DATE/
LOCA-
TION |
RESULT/
ACTIVITY |
COMMENTS |
BALL USED/PSI
SHOES
USED |
||||
Thursday
July 3 '08
550-735 PM;
810-950 PM
Waltham Y Gym |
205 minutes
WC06-L non skip alternate between head and foot, soccer air
dribble pattern runs |
WC06-L-nonskip Head/foot
alternation air-dribble pattern in soccer
(this is the version of the WC06 in which I do not skip, but
step on each pace, while touching the ball on every pace and
alternating between touching the ball with the head and touching it
with the foot, all while keeping the ball off the ground and moving
forwards)
Runs today done without restrictions on use of eyes in
following ball.
550-605 PM: The first 15 minutes were excellent. The very first
attempt of the day was good. This segment was filled with 5 touch and 6
touch runs, the ball being touched on every pace, alternation between
touch with the foot and touch with the head, the ball not touching the
ground the entire time. This was a very significant segment
because without warmup I put together consistency and quality.
605-620 PM: Good but not as good as the first 15 mins. Suspects for
why the fall-off in performance: fatigue; stress-fatigue; great
expectations pressure, keeping track of how things were going every 15
minutes. My guess is that the culprit was stress-fatigue, meaning
that I used up my reservoir of my ability to relax, resulting in
the segment not being as good as the first segment. Such is not that bad
though because it indicates that I have the skill but have to
learn how to manage the stress. The first 15 minutes I
just thought about each touch of the ball as it came, trying to execute
each touch well. Second segment I began to worry about if I was going to
suceed with the run.
620-635 PM: Good. Lots of good off-pattern continuations. By this I
mean that I continued the run, keeping the ball close but off the ground
as I moved forwards, even if I was unable to exactly adhere to the
alternation between touch with head and touch with foot pattern.
Previously I had not had the energy or inclination to bother with
such continuations. At this point I noted that the speed of the
runs was up at the expense of other factors; but I let my spirit
run free so to speak and allowed myself to keep the speed up at the
expense of factors such as consistency anyway. I figure sometimes one
forges ahead in terms of speed, sometimes in terms of
consistency.
635-650 PM: still good, not as good as first segment. The situation
of other aspects being sacrificed to speed continued.
650 -705 PM: still good and not as good first segment; similar to
previous segment
705-720 PM: similar to previous segment. At this point it occurred to
me that it would be a wise tactic to practice just the first two
touches of the runs, since I was having the most problem with the
first touch and the first touch being off was the culprit for the
subsequent touches being off. But I figured such would be boring.
At least I am learning to deal with the first touch being off and
producing good runs anyway.
720-735 PM: Good again, not as good as first segment. I noted that I
am running into the wall that is approx 9-10 yds away from the start point
now on a regular basis, after just 4-5 touches with the ball still under
control; this makes the state of things seem worse than they really are
because it deprives me of the pleasure of gloating over runs
featuring six touches, all with the ball tightly controlled and
kept off the ground.
Generally today was I felt an important turning point, today
showed I will soon be able to combine consistency and quality on this
pattern. I am light years ahead of where I was when I started
doing this pattern, when I was grading myself on how many four touch runs
I made per hour regardless of quality. The runs are much more accurate
directionally speaking now; they are much faster, with the ball still more
tightly controlled; the distance traveled per touch is much greater; I am
developing the ability to continue the runs despite mis-touches; I am
developing the ability to change directions; I am developing the ability
and inclination to continue the runs with tight control despite deviation
from the alternation between head and foot on every pace prescribed
pattern. I am sure that my air-dribbling ability in general has
been much improved by working on this most difficult of patterns.
I am glad that I made the decision to do the most difficult patterns
featuring the most touches per second first before the other patterns I am
convinced this was a wise decision, in an earlier entry I discussed the
basis for this difficult decision. Undoubtedly, I will soon become
deadly on this pattern to the point where I will be a
dangerous world-class threat for even the
toughest
world-class defenses. Watching the
finals of the 2008 European Championships I was reminded of the fact that
traditional ground-hugging offenses simply do not work
against the best defenses.
Today I let my eyes do whatever they wanted to do in following the
ball; seemed that when I allow my eyes to do whatever they want,
they follow the ball about half way down from the apex of the arc towards
the foot. |
Adidas Bracara Indoors Shoes with 1
layer Propel Gel Padding;
Adidas Replique ball inflated to 7.5
psi |
||||
Monday
July 7
920-1000 PM
Gary Gilmore Playground
High & Hall streets, Waltham MA |
40 minutes WC06-L foot/head alternation, nonskip, soccer air-dribble drills A small can of cold Starbucks brand double-shot expresso coffee was
all I consumed prior to the practice |
WC06-L-nonskip head/foot
alternation air-dribble pattern in soccer
(in this version of WC06 I do not skip, but step on each
pace, while alternating between touching the ball with the head and
touching it with the left foot)
Runs today done without restrictions on use of eyes in following
ball.
The sun had set but the bright white lights were on. The practice
went well right from the start, a good combination of consistency in
accomplishing the patterned runs and quality of runs. It felt good to
be in an environment different from the YMCA indoors, surrounded by
a crowd more numerous than the Y crowd, different from the Y crowd--the
outdoors teenage boys crowd, that habitually loudly compares me to the
greatest soccer players of all time. I'm sure the boys out there saw at
least some of the high quality runs I executed.
I put into practice the psychological lessons I learned in the
previous practice. I did not fatalistically look up the day as a bad day
or a good day. I did not worry about my attitude. I concentrated on:
concentration, focus, energy, quickness, effort.
Today again I noticed a phenomenon that I have noticed previously but
not commented on. Today I found that yet again, a change of scene of some
kind helped me to improve. Seems as if if I do a soccer drill in the
exact same place every day, I do not improve as fast; I estimate that this
is because the same old scenery brings back memories of the times when I
was relatively incompetent at performing the given drill.
In the YMCA when I first began attempting to perform the very
difficult drill I performed well today, I was always moving in a northern
direction on the west side of the gym. Then one day I switched over to
moving in an eastern direction starting in the middle of the gym and all
of a sudden things got better.
|
Adidas Bracara Indoors Shoes with 1
layer Propel Gel Padding;
Adidas Replique ball inflated to 7.5
psi |
||||
Tuesday
July 8 '08
420-525 PM; BREAK, 825-945 PM
Waltham Y Gym |
105 minutes pitching baseball, with 3/4 and overhead style.
I had nothing to eat during the day prior to both the first part and
the latter second part of the practice. All I consumed was prior to and
during the practices was electrolyte water and the Glaceau brand 'vitamin
water that contains some cane sugar
I was in a sleep deprived state having had only 2 hours of sleep in
the 24 hours preceding the practice |
Baseball Pitching:
Used a soft 5 oz Reebok ball to practice pitching at a
20 inch wide, 24 inch high target, bottom edge 9" above the ground (I was
not on a mound) on the wall 18 yards from where I pitched the ball
(red sideline of basketball court). Closed my eyes after swinging
the arms back, and before raising the arms to chest high prior to
throwing the ball; kept eyes closed until AFTER ball released.
Experimented with 3/4 style (arm at 45 degree angle) and overhead
style.
Released ball just before foot hit ground; no elaborate old-fashioned
windup before pitch thrown, pitching 'from stretch'.
All pitches thrown were scored from the beginning. There were no
unscored warm-up pitches.
From the beginning I took detailed notes re how I threw
the ball when I pitched a strike. B means ball, S means strike.
7B S for example, means 7 balls were thrown and then a strike. CC means
counterclockwise. Wr means the wrist was an important part of the
delivery. CC-wr means the wrist turned counterclockwise as the ball
was delivered--remember I am a lefty. For example, body+elbow+wrist
means these three parts of the body were the primary forces in the pitch;
body+wr means body and wrist were the primary forces; wr alone means
the wrist was the primary force. Dart means the pitch was thrown
similar to the way people throw darts. Avg speed means the pitch was
thrown at what is for me an average speed; avg+ means the pitch was above
average in speed; avg- means the pitch was below average in speed but
faster than slow; slow means the pitch was slow in speed; fast means the
pitch was fast in speed; sp means speed; forward lean means I
emphasized leaning forwards during the pitch; energy means I emphasized
being energetic during the pitch; zip means approx the same thing as
energy; long step forwards means during the delivery I stepped forwards an
unusually long length prior to releasing the ball; forward stretch means
approx the same thing as long step forwards; arm means the arm was a major
force in propelling the ball forwards; elbow means approx the same thing
as arm; deliv means delivery; hand down/up prior to delivery means that
while pitching sidearm, my hand moved first towards the ground and then up
towards the ceiling prior to releasing the ball;
In parentheses after an S I note how I threw the strike when I threw
it:
Results:
(10/30 means out of 30 pitches 10 balls were strikes)
1 420-435 PM, 3/4 style: 6/30, 20%. Several pitches
narrowly missed strike zone.
B S; 7B S; B S; S; 13B S (slow sp, body, cc-wrist); S (slow, body);
BB
2 440-455 PM, overhead or 'over the top' style:
5/31, 16%.
B S (slow, body); 12B S (medium sp, body+wr); 4B S (med sp, body+wr,
cc-wr); 3B S (cc-wr, med sp, body+wr, dart); S (med sp, body+wr, dart);
6B
3 455-510 PM, 3/4 style: 6/26, 23%.
