13/38.

Segment 5 930-950 PM (20 min segment), 24' foot shots, 'M1' style, ball shot with palm of hand on ball during beginning of shot (coaches are emphatically against shooting with the palm of the hand), elbow out and to the side (coaches oppose this) during shot: 9/34, 26% (progression of baskets-made/attempts: 1/1 (s+, f+, w+, shftb, LB); 2/2 (a+, f+, w+, shftb, LB); 3/8 (shft arm swings to my right); 4/9 (s+, f+ w+, shftb, LB); 5/11 (a+, s+, f+, w+, shftb, LB); 6/14 (a+, s+, f+, w+, shftb, LB); 7/22 (a+, s+, f+, w+, shftb, LB, ball started waist high in shot motion); 8/29 (a+, s+, shftb, f+, LB); 9/32 (same as previous); 9/34.

Notes on the Practice

I intended to do method 4 in segment 6 but ran out of time. My advice to myself is to do method 4 with elbow emphasis after all the segments are done in the next practice, after giving myself a little warmup.

Overall I feel that I achieved excellent results today, shooting with the emphasis on the use of the elbow, combined with placing the left foot ahead of the right foot as opposed to the left foot even with the right foot which I have been doing up till now, and combined with twisting the body a little to my right during the shot. I introduced three innovations simultaneously today, yet still the shooting percentage was high.

Something about twisting my body to my right, putting the left foot ahead of the right foot, and putting emphasis on the elbow naturally appeals to me. Perhaps it has to do with my youth as a lightweight, underfed, undersized punk trying to play basketball with the big boys.

General Notes

My feeling is that police have been too harsh on me with regards to trivial errors I have made while being heterosocial. This has turned me into an introvert. This beautiful woman named Heather L used to work at the Y, twice she came on to me while she was working at the Y or hanging out there, both times I was too stunned and or intimidated to respond. Once she looked at me and said, 'I'm muscular, I f- - -". Another time she looked at me smiled and said, "I do". I am not complaining about her, seeing all the stress men are under and how cops seem to have this tendency to persecute males for minor errors made during heterosocial behavior, I appreciate her. Now all this time has been wasted while I have been hesitant to talk to people who work at the Y about Heather. I think something is wrong, when I am afraid to talk to the people at the Y about someone who used to work there who came on to me, because I am afraid of getting in trouble and being barred from the Y.

Adidas Powerline crosstrainer shoes

Spalding TF-1000 Microfiber Composite Basketball, inflated to 8.0 psi as usual

Wednesday May 21 2008 308-638 PM Waltham Y	Wednesday- WC06-L nonskip combined with shooting 21' basketball shots	Wednesday again I did unscored WC06-L nonskip. Every five minutes or so, every time I did a good run, I took one to four 21' basketball shots. The basketballs used varied, the basketball shot was sometimes small, sometimes very small, often underinflated; the shooting was intermittent; nevertheless the shooting was much improved given all these handicaps. The shooting was improved because I put into effect what I had been noticing while watching good shooters in the gym, which is that they have a definite follow-through on their shot, and that I had been neglecting to follow-through with my hand and arm while shooting.	Adidas Bracara Indoors Shoes with 1 layer Propel Gel Padding; Wednesday--Adidas Replique ball inflated to 7.5 psi; weird basketballs	25
Friday May 23 2008 430-606 PM Waltham Y	96 minutes shooting pro distance 24' 3-point shots	Today I was doing basketball shooting, from a point directly in front of and 24 feet away from the basket, 24 feet is the pro distance 3 point distance; after the warmup I shot 24/57, 42% using the palm of hand off ball method which is completely new to me. I experimented, alternating between shooting with the palm of the hand on the basketball and shooting with only the fingertips touching the basketball. I took about 4 warmup shots before starting the recorded segments. Each segment was 15 minutes in length. Segment 1, palm of hand on basketball during shot: 9/31, 29%. Segment 2, palm off basketball, fingertips on basketball during shot: 7/29, 24%. Segment 3, palm of hand on basketball during shot: 12/34, 35%. Segment 4, palm off basketball, fingertips on basketball during shot: 14/30, 47%. Segment 5, palm of hand on basketball during shot: 10/27, 37%. Segment 6, palm off basketball, fingertips on basketball during shot: 10/27, 37%. Total palm of hand on basketball during shot: 31/92, 34% Total palm of hand off basketball during shot, fingertips on basketball during shot: 31/86, 36% Total both methods: 62/178, 35% Total palm of hand on basketball during shot, not counting first segment: 22/57, 39% Total palm of hand off basketball during shot, fingertips on basketball during shot: 24/57, 42% Total both methods not counting first segment of each method: 46/114, 40% I shocked myself with my performance today. These percentages were at least as good as my percentages when I was experimenting with dribbling to the corners of the free throw line and shooting swiveling 16 foot shots a few months ago. I attribute the surprisingly good performance to factors such as: I am by nature/habits a long distance not a short distance shooter; today there was about 8 hours between when I woke up and when I started shooting with plenty of exposure to daylight for my eyes prior to practice; today from about noon to two I slowly drank about 12 oz of a hot drink that combined cinnamon powder, organic black tea, organic raw Cacao powder, organic half and half, and demerara cane sugar; I ate some Lasagna and drank about 6 oz of Bolthouse C-Boost drink prior to practice. Prior to today's surprising performance, the only basketball I had done was: a few shots taken intermittently with weird balls from 21 feet day before yesterday, about 30 minutes of shooting; a total of 35 hours shooting mostly 16 footers and layups from Nov 16 2007 to Dec 19 2007 (https://www.angelfire.com/ma/vincemoon/BASKETBALLDIARYONE.htm); about 90 hours of shooting over 3 months 15 years ago; and prior to that informal basketball play during grade and high school, I have never been on any kind of official basketball team such as high school or college. Given the fact that I have spent so little time on basketball today's performance was impressive. Today using a method that I have never used before, fingertips on ball during shot palm of hand off ball during shot, after the first 15 minute warmup, I shot 24/57, 42%. By way of comparison, amongst the NBA players who scored more than 6 points per game by way of 3-point shots during the 2007-2008 season, the 4th best shooter was Rashard Lewis of Orland at 41% (http://www.nba.com/statistics/player/3PointS.jsp?league=00&season=22007&conf=OVERALL&position=0&splitType=9&qualified=N&yearsExp=-1&sortOrder=2&splitDD=All%20Teams). Last I looked into the subject, I found that players in games shoot 5% lower than they do in practice, meaning a player who shoots 40% in practice on 3 pointers shoots 35% in a game, a player who shoots 65% on 21 footers in practice shoots 60% in a game, etc. Looking at today's results, the high percentage shooting with the fingertips, despite the fact that I have never in my life shot with the fingertips and the palm of the hand off the ball, it looks like I should transition to shooting with the fingertips. Today my shooting style was: feet coming up off the ground during follow-through as opposed to a classic jump shot; shooting elbow out which is my traditional style which contradicts elbow-in as taught by coaches; thinking before a shot that: 'I've made this shot many times before, there is no reason I should not be able to make it now'; concentrating on keeping the guide hand off the ball at the time of release and following through towards the basket with my shooting hand.	Adidas Bracara Indoors Shoes with 1 layer Propel Gel Padding; Spalding TF-1000 Microfiber Composite Basketball	26