8B S (med sp, body+wr, cc-wr); 2B S (med sp, body+wr); 4B S (med sp,
body+wr, cc-wr, forward lean); S (med sp, body+wr, cc-wr); S (body+wr,
cc-wr, med sp, forward lean, energy); 2B S (body+wr, cc-wr, med sp,
forward lean, energy); 4B
4 510-525 PM, overhead or 'over the top' style, 6/27, 22%. I
was 6 strikes in 13 pitches, 46%, until I pooped out; then I
threw 14 straight balls. Before I pooped out I felt I had stumbled upon an
important principle: to be accurate, you have to put energy into a
pitch, even if you do not throw the pitch fast...pitching is an
energetic activity...it is different from shooting a
basketball...shooting a basketball I can be very accurate while
being sort of unenergetic and wet-noodlish, with shooting a
basketball, too much energy throws off the shot...but pitching a baseball
is different.
3B S (energy, body+wr, med sp, forward lean); 2B S (energy,
body+wr, forward lean, med sp); B S (energy, body+wr, cc-wr, forward lean,
med sp); S (body+wr, forward lean, energy, med sp); S (body+wr, forward
lean, energy, slow sp); B S (body+wr, med sp, cc-wr, energy);
14B.
At this point due to scheduled activities in the gym, I had to break
for 3 hours. When I returned from the break I was much more tired than I
was prior to the break.
5 825-840 PM, 3/4 style, 4/30, 13%.
8B S (energy, zip, arm); 2B S (zip, concentration, arm); 9B S (zip,
energy); 2B S (body, long step forward, arm, energy); 5B
6 840-855 PM, overhead or 'over the top' style, 4/27, 15%. Several
pitches narrowly missed the strike zone
2B S (forward lean, body, arm, zip, med sp); 17B S (slow, forward
stretch, cc-wr); 3B S (slow, forward stretch, body+arm); 1B S (slow,
forward stretch); B.
7 855-910 PM, 3/4 style, 8/29, 28%.
2B S (forward stretch, cc-wr, arm, slow sp); 5B S (slow sp, cc-wr,
arm, forward stretch); 2B S (slow, cc-wr, forward stretch, body+arm); B S
(slow, cc-wr, arm); 8B S (slow, arm, cc-wr); S (slow, arm, cc-wr); B S
(slow, arm); 2B S (slow, arm, cc-wr).
8 914-929 PM, overhead 'over the top' style, 6/30, 20%. Several close
calls (pitches narrowly missed str zone).
8B S (arm/elbow+cc-wr, slow sp); S (slow, arm/elbow); 7B S (stretch
forward, cc-wr, arm/elbow, slow sp); 9B S (med sp, elbow+wr); S (slow,
elbow); S (slow, elbow).
9 930-945 PM, SIDEARM (first sidearm
pitching ever for me), 6/33, 18%.
2B S (med sp, cc-wr); 4B S (fast sp, cc-wr, hand down/up prior to
deliv); 4B S (fast sp, cc-wr, hand down/up prior to deliv); 5B S (fast sp,
cc-wr, hand down/up prior to deliv); 6B S (fast sp, cc-wr, hand down/up
prior to deliv, delay while rocking back on rear ft prior to deliv); 6B S
(fast sp, cc-wr, hand down/up prior to deliv, delay while rocking back on
rear ft prior to deliv).
What happened today was that it took me 87 pitches to get warmed up,
this warmup time was extended due to alternating back and
forth between different pitching styles. Then I learned that I had to
pitch energetically even if I was not pitching fastballs, and there were 6
strikes in 13 attempts. Then after having pitched 100
pitches I tired, and threw 14 balls in a row. Then I had to break
for 3 hours.
Again today I noticed that I have a problem with recognizing
when I am too tired to throw pitchers at a velocity that is faster than
slow; and then it takes me time to adjust to pitching
slow. I have to learn to recognize when I am at the point
where I have to slow down and I have to learn to switch from medium speed
pitching to slow pitching without loss of accuracy.
After the break, mental and physical fatigue and lack of warmup
caused a 13% and a 15% segment. Then I adjusted to pitching at a slow
speed and for the first time since I began pitching May 22, as a
way of dealing with the fatigue, my elbow became the dominant
force in the pitch as I pitched a 28% strikes segment.
I ended the day impressing the hell out
of myself with my sidearm pitching. The 9th
segment today was the first time I have ever pitched sidearm and I was
pitching with my eyes closed. Though I had become
too tired to pitch at a high speed using the 3/4 and overhead styles, I
found that a speed that for me is now 'fast' came naturally with the
sidearm style. The sidearm style pitches were faster than
any pitches I have thrown using the 3/4 or the overhead styles and they
were accurate given the circumstances. Several narrowly missed the strike
zone. The speed came effortlessly.
As soon as I started pitching sidearm, I realized that
sidearm pitching is much more similar to the movements of the body when
air-dribbling a soccer ball, compared to 3/4 style and overhead or 'over
the top' style pitching. The whole spirit of sidearm pitching resembles
the spirit of soccer air-dribbling much more than 3/4 style or overhead
pitching.
It appears that there really is something called beginners luck. I
have not been able to equal my performance of the second day I pitched
blind (eyes closed) on May 28, in terms of strikes percentage. Also
looking at the sidearm segment today, the number of balls pitched between
strikes grew gradually greater and greater as the segment wore on.
Today I was thinking that I have something to learn from this kind of
degeneration. I was thinking, could it be that beginner's luck has
to do with beginners having a certain kind of applicable good attitude?
Beginners are humble, beginners are careful.
The table summarizing my baseball pitching stats from May 22 '08 to
the present:
|
Adidas Bracara Indoors Shoes with 1 layer Propel Gel
Padding;
Reebok official 5 oz soft
training baseball |
||||
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.
|
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:
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:
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:
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 |
||||
Monday
July 14 '08
708-930 PM;
410-730 PM
Waltham Y Gym |
342 minutes
WC06-L non skip alternate between head and foot, soccer air
dribble pattern runs
Had double strength tea and all the juices minerals pills oils
etc before the morning segment. Then after the morning segment a burrito
and a cup of coffee.
Nothing prior to evening segment. |
WC06-L-nonskip Head/foot
alternation air-dribble pattern in soccer
(this is the version of the WC06 in which I do not skip, but
step on each pace, while touching the ball on every pace and
alternating between touching the ball with the head and touching it
with the foot, all while keeping the ball off the ground and moving
forwards)
Runs today done without restrictions on use of eyes in
following ball.
708-930 PM: The runs that succeeded in adhering to pattern
continued to be good-excellent, and the percentage of attempts that
produced successful pattern-adherence runs continued to rise. At 930 PM
the day campers entered the gym aborting the practice. My attitude was
that true as I fatigue my performance will go down but cutting short
practices because of this is not wise.
410-730 PM: Started up the practice again in the
evening. Until about 700 PM had my best hours
ever doing this drill. By 700 PM I felt like I am finally, after a few
practices of stagnation, on the verge of mastering this
drill. The quality of the runs that adhered to pattern
continued to be very good-excellent; the percentage of the attempts that
adhered to pattern was way up. I had nothing to eat before practice,
except a burrito consumed about 6 hours before practice, and the 'energy'
version of the vitamin water during the practice. I got to thinking, even
the healthiest stuff in the world, if consumed before practice, can impair
performance as blood moves from the brain to the stomach to process what
has been consumed; even the healthiest stuff in the world, does not exert
its beneficial effects on the body until it has been processed by the body
which takes time.
In this second segment I was thinking that what is clever about the
foot-head alternation is, that if the head misses the ball, the foot can
catch the ball and continue the air-dribble. Today there were
several runs that covered the entire ten yards despite diverging from the
prescribed foot-head alternation (for example third touch foot, fourth
touch also foot, with ball never touching ground and ball still touched
once per pace).
In the second segment I was watching the Puerto-Rican Y-staffer named
Daniel play a black teenager one on one in basketball. Daniel's shooting
was excellent. Seemed that watching him sort of impaired my soccer
performance.
When I started the second segment I had been awake for about 13.5
hours, had already practiced hard for about 2.5 hours earlier in the day.
I felt like the fatigue I felt sort of relaxed my and suppressed excess
mental activity, and that this combined with not not having consumed any
solid food prior to practice , was a major source of the excellent
performance in the evening segment.
Overall during the day the runs that adhered to pattern were
very-good to excellent: fast, long, 4-6 touches over 10 yards, straight,
tightly controlled-- as usual the ball being touched on every pace, kept
off the ground over the entire run, alternation between touch with foot
and touch with head.
Daniel and Anthony Frongillo were boxing/sparring right next to me
while I did the drills; reminded me of how I had earlier noted that the
soccer air-dribble is like boxing,.
Today I let my eyes do whatever they wanted to do in following the
ball; seemed that when I allow my eyes to do whatever they want,
they follow the ball about half way down from the apex of the arc towards
the foot. |
Adidas Bracara Indoors Shoes with 1
layer Propel Gel Padding;
Adidas Replique ball inflated to 7.5
psi |
||||
Tuesday
July 15 '08
350-530 PM; Waltham Y Gym |
100 minutes pitching baseball, with 3/4 and overhead style.
Had just some fruit juice, bolthouse mango etc, and double strength
tea before the start of the practice.
Had been awake for approx 6 hours when the practice started.
|
Baseball Pitching:
Used a soft 5 oz Reebok ball to practice pitching at a
20 inch wide, 24 inch high target, bottom edge 9" above the ground (I was
not on a mound) on the wall 18 yards from where I pitched the ball
(red sideline of basketball court). Closed my eyes after swinging
the arms back, and before raising the arms to chest high prior to
throwing the ball; kept eyes closed until AFTER ball released.
Experimented with 3/4 style (arm at 45 degree angle) and overhead
style.
Released ball just before foot hit ground; no elaborate old-fashioned
windup before pitch thrown, pitching 'from stretch'.
All pitches thrown were scored from the beginning. There were no
unscored warm-up pitches.
From the beginning I took detailed notes re how I threw
the ball when I pitched a strike. B means ball, S
means strike. 7B S for example, means 7 balls were thrown and then a
strike. CC means counterclockwise. Wr means the wrist was an important
part of the delivery. CC-wr means the wrist turned
counterclockwise as the ball was delivered--remember I am a lefty.
For example, body+elbow+wrist means these three parts of the body
were the primary forces in the pitch; body+wr means body and wrist were
the primary forces; wr alone means the wrist was the primary
force. Dart means the pitch was thrown similar to the way people
throw darts. Avg speed means the pitch was thrown at what is for me
an average speed; avg+ means the pitch was above average in speed; avg-
means the pitch was below average in speed but faster than slow; slow
means the pitch was slow in speed; fast means the pitch was fast in speed;
sp means speed; forward lean means I emphasized leaning forwards
during the pitch; energy means I emphasized being energetic during the
pitch; zip means approx the same thing as energy; long step forwards means
during the delivery I stepped forwards an unusually long length prior to
releasing the ball; forward stretch means approx the same thing as long
step forwards; arm means the arm was a major force in propelling the ball
forwards; elbow means approx the same thing as arm; deliv means delivery;
hand down/up prior to delivery means that while pitching sidearm, my hand
moved first towards the ground and then up towards the ceiling prior to
releasing the ball; balanced=all parts of the body involved in the pitch;
body (noted by itself)=force of pitch primarily from the body as opposed
to arm or wrist; b6" etc means the ball missed the strike zone by 6
inches or whatever number is given after the B; In parentheses after an S I note how I threw the strike when I
threw it:
Results:
(10/30 means out of 30 pitches 10 balls were strikes)
1 350-405 PM, overhead style: 4/32, 13%. Several pitches
narrowly missed strike zone.
4B S (med sp, balanced, all parts body involved); 6B S (med sp,
balanced, all parts of body); 4B S (body, slow sp); S (body);14B
2 405-420 PM, three-quarters style: 7/25,
28%.
5B S (med sp, body); 2B S (body, cc-wrist); S (med sp, body+wr);
5B S (body, cc-wrist, med sp); S (body+wrist, med sp); 7B S (body+wr,
med sp); S (body+wr, med sp, cc-wr).
3 420-435 PM, overhead style, BALL PITCHED AT MAX SPEED: 1/21,
5%; balls missing be 12" or less divided by pitches: 7/21,
33%.
B6"; B12"; 3B; B15"; B, B8'; 3B; B12'; B9"; 3B; S (balnced,
body+arm+wrist); B9"; B12".
4 435-450 PM, 3/4 style, BALL PITCHED AT MAX SPEED:
5/25, 20%; balls missing be 12" or less divided by pitches: 6/25,
24%.
B12"; 5B; S (body+cc=wr); B7"; B; S (blanced, cc-wrist); B8"; S
(balanced+wrist); 3B; S (balanced); 5B; B8"; B8"; B12"; S (balanced,
cc-wrist).
5 455-510 PM, overhand style, BALL PITCHED AT MAX SPEED:
3/29, 10%; balls missing be 12" or less divided by pitches: 6/29,
21%. Tired.
5B S (balanced, body); 11B; B6"; B, B12"; B, B12"; B3"; B; S
(balanced, body low, hand close to body when ball released); S (balanced,
body low, hand close to body when ball released); B12"; B, B6";
6 517--530 PM, 3/4 style, BALL PITCHED AT MAX SPEED: 2/17,
12%; balls missing be 12" or less divided by pitches: 6/17,
35%. Tired and arm sore.
3B; B11"; B13"; B6"; S (perfect, slight cc-wrist, body low, hand
close to body during delivery); 2B, B12"; B12"; 3B; B15"; S (perfect, body
low, hand close to body during delivery, body+arm); 3B.
At the end of the practice I was guessing that I was throwing close
to 90 mph, this without a mound or a rubber. Seems someone who was in
a better position to judge the speed than myself thought I was close to 90
mph also; but later I began to feel that close to 90 mph might be an
exaggeration.
Baseball almanac (http://www.baseball-almanac.com/articles/fastest-pitcher-in-baseball.shtml) in
discussing a pitcher (Dalkowski) who may have been the fastest
pitcher of all time mentioned how it was believed that the
absence of a pitching mound slowed a pitcher's speed by 5-8 mph,
the implication being that a pitcher throws around 7.5% faster
when he is on a mound compared to when he is not on a mound. I am
throwing without a mound or a rubber. Also I am very new to pitching and
have never been coached. Thus one could assume given a 5% improvement due
to coaching and 5% due to continued practicing, that on a
mound after having done more pitching and after having been coached I
would be about 20% faster than my fastest now. This means that if I can
pitch 83 mph now I will eventually be able to pitch 100 mph from a mound
using a rubber. I am just guessing that coaching and continued training
will/would both improve my speed by 5% each. Today was just my tenth day
pitching the first day being May 22. I have never been coached in
pitching, never eaten like a pro, never done any pitcher's type
weight-training, never done steroids, never taken human growth
hormone. The table summarizing my baseball pitching stats from May 22 '08 to
the present:
|
Adidas Bracara Indoors Shoes with 1 layer Propel Gel
Padding;
Reebok official 5 oz soft
training baseball |
||||
Wednesday
July 16
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.
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 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:
|
Adidas Bracara Indoors Shoes with 1 layer Propel Gel
Padding;
Spalding TF-1000 Microfiber Composite Basketball,
inflated to 8.0 psi as usual |
||||
Thursday
July 17 '08
620-950 PM;
Waltham Y Gym |
210 minutes
WC06-L non skip alternate between head and foot, soccer air
dribble pattern runs
1000-100 PM, slowly drank big iced coffee I got from Exxon Tigermart;
ate a few shrimp. Ate a whopper jr, french fries, potato chips half an
hour before starting practice.
Drank plenty of the Glaceau brand 'energy vitaminwater' during the
practice.
|
WC06-L-nonskip Head/foot
alternation air-dribble pattern in soccer
(this is the version of the WC06 in which I do not skip, but
step on each pace, while touching the ball on every pace and
alternating between touching the ball with the head and touching it
with the foot, all while keeping the ball off the ground and moving
forwards)
Runs today done without restrictions on use of eyes in
following ball.
The skill level improved about 700 PM, meaning it took about 40
minutes today to warmup to max skill level, probably due to the
consumption of food immediately before the practice started. From
700-830 PM the skill level was as good as it ever has been with the is
drill. Then from 830-950 PM the skill level declined due to
fatigue. But there were excellent runs from beginning to end. The final
run of the day, at around 946 PM, was an excellent example of pattern
adherence: straight, tightly controlled, fast, six touches on ball over
the ten yards, (with of course ball never touching ground); ball touched
on every pace, alternation between touch with head and touch with
foot.
Today and the previous day doing soccer were similar in
terms of performance level; on both of these days I did better than I ever
have on this drill.
I covered 10 yards using four to six touches on the ball
whenever I succeeded in adhering to pattern today.
Stayed up standing or running or walking for the entire 3.5 hours
today.
Today I felt like I had more strength and endurance for this
drill than I ever have had. I attribute this in large measure to
the marathon 342 minute practice session of the previous soccer day (it
involved 142 minutes nonstop, a break, then 200 minutes nonstop). Such
long practice sessions allow me to sleep well which helps to produce
strength and endurance.
In the final hour or so of practice I rewarded myself for
unusually good runs by giving myself time in front of the fan, and/or time
wandering the air-conditioned hallway, and sips of the great-tasting
'vitaminwater'. This seemed to increase the number of attempts I made.
Towards the end of the practice I was feeling annoyed by what seemed
to me to be a fairly large percentage of the local population. It seemed
to me that this segment has the following annoying attitude: 'my demeanor
compared to your demeanor is more childish, more conceited, more shallow,
more supercilious, more caffeinated, more hyper, and more mean than your
demeanor is, and so I am better than you'.
Note From Dreamland:
Some time during the past week I had the following dream:
I was a forward on the USA soccer team. We were playing
France. I scored 4 goals and the USA beat France. On one of the
goals that I scored, the French goalie was looking off to his right, and
was near the goalpost to his right, a few yards in front of the goal-line.
It seemed he did not see me. He left the goal wide open. A ball rolled
towards me from the direction of the goal and on one touch I shot it into
the goal and scored.
The one-touch element in this dream reminded me of the dream about
playing on the the Iran soccer team and doing well by producing alot of
one-touch passes involving me kicking a ball that rolled towards me to a
team-mate without stopping the ball and controlling it before passing it.
|
Adidas Bracara Indoors Shoes with 1
layer Propel Gel Padding;
Adidas Replique ball inflated to 7.5
psi |
||||
Friday
July 18
Waltham Y Gym
350-640 PM;
815-930 PM |
170 minutes
Experiments with shooting with eyes closed from 24 feet
large glass iced coffee bought at Exxon Tigermart
consumed 1000 AM-1100 PM;
Cold Italian sub eaten approx 2 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 2 hours before practice started.
Had been awake for approx 7 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,
experimenting in 6 different segments with 6 different ways of
shooting
Bounced back from degeneration of previous day and shot 32% in total counting all six styles
including the two new styles; M5 (new method)
segment was 14/31 45%. Consumed every nutrient
available prior to practice seeing that fatigue seemed to be a
problem in the previous basketball practice.
I bet'cha it is really tough and scary for almost anybody, to
try to equal my performances shooting blind from 24 feet
out.
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.
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 the first three 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. The last
three segments, I paused while eyeing the basket before the shot for
whatever time period seemed natural.
Today was very hot and humid, I was sweating hard just from shooting
shots. I felt like while eyeing the basket prior to a shot, stress would
build up which reminded me of opposing teams calling timeout when a field
goal kicker on the other team has to kick a field goal, so as to stress
out the field goal kicker. The droning of the fans (machines
creating wind) in the room, combined with the heat would sort of make me
feel sleepy as I eyed the basket for an extended time period prior to the
shot. So after the first three segments I abandoned the eyeing the basket
for an unusually long period of time thing.
Segment 1 350-415 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: 2/6, 3/10, 4/14, 5/19, 6/27, 7/28, 8/29,
8/32). 4 shots 'in/out', very close.
Segment 2 415-440 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: 1/3, 2/8, 3/9, 4/14, 5/15, 6/18, 7/21, 8/22, 9/26,
10/31). The M4 style is the style that collapsed disastrously to 13% in
the previous basketball practice.
Segment 3 445-510 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: 10/33,
30% (progression of baskets-made/attempts: 1/1, 22/3, 3/4,
4/8, 5/12, 6/19, 7/22, 8/23, 9/27, 10/31). 4 shots very close,
in/out.
Approximately at this time I decided to abandon the extended pause
while staring at the basket prior to shooting. Segment 4 510-535 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: 13/39, 33% (progression of
baskets-made/attempts: 1/1, 2/2, 3/7, 4/9, 5/11, 6/13, 7/15, 8/17, 9/21,
10/25, 11/30, 12/31, 13/36, 13/39). 5 shots very close, 'in and
out'.
Segment 5 545-610 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):
14/31, 45% (progression
of baskets-made/attempts: 1/1, 2/4, 3/5, 4/7, 5/9, 6/14, 7/15, 8/16, 9/19,
10/22, 11/23, 12/25, 13/29, 14/31). The shooting went so well that I did
not keep count re how many shots almost went in.
Segment 6 615-640 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): 7/29,
24% (progression of baskets-made/attempts: 1/7, 2/10, 3/13,
4/17, 5/19, 6/21, 7/23, 7/29). 8 shots very close, in/out.
Notes on the Practice: Overall the shooting was 62/195 which is 32%. So I
bounced back from the disaster of the previous basketball day. Still I
must admit that throughout the practice, that nauseated feeling that I had
during and after the segment July 16 when I shot only 13%, was still
with me, inside of me. Nevertheless, and despite the extreme heat and
humidity, I somehow managed to touch it out and shoot over 30% for
the day. Notably today, segment 5, using
the new M5 shooting style which is elbow pointed sideways (rebellion vs coaches) and only area from fingerpads
at top of palm to fingertips touching ball (conforms
to dictates of majority of coaches), was at 45%.
Today I felt that a major reason for
a large number of the missed shots is simply a lack of style, divergence
from good form. So I resolve in the future to devoting a basketball
practice day to shooting with good style.
Today after the first three segments I abandoned the extended pause
while eyeing the basket before a shot method. It just did not seem
natural to me and it seemed that it put me to sleep while at the same time
building up nervous tension. Before I abandoned the extended pause
before the shot, I shot 29%; after I abandoned the extended pause I
shot 34%.
Today I resolved that in the future I should split up the
extended pause while eyeing the basket, and the ultra-low crouch prior to
shooting, when it comes to experimentation. Heretofore, I have
been either crouching ultra-low combined with an extended pause while
eyeing the basket or doing neither. But the two are separate things.
While doing the forwards and backwards dribbling with my right hand
(I shoot with my left) in between shots today I noticed that
dribbling using the area between the fingerpads at the top of the
palm and the fingertips seems to work at least as well with this kind of
dribbling as dribbling with the palm of the hand. It is
the dribbling with the fingertips alone that does not work as well as the
palm of the hand with this kind of dribbling. Yet another example of the importance of speaking precisely
when discussing basketball techniques. With this kind of
dribbling forwards and backwards sometimes you simply have to use the palm
of the hand.
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:
|
Adidas Bracara Indoors Shoes with 1 layer Propel Gel
Padding;
Spalding TF-1000 Microfiber Composite Basketball,
inflated to 8.0 psi as usual |
||||
Saturday
July 19
Waltham Y Gym
425-720 PM;
815-930 PM |
175 minutes (120 minutes actually pitching) pitching baseball,
with submarine and sidearm style.
medium glass iced coffee bought at Exxon Tigermart
consumed 100 PM-300 PM;
about a quarter of a chorizo burrito, some beans, some guacamole
eaten approx 2 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 1 hour before practice started.
Had been awake for approx 7 hours when practice started.
Glaeau 'energy vitaminwater' consumed during practice session.
|
Baseball Pitching:
Used a soft 5 oz Reebok ball to practice pitching at a
20 inch wide, 24 inch high target, bottom edge 9" above the ground (I was
not on a mound) on the wall 18 yards from where I pitched the ball
(red sideline of basketball court). Closed my eyes before starting
foot movements involved in pitch; kept eyes closed until AFTER ball
released. Experimented with submarine and sidearm
style.
In one sidearm segment 85% of the pitches
were strikes or missed the strike zone by a foot or less; in one submarine
segment 83% of the pitches were strikes or missed the strike zone by a
foor or less.
Released ball just before foot hit ground; no elaborate old-fashioned
windup before pitch thrown, pitching 'from stretch'.
All pitches thrown were scored from the beginning. There were no
unscored warm-up pitches.
From the beginning I took detailed notes re how I threw
the ball when I pitched a strike. B means ball, S
means strike. 7B S for example, means 7 balls were thrown and then a
strike. CC means counterclockwise. Wr means the wrist was an important
part of the delivery. CC-wr means the wrist turned
counterclockwise as the ball was delivered--remember I am a lefty.
For example, body+elbow+wrist means these three parts of the body
were the primary forces in the pitch; body+wr means body and wrist were
the primary forces; wr alone means the wrist was the primary
force. Dart means the pitch was thrown similar to the way people
throw darts. Avg speed means the pitch was thrown at what is for me
an average speed; avg+ means the pitch was above average in speed; avg-
means the pitch was below average in speed but faster than slow; slow
means the pitch was slow in speed; fast means the pitch was fast in speed;
sp means speed; forward lean means I emphasized leaning forwards
during the pitch; energy means I emphasized being energetic during the
pitch; zip means approx the same thing as energy; long step forwards means
during the delivery I stepped forwards an unusually long length prior to
releasing the ball; forward stretch means approx the same thing as long
step forwards; arm means the arm was a major force in propelling the ball
forwards; elbow means approx the same thing as arm; deliv means delivery;
hand down/up prior to delivery means that while pitching sidearm, my hand
moved first towards the ground and then up towards the ceiling prior to
releasing the ball; balanced=all parts of the body involved in the pitch;
body (noted by itself)=force of pitch primarily from the body as opposed
to arm or wrist; b6" etc means the ball missed the strike zone by 6
inches or whatever number is given after the B (for balls that missed by
less than 13"); In parentheses after an S
I note how I threw the strike when I threw it:
Results:
How to read the numbers: 10/30 means out of 30 pitches 10 balls were
strikes; this is followed by percent pitches that were strikes; next
figure, example: B<13": 7(10")/28, 25% means: 7 out of the 28 pitches
were balls that missed by less than 13 inches, the balls that missed by
less than 13 inches missed by an average of 10 inches, 25% of the pitches
were balls that missed by less than 13 inches. 4B 5B etc means there
were four balls in a row that missed the strike zone by more than a foot;
B by itself means one pitch that missed the zone by more than a foot.
All the segments involved 15 minutes of pitching though some took
longer than 15 minutes, due to various delays.
1 425-440 PM, submarine style, fast: 2/28, 7%; B<13": 7(10")/28,
25%:
4B, B12", 2B, S (long slow arm action, late release, fast speed); B,
B7", 2B, B8", 5B, B10", 2B, B12", B12", B, B8", 2B, S (late release, fast
sp, ball released about as late as possible, cc-wrist).
This was the first time in my life I threw submarine
style. I threw fast even though it was the first segment, because
a fast speed is natural with me submarine style, and at this point I
thought I was unable to throw submarine style slowly with accuracy.
2 450-510 PM, sidearm style, fast: 1/33, 3%; B<13":
7(11")/33, 21%:
7B, B12", B12", B, B12", 3B, B12", S (body, arm low, late release);
4B, B12", 3B, B12", 5B, B3", 2B.
I threw fast even though it was the first sidearm
segment, because a fast speed is natural with me sidearm style,
and at this point I thought I was unable to throw sidearm style slowly
with accuracy. By the end of this segment the outside of the elbow on my
left throwing arm hurt.
3 515-530 PM, submarine style, "medium speed": 4/27, 15%;
B<13": 11(9")/27, 41%:
B, B10", B, S (low body/arm, late release, cc-wrist); B, B5", B5",
B5", B12", S (long forward kick, late low release); B12", B, S (long
forward kick, delay on rear foot, low forward release); B12", B, B12",
B10", 4B, B12", B, S (lead foot planted before release); B, B5", B.
This segment I realized that planting the lead foot before releasing
the ball is more natural with the submarine style than it is with other
styles. But such is not my style as of now. I resolved to experiment with
planting the lead foot before releasing the ball when throwing submarine
style at some time in the future but I decided that for today I would
continue to release the ball before planting the lead foot on every
pitch.
4 515-530 PM, sidearm style, "medium
speed": 6/19, 32%; B<13": 10(9")/19, 53%:
B, S (balanced, late release, throwing arm maintaining constant
vertical height during delivery); S (constant vertical height for throwing
arm); B, B5", B5", S (balanced, throwing hand starts delivery low and
back, constant vertical hand height for throwing hand); B12", B, B12", S
(balanced, throwing hand starts low, then constant vertical throwing hand
height); B5", B10", S (balanced, throwing hand starts low, then constant
vertical throwing hand height); S (same as previous strike); B7", B12",
B7", B12".
85% of the pitches in this segment missed
the strike zone by less than 13" or were strikes.
551-559 PM: I pitched very "slowly", without keeping score, submarine
and sidearm style. I proved to myself that I am indeed capable of
pitching at a speed that I call "slow", using the submarine and sidearm
style, while maintaining a reasonable level of accuracy.
5 600-618 PM, submarine style, "slow": 6/17, 35%; B<13":
5(9")/17, 29%:
B S (throwing hand started way back, low body, balanced); B4", B,
B10", S (balanced, late release, long forward kick); S (balanced, late
release, throwing hand started low and back, pause on rear foot); B, B12",
3B, S (low body, balanced, late release, throwing hand started low and
back); S (cc-wrist, throwing hand started low, balanced); B8", S
(cc-wrist, late release, balanced), B10".
Note that I put the word slow in quotes. I tried to slow the pitches
down as much as possible. Later in the practice a young black man
named Robert from Uganda was watching me pitch submarine style. I threw a
pitch that missed the strike zone by 7 inches. Robert cheered. He said,
"whooo! That was fast!". He thought a pitch that I label as slow was
fast. Maybe they are fast from the perspective of mankind in
general even though from my individual perspective they are
slow. 6 620-640 PM, sidearm style, "slow": 4/19, 21%; B<13":
8(9")/19, 42%:
B, S (perfect strike, throwing hand started back, body, constant
vertical throwing hand height); S (body, throwing hand started with ball
low, then came up and maintained a constant vertical height); B12", B4",
B9", B, B10", B, B, S (extra long forwards kick, pronounced
follow-through); B, B12", B, B, B11", S (extra long forward kick, body,
late release, constant vertical throwing hand height); B2", B10".
7 645-701 PM, submarine style,
"slow": 5/17, 29%; B<13": 9(10")/17, 53%:
S (perfect strike, throwing hand started low and rear, low body, long
forwards kick); B5", B12", B12", S (body, long kick, smooth arm); B6",
B12", S (body, throwing hand started low, delay on rear leg); B, B8",
B12", S (low body, long kick); B7" (this was the pitch that I
thought was slow but Robert from Uganda thought was impressively
fast); B12", S (body low, throwing hand started low and back,
long kick); B; S (delay on rear foot with body low).
82% of the pitches in this segment missed
the strike zone by less than 13" or were
strikes. 8 705-720 PM, sidearm style, "slow": 6/21, 29%; B<13":
8(7.5")/21, 36%:
B12", S (throwing hand started high and back, constant vertical
throwing hand height, body); S (same as previous strike); B, S (throwing
hand started high, body + wrist); B6", 4B, B8", S (body, cc-wrist,
throwing hand started high, constant vertical throwing hand height); B4",
B10", B6", B6", B, B8", B, S (cc-wrist, body, throwing hand started high,
constant vertical throwing hand height); S (throwing hand started high,
body, long kick forwards, constant vertical throwing hand height).
The pitches that were balls and missed the strike zone by
less than 13 inches missed by only an average of 7.5 inches this segment.
Notes on the Practice:
Seems that a new style of pitching should be introduced in a practice
after one has warmed up with more familiar styles one is experienced
with.
Today was my first day pitching submarine
and my second day pitching sidearm (in my entire life), I was pitching
with my eyes closed, but the percentage of pitches that were strikes or
missed the strike zone by less than 13 inches was very
high.
I now believe that keeping track of how
many balls missed by a foot or less, and how much these balls missed by,
improves my pitching, relaxes me, helps me to enjoy the practice.
Today for the entire practice, except for the first two segments, I
was relaxed, and having fun. Part of the reason for this seems to be the
keeping track of stats re balls that narrowly miss the strike zone, part
of it seems to be that pitching sidearm or submarine is by nature
a relaxing way of pitching.
"both Johnson and Alexander maintain, the side arm
delivery is the natural delivery, the type used by Indians and savage
tribes everywhere who employ the simple rules of the athlete in their
rudimentary form"...
"...in comparison the two men (Johnson and Alexander) are
strikingly alike...both are essentially products of the
soil...both are farmers ...johnson is six feet
one and that is alexander's height...both weigh, in condition, in the
neighborhood of 190 pounds...most of the greatest
pitchers...have approximated these measurements...Johnson is a man
of...supple Indian muscles, and flexible shoulders, but
so is Alexander..." (note: I am 5'10",
190 lbs, my mother's family were
farmers from Kansas, (Walter Johnson's family were
Kansas farmers, Alexander's family were Nebraska
farmers) I've been told I have a little American Indian
ancestry)
(note: the text in the above pdf is idiotically obscured by a banner
proclaiming that the great la84 foundation has generously provided this
document that cannot be read. Google's html version of the pdf (http://209.85.215.104/search?q=cache:ODMk-17y8n8J:www.la84foundation.org/SportsLibrary/BBM/1912/bbm95k.pdf+%22the+greatest+pitcher+on+the+diamond+today%22&hl=en&ct=clnk&cd=1&gl=us)
renders the text legible).
During the practice I felt a sense of melancholy, which I think is
partly because for the first time in several days I drank alcohol last
night (white wine, which I enjoyed quite a bit because I had not drunk any
alcohol for a long time, I had been awake for a long time before I drank,
I had exercised before drinking). Another reason for the melancholy
feeling, in my opinion, is the fact that the best sports drink I have been
able to find, the 'Energy' type 'Vitaminwater', although having an
excellent taste, contains cane sugar...seems the health-wise superiority
of cane sugar to everyday white sugar is exaggerated.
By the end of the practice the feeling of melancholy had transformed
into a feeling of tragic pathos...I realized that I was finally on the
verge of making it as a top quality pitcher...this realization combined
with the memory of what people have done to me in my life, the harsh
treatment, the continuing harsh treatment meted out to me by people, made
me feel very much a victim of gross injustice, and made me feel quite sad.
The table summarizing my baseball pitching stats from May 22 '08
onwards is at: |
Adidas Bracara Indoors Shoes with 1 layer Propel Gel
Padding;
Reebok official 5 oz soft
training baseball |
||||
Sunday
July 20
Waltham Y Gym
520-745 PM;
|
145 minutes doing the head/foot alternation nonskip variant of the
WC06 pattern air-dribble.
medium glass iced coffee bought at Exxon Tigermart
consumed 100 PM-300 PM;
A little white chocolate eaten prior to the practice starting.
Hannaford cooked Chicken drumsticks, about 8, eaten approx 4 hours
before practice began.
juice 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 1 hour before practice started.
Had been awake for approx 8 hours when practice started.
NOTE: performance excellent right from
the start today.
Glaeau 'energy vitaminwater' consumed during practice session.
|
WC06-L-nonskip Head/foot alternation
non-skip air-dribble pattern in soccer; Best day
ever doing this drill; quality of successes at least as good as at any
previous time; consistency way up.
(This is the version of the WC06 in which I do not skip, but
step on each pace, while touching the ball on every pace and
alternating between touching the ball with the head and touching it
with the foot, all while keeping the ball off the ground and moving
forwards).
Runs today done without restrictions on use of eyes in
following ball.
520-550 PM was excellent, the performance during this half hour was
better than it ever has been, despite the lack of warmup.
The success was effortless and natural. Almost every run
that started with a well placed first kick was at least, a pattern
adherence success of very high quality. The first kick was off only about
three times during this half hour. I rewarded myself for every good run
with a sip of sports drink and a little time in front of the electronic
fan. I took it easy in the first half hour, not forcing too many attempts,
as I wanted this practice to be an enjoyable, relaxing experience. There
were a few high quality runs that diverged from the prescribed pattern of
alternately touching the ball with left foot and head and touching the
ball on every pace, in which I got back on pattern after diverging from
pattern.
550-620 PM: After the first 30 minutes, the number of
attempts per hour naturally went up as my body became loose, energized,
and relaxed. Trying to force a large number of attempts in the first half
hour, apparently merely produces an unhappiness that stays and pollutes
the entire practice. The second 30 minutes were also a cut above
all previous days doing this drill, though not as good as the first 30
minutes. Part of the reason for this is that I was a little inconvenienced
by the girls basketball team taking over the entire gym for a few minutes;
and I experienced a little of what I call 'stress-fatigue', a slight loss
of the ability to endure stress. The second 30 minutes I continued with
the method of rewarding myself with a sip of sports drink and time in
front of the wind-generating electronic fan after each high quality
run.
From 620 PM on I ceased the practice of noting down how things were
going every 30 minutes. This seemed to improve performance to a point
above and beyond what the performance would have been if I continued
to stop every 30 minutes to take notes. I remarked previously how shooting
baskets with a basketball or even watching basketball impairs my skill
level when I am practicing soccer, because of the differences between
soccer and basketball. Likewise, it appears that writing down
notes re how the practice is going impairs the soccer skill level because
note-taking is different from soccer. Checking the watch to see
what time it is so as to produce mini-reports at regular intervals is a
distraction.
The skill level from 620 PM on except for the last 15 minutes
which were somewhat off due to fatigue, continued to be superior to any
previous day doing this drill. The quality of the runs that
succeeded in adhering to pattern was at least as good as on any previous
day; and the consistency, the percent of the attempts that ended up
adhering to pattern was much better than on any previous day.
At 738 PM, I executed a perfect run; there were six touches over the
ten yards, the ball was touched on every pace, I alternated between
touching the ball with my head and touching it with my foot, the run was
fast, the ball was tightly controlled, the direction straight as an arrow,
the ball was of course kept off the ground the entire time, the run
covered ten yards. After I finished the run I turned around and saw that
an East Asian gentleman had been staring at me while I executed the run
and talking on his cell-phone at the same time. I feel sort of
gratified that this particular run had gone down in history in the
cell-phone world.
General Notes on the Practice
I could tell when I diverged from the prescribed pattern, how
enormously doing this drill has improved my skill level for air-dribbling
that is less demanding than this particular drill. With less
demanding types of air-dribbling I do not have to alternate between
touching the ball with my foot and touching it with my head, and I do not
have to touch the ball on every pace I can take a pace or more than a pace
without touching the ball before touching it again. Such is as I had
expected and predicted before I started working on this drill; I had
expected and predicted that working on this very demanding drill would
produce big improvements in terms of less demanding types of
air-dribbling. In an earlier entry I discussed how I had arrived at the
conclusion, that the best way to master a given skill, is to work
on drills that require a skill level even greater than the skill that one
desires to master.
I noted that today sometimes I would skip slightly when this was
necessary; however throughout the practice I minimized the skipping in
terms of frequency and also in terms of how far I would travel in between
a given foot hitting the ground twice in a row without the other foot
hitting the ground in between the two touches with the given foot.
Today I continued to utilize the attitudinal tricks that I learned in
the past. I had previously realized that with this drill success is based
on energy, attention, concentration as opposed to some kind of attitude. I
had previously realized that the bad attitude that throws off performance
creeps in because of a belief that the bad attitude will help things--many
of us have some tendency to believe that if we get angry at ourselves,
frustrated, upset, depressed, etc., such will improve out
performance--this is probably rooted in people like parents behaving as if
them getting angry etc at us will improve our performance. But I
have matured to the point where I have recognized and abandoned the
superstition that me getting emotionally upset with myself will improve
things. Today I realized that I have matured to the point where
I am able to channel the emotional energy of the frustration I
feel when things go wrong, into increasing the amount of energy,
attention, concentration that I put into a run, with the end result being
that instead of me feeling frustrated, the level of energy attention and
concentration I apply to runs goes up.
Today during the practice, as during the previous few soccer
drills, I made a point of not looking at the ten
yards distance covered from the start point to the end point, from an
angle that makes this distance seem like a long distance. During
the practice I made a point of not looking at the distance from the floor
to the ceiling, which is about 26 feet just a little less than ten yards
(ten yards looks like a very long distance when looked at vertically,
floor to ceiling wise). This because I had discovered that looking
at a ten yards distance in a way that makes ten yards seem like a
long distance, impairs the skill level because it makes it seem like
air-dribbling ten yards touching the ball on every pace alternating
between touching with the foot and touching with the head is almost
impossible. Today as on the previous few soccer days, I
waited until the soccer practice was over, and then made a point of
looking at the ten yards distance from an angle which made it seem like a
long distance, looking at the almost ten yard distance from the
floor to the ceiling, and basking in the glory of having covered such a
long distance while performing such a difficultly-patterned air-dribble.
Seems like both approaches should be combined: the
avoiding the looking at ten yards distance in a way that makes it seem
like a long distance during the practice, and then at the end of the
practice looking at the ten yards from an angle that makes it seem like a
long distance, that makes it seem as if I have indeed achieved something
great.
The sudden improvement in performance today, which was
evident from the very beginning of the practice, coincided with the
fact that in the last hour of the previous practice I began using the
method of rewarding myself with a sip of sports drink and time spent
cooling off in front of the fan after every high quality run; and
I continued this sip and cool-off reward method during the practice today.
Seems to me that a human being is indeed to some extent a kind of
'Pavlov-dog' and that the psychological gratification I derive from
performing a good run is in and of itself not enough to optimally
condition and motivate me in the direction of achieving high quality
results. After I achieve a good run emotionally speaking I do not
really feel that different compared to how I feel after a failed
attempt; in both cases my emotional state is dominated by a sense
of fatigue, a sense of being hot and sweaty inside a hot and humid gym. I
doubt that the slight difference between how I feel emotionally after a
good run compared to after a bad run is enough to significantly sink into
the semi-conscious and unconsious parts of my mind. I believe that by way
of contrast, following a policy of a sip of sports drink and cool-off time
in front of the fan after a good run, combined with no such sips
or cool-off after failures, produces a distinction between success and
failure that is dramatic enough to sink into and impact the semi-conscious
and unconscious parts of my mind. After all, the human desire for water
and for cooling off the body in the shade or in the wind have for ages
been a very basic, elemental part of the human nature.
After the practice was over when I got home, I was thinking,
my rate of progress as an athlete really seems to be accelerating...it's
day after day after day of significant, even dramatic improvement in three
different sports...I seem to be getting to the point where I have
developed the kind of endurance it takes to keep making improvement in
three different sports day after day...but there are bound to be
lapses, days in which performance are off, because constantly improving
takes something out of the body and the mind.
Today as I watched the young women play basketball while I was doing
the soccer drill, I noted than an East Asian ancestry young woman who was
playing basketball was graceful. I felt a kinship with her as if she was
my sister. Perhaps this has to do with elements in my genetics.
During and after the practice I felt frustrated by the sports-drink
world. I felt I was sipping from a bottle of the best sports drink that I
could find but I still found fault with it. The sports drink I was sipping
from was sweetened with cane sugar; I was thinking, 'how come they cannot
find anything other than sugar or some sugar substitute that is worse than
sugar, to sweeten these drinks with? Bolthouse farms produces these great
juice drinks that are sweet and that are sweetened without sugar or some
synthetic hi-tek sugar substitute Bolthouse uses stuff like apple juice
concentrate to sweeten their juices'. I was thinking, 'the juice is
colored with beta-carotene...studies have shown that natural beta-carotene
as found in carrot juice radically reduces the risk of coming down with
cancer whereas synthetic beta-carotene actually increases the risk of
getting cancer...'. I was thinking, 'the sports drinks that I could find
all have some kind of sugar in them, and the zero calorie ones have
something called Sucralose in them...sucralose does not sound like a
healthy substance'.I was thinking, here you have an obvious and glaring
need for a sports drink that is sweet but does not contain sugar and also
does not contain some sugar substitute that has a bad reputation, but
there is no such sports drink, just goes to show how overvalued people
with MBA degrees are, just goes to show how overvaluing one thing results
in an undervaluation of something else'.
Note From Dreamland:
Last night I had the following dream: A scholarship fund had been
established at Harvard University (I graduated from Harvard College). This
fund provided a football (as in American style tackle-football)
scholarship to an outstanding football player who played on the
defensive team. It was called the 'David Hobbs Sr.' Scholarship
Fund. The Sr. indicated that there existed a David Hobbs Jr. and
also a David Hobbs Sr. and the Sr. was meant to distinguish between the
two.
When I awoke I was thinking that this was a weird dream, because I
have never played tackle football and for all my natural athletic ability
I cannot imagine myself playing on the defensive team in tackle football.
To play defense in tackle football at my height and weight you have to
play defensive back, defensive backs have to do things like tackle
gigantic men who are running at them full speed and drag these giant
speedsters to the ground. But I did remember how when I was on the
freshman soccer team at Harvard, after I got used to Harvard, I switched
back to playing defense and dominated some scrimmages.
When I awoke I was thinking, I wonder what that means...I do not now
have a son named 'David Hobbs Jr.'; nor do I have a father named 'David
Hobbs Sr'. |
Adidas Bracara Indoors Shoes with 1
layer Propel Gel Padding;
Adidas Replique ball inflated to 7.5
psi |
||||
Monday
July 21
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:
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.
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 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 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:
|
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 23
Waltham Y Gym
740-945 PM; |
125 minutes (105 minutes actually pitching) pitching baseball,
with three-quarters and overhand style.
Approx
12 oz coffee
consumed approx
200-330 PM;
small amount of Custom-made
Chinese style Pork stir-fry eaten approx 3 hours before practice
started;
approx 6 chicken drumsticks also; (both from Hannaford)
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 2.5 hours before practice started.
Had been awake for approx 9 hours when practice started.
only 10 oz of 365 brand 'Nutrient Enhanced Water' consumed
during practice session. |
Baseball Pitching:
Used a soft 5 oz Reebok ball to practice pitching at a
20 inch wide, 24 inch high target, bottom edge 9" above the ground (I was
not on a mound) on the wall 18 yards from where I pitched the ball
(red sideline of basketball court). Closed my eyes before starting
foot movements involved in pitch; kept eyes closed until AFTER ball
released. Experimented with three-quarters
and overhand style.
Released ball just before foot hit ground; no elaborate old-fashioned
windup before pitch thrown, pitching 'from stretch'.
All pitches thrown were scored from the beginning. There were no
unscored warm-up pitches.
From the beginning I took detailed notes re how I threw
the ball when I pitched a strike. B means ball, S means strike.
7B S for example, means 7 balls were thrown and then a strike. B means a
pitch that was a ball. CC means counterclockwise. Wr means the wrist
was an important part of the delivery. CC-wr means the wrist turned
counterclockwise as the ball was delivered--remember I am a lefty.
For example, body+elbow+wrist means these three parts of the body
were the primary forces in the pitch; body+wr means body and wrist were
the primary forces; wr alone means the wrist was the primary
force. Dart means the pitch was thrown similar to the way people
throw darts. 'Slow sp' means the pitch was thrown at what is for
me is a relatively slow speed; 'medium sp' means the
pitch was thrown at what for me is a medium speed; 'fast sp'
means the pitch was thrown at a speed that for me is fast; ''max sp'
etc means the speed was thrown at a speed that for me is even faster than
fast, the maximum velocity I am capable of; forward lean means I
emphasized leaning forwards during the pitch; energy means I emphasized
being energetic during the pitch; zip means approx the same thing as
energy; long step forwards means during the delivery I stepped forwards an
unusually long length prior to releasing the ball; forward stretch means
approx the same thing as long step forwards; arm means the arm was a major
force in propelling the ball forwards; elbow means approx the same thing
as arm; deliv means delivery; hand down/up prior to delivery means
that while pitching sidearm, my hand moved first towards the ground and
then up towards the ceiling prior to releasing the ball; balanced=all
parts of the body involved in the pitch; body (noted by itself)=force of
pitch primarily from the body as opposed to arm or wrist; b6" etc
means the ball missed the strike zone by 6 inches or whatever number is
given after the B (for balls that missed by less than 13"); In
parentheses after an S I note how I threw the strike when I threw it:
Results:
How to read the numbers: 10/30 means out of 30 pitches
10 balls were strikes; this is followed by percent pitches that were
strikes; next figure, example: B<13": 7(10")/28, 25% means: 7 out of
the 28 pitches were balls that missed by less than 13 inches, the balls
that missed by less than 13 inches missed by an average of 10 inches, 25%
of the pitches were balls that missed by less than 13 inches. 4B 5B
etc means there were four balls in a row that missed the strike zone by
more than a foot; B by itself means one pitch that missed the zone by more
than a foot.
All the segments involved 15 minutes of pitching though some took
longer than 15 minutes, due to various delays. There were no uncounted
unscored warmup pitches.
1 740-755 PM, three-quarters style: 6/22, 27%; B<13":
7(6")/22, 32%:
B12", B, B, S (slow, balanced, cc-wrist); B12", B, B, B3", B2", B6",
S (energetic delivery, balanced, brisk body movement, quick deliv, med sp,
long forward step); S (blalanced, cc-wr, quick deliv, med sp); S (med sp,
quick deliv, loose, balanced); B, B, B, B3", B, B2", S (med sp, cc-wr,
balalnced, quick, cartwheel-like deliv); B, S (shoulder+body, med sp,
quick deliv, balanced, little use of elbow/wrist).
7 pitches missed the strike zone by less than 13", these missed by an
average of only 6".
2 756-811 PM, overhand style, 'slow': 2/25, 8%; B<13":
6(8")/25, 24%:
B, B, B, S (med sp, cc-wr, body, shoulder, little use of elbow-wrist,
quick deliv); B3", B12", B, B, B9", B, B, B B, B, B, S (slow sp, loose
deliv, body_shoulder, little wrist/elbow use, cartwheel like deliv,
follow-through); B, B, B, B, B10", B6", B, B, B10"
3 818-833 PM, three-quarters style, "medium speed": 4/20,
20%; B<13": 10(8")/20, 50%:
B, S (body+shoulder, little elbow/wrist use, med sp); B12", B6", B8",
B12", B12", B, B3", B, S (body+shoulder, quick deliv, med sp, little
elbow/wrist use); B, B3", B8", S (slow sp, body+shoulder, little
elbow/wrist use, quick deliv); B5", S (med sp, body+shoulder, cc-wr,
balanced); B, B B12".
At this point I noted that almost all the strikes thrown in the first
three segments, featured the hand being far from the body and the arm
almost straight when the ball was released).
In total in this three-quarters segment 70% of the pitches
were strikes or balls that missed the strike zone by no more than a
foot.
4 835-850 PM, overhand style: 5/21, 24%; B<13":
4(7")/21, 19%:
S (hand far out from body on release, body+shoulder, little elbow/wr
use); B, B, B9", B, B, B, B, S (body+wr, hand close to shoulder on
release, dart-like); B, B, B7", S (slow, body+wrist); S (slow, body, body
lean forwards); S (body, body forward lean); B, B, B, B, B10", B3"
5 852-907 PM, three-quarters style: 4/23, 17%; B<13":
11(8")/23, 48%:
B12", B12", B3", B5", S (cc-wrist, lean back on rear foot, hand high
on release, body+shoulder+wrist, little elbow use); B, S (hand close to
shoulder on release, body+wrist, med sp); B8", S (slow sp, body+wrist,
hand high on release, arm almost straight, little elbow use, cc-wrist);
B9", B10", B, B4", B, B3", B, B, B, B, B10", S (balanced, body low,
cc-wrist); B, B10".
6 911-926 PM, overhand style: 5/19, 26%; B<13":
9(9")/19, 42%:
B12", B, S (body low, long forward step, hand low on release, elbow
primary force); B8", B9", B9", B12", S (body, wrist tilted forwards on
release, little wrist movement on release, med sp); B, B, B6", B, S (body,
cc-wrist, slow sp); S (body, cc-wrist, slow sp); B, B10", B12", B7", S
(body, cc-wrist, hand high on release, arm almost straight, little elbow
use, slow sp).
In total in this overhand segment 68% of the pitches were
strikes or balls that missed the strike zone by no more than a
foot. 7 930-945 PM, three-quarters
style: 9/23, 39%; B<13": 6(8")/23, 26%:
B7", B, B, B, B10", B7", B, S (body, cc-wrist, hand high on release,
arm almost straight, little elbow use, med sp); S (body, no wrist spin,
arm almost straight, shoulder, little elbow-wrist use); B, B11", B, S
(body, med sp, hand on release, arm almost straight); S (same as previous
strike); S (same as previous strike, little elbow use); B5", S (med sp,
body, arm almost straight, hand high on release, cc-wrist); S (same as
previous strike); B, B, B6", S (body, cc-wrist, hand high on release, arm
almost straight, shoulder, little elbow-wrist use); S (med sp, arm almost
straight, body, shoulder, cc-wrist, little/no elbow use).
At the end of this segment I was beginning to feel like a budding
confident pro. I was concentrating hard on getting the ball in the strike
zone. I did not worry about speed but the speed was not slow. I
allowed myself to start the ball off high and let it sink into the strike
zone.
Needless to say the 39% strikes this segment was very good, as was
the 65% of the pitches being either strikes or no more than a foot
away from the strike zone; and the pitches that were not strikes
that missed the strike zone by no more than a foot missed by only on
average, 7.7".
The performance this segment showed that I am developing endurance.
Before this segment started I had already thrown 130 pitches.
Notes on the Practice:
This was the first day on which I kept track of how many
balls missed the zone by no more than a foot and the average distance such
missed the strike zone by for the three-quarters and overhand
styles. Again I noted that keeping track of such facts
rendered the practice more fun and interesting...keeping track of strikes
percentage alone makes things seem worse than they really are at this
stage.
Averaging the percentages for all the segments (not totalling the
strikes balls etc), overall, 23% of the pitches were strikes, and
34% of the pitches missed the strike zone by no more than a foot; in total
57% of the pitches were either strikes or missed the strike zone by no
more than a foot.
With the overhand style, 19% were strikes, 28% were balls
that missed by no more than a foot, 47% of the pitches were either
strikes or missed by no more than a foot (good that I kept track
of this because I would have guessed after the practice that much less
than half of the pitches thrown overhand were strikes or missed by no more
than a foot). The first segment thrown overhand was aberrantly low in
terms of strikes percentage but included in this total--I record and count
all the results there is no uncounted warmup.
With the three-quarters style, 26% were strikes, 39%
were balls that missed by no more than a foot, 65% of the pitches
were either strikes or missed by no more than a foot (again, good
that I kept track of this because I would have guessed after the practice
that much less than two-thirds of the pitches
thrown three-quarters style were strikes or missed by no more
than a foot).
Seems that finally today I succeeded in bouncing back from
the degeneration that has plagued me in terms of strikes percentage since
May 26, which was my third day pitching and my second day
pitching with my eyes closed. Today was my twelfth day pitching,
my eleventh day pitching with my eyes closed. Today I had
rested my arm in the sense that it had been 8 days since I had last
pitched overhand or three-quarters style. Could be that a reason
for the degeneration since May 26 is that I am not used to pitching and
pitching causes arm fatigue--I remember reading an internet page that
belittled those who claimed that a training method had increased pitch
speed, on the grounds that those who had been exposed to the training
method had had time to rest from pitching.
The last segment today evinced that I am developing endurance
for pitching, the accuracy was very good, the speed of the
pitches and the pitch delivery were faster than May 26.
Other possible reasons for the degeneration in strikes percentage
that has been going on prior to today since May 26 are carelesness,
inattentiveness, lack of concentration, speeding up the speed of the
delivery, increase in speed of the pitches.
The pitching has become faster. When you read words like 'slow' or
'medium' speed take it with a grain of salt--what I call slow
others call fast.
General Notes
The three-quarters and overhand styles are in a sense not as advanced
as the submarine and sidearm styles now, because the form of
delivery is much more inconsistent with three-quarters and
overhand. For example, with three-quarters and overhand,
sometimes the arm is almost straight when the ball is released, sometimes
the arm is bent; but with sidearm and submarine styles, the arm
is always almost straight as it is difficult to throw sidearm or submarine
style with the arm bent.
Generally speaking, the pitching thus far has been quite
weird in the sense that honestly, though it seems hard to believe, I
do not even know before the ball leaves my hand, what kind of spin I will
put on the ball, whether I will move my wrist clockwise or
counterclockwise or neither way when the ball is released, whether my arm
will be bent or almost straight, whether my body will be low or high,
whether I will delay on my rear foot before delivering the pitch, whether
I will stride forwards a long way with the front foot or not.
Sounds unbelievable, but I do not premeditate such factors; I simply
concentrate on throwing the ball into the strike zone, and sometimes,
without any premeditation, the wrist is flicked this way and
sometimes the wrist if flicked another way, or
sometimes the arm is straight and sometimes the arm is bent or
the body is low or high, all without me in advancing deciding what will be
done. I have put up with this so far, because the result is
pitches being delivered in a diversity of ways, thus I have become aware
of the various different forms of delivery that can succeed for me in
producing strikes.
However it has become obvious to me that this lack of
premeditation is a major impediment to further improvements in
accuracy. For example I find it obvious, that my accuracy would
improve if before delivering a pitch, I decided whether I am going to
flick my wrist counterclockwise as the ball is released or not flick the
wrist. Seems obvious that my pitching would improve if before I delivered
a pitch I decided whether my arm will be almost straight or alternatively
the arm will be bent with the hand close to the shoulder when the ball is
released. Yet, almost unbelievably, the truth is that heretore I have
not known if my arm is going to bent or straight, or if my wrist will
flick sideways or not, before the ball has left my hand.
Thus I now see that I have alot of mental work to do and that
pitching involves alot of mental work. I have to work out the
various ways in which I throw strikes using the various styles. Then I
have to devote certain segments of the practice to throwing the pitches
using a style that is decided upon before I began the pitch delivery
process. This will all take lots of time. Problem is that people
do not like to let me have free time and people like to gobble up whatever
free time I have. Some are never satisfied with whatever amount of social
time they get from me. Others are very concerned about the neatness of my
apartment my apartment is never neat and clean enough for certain
inspector-types. Others tend towards being excessively preoccupied with
the the cleanliness of my clothes or body. Then you have the goose-like
women who gobble up time and energy because they have to be chased.
Just as nobody seems to understand the fact that emphasizing one
criteria results in a de-emphasis of other criteria, so also nobody seems
to understand that time and energy being put into one thing means less
time and energy put into another thing.
My consumption of cigarettes is down to a rate of about three per
year, but I think I am too enthused by the substitute nicotine
gum. Seems to me that chewing nicotine gum can also tire the body due to
the nicotine getting into the body.
You can find the sometimes up-to-date table showing my pitching stats
since I started in late May at:
Notes From Dreamland
I estimate that as of now I should share some but not all of my
baseball dreams...some of the dreams seem to be so incisive that they
should only be shared with whatever baseball team is currently so to
speak my 'pet' team.
In one dream I had this week I was (such things are possible in
dreamland) sort of pitching a baseball and shooting basketball baskets at
the same time. The shooting and the pitching were both accurate. The
pitching and shooting deliveries were graceful and balanced. In the dream,
this had to do with the fact that Christ and the cross were within me.
Just as the cross is balanced between the vertical and the horizontal with
the horizontal on one side balanced by the horizontal on the other, so
also there was a balance to my pitching and shooting.
In another dream this week, I was mentally breaking down the
mechanics of pitching in an amazingly awake-like, logical analytical way.
In the dream I saw that: there are various phases to the position
of the throwing hand during the delivery of the pitch; the position of the
hand during the middle of one of these phases can be estimated based on
the position of the hand at the beginning and at the end of the phase; the
difference between the position of the hand in the middle of one phase and
the position of the hand in the middle of another phase is
significant.
In yet another dream, me and some friends were attempting to avoid
these enemies that were tracking us. Thus we had to make a u-turn in this
lake, and after making the u-turn get on to a highway that connected with
a spot in the middle of the lake. So we had to enter the lake, at a spot
where there was some vegetation in the water. Problem was that there were
big snakes in the water at the entry spot. We solved the problem by
shooting jet-streams of water into the lake, these jet-streams of water,
like water shot out of a water cannon or a big powerful watergun or a
garden water-hose, frightened off the water-snakes and they swam away. I
saw them swimming away, they were about 30 yards long and a couple of feet
wide. Next thing I knew I was lying on the ground finally feeling a little
frightened (the people I was with and I were in the dream
brave) and we were reading a text written by a 'white magician',
meaning a good magician. The text droned on and on in a verbose and
pedantic way which was annoying as the reason we were reading the text was
to learn how to avoid being eaten by the snakes, and we were in immediate
danger of being eaten by snakes. The text said that: by shooting the
streams of water into the lake, we were in danger of waking up these
snakes that were much bigger than the big snakes we had frightened off;
these even bigger snakes had been hibernating in the earth below the lake;
these even bigger snakes had been created by Satan himself...the text
droned on and on, frustratingly using excess of words...finally we got to
a point where the text taught us that the 'agents of Jesus Christ'
fought the snakes by pretending to be snakes themselves. I saw part of one
of the bigger snakes, it was about 9 feet wide, something about it
reminded me of the male sexual organ, of lust. At this point I woke up
that was all I remember about the text.
The connection with baseball is that the text written by the
white magician that I was reading during the dream, was written in the
same style, using the same kind of somewhat archaic grammar
and vocabulary, as the 1912 Baseball Magazine text (see previous
baseball log entry this page) which discussed Walter Johnson, Grover
Alexander, and their very successful unusual sidearm pitching styles.
Which gets me to wondering whether the wise thing for me to do is to pitch
sidearm.
|
Adidas Bracara Indoors Shoes with 1 layer Propel Gel
Padding;
Reebok official 5 oz soft
training baseball |
||||
Thursday
July 24
Waltham Y Gym
610-940 PM; |
210 minutes doing the head/foot alternation nonskip variant of
the WC06 pattern air-dribble.
cup coffee bought at Exxon Tigermart consumed 200 PM-400
PM;
A little prok stir-fry eaten 200 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 1.5 hours
before practice started.
Had been awake for approx 5 hours when practice started.
|
WC06-L-nonskip Head/foot alternation
non-skip air-dribble pattern in soccer;
best runs today were faster than ever and better than
ever
(This is the version of the WC06 in which I try not
to skip, but step on each pace, while touching the ball on every pace
and alternating between touching the ball with the head and touching
it with the foot, all while keeping the ball off the ground and moving
forwards).
Runs today done without restrictions on use of eyes in
following ball. Thus the eyes followed the ball about half way down from
the apex of the arc.
The first 5 touch run was 14 minutes after practice started at 610
PM. This was not like the previous soccer practice in which the
runs were excellent from the very beginning. Today differed from the
previous soccer practice in other ways also. I was happier, more
relaxed, less stressed, and less tired during the practice today. The
percentage of attempts that succeeded was less than in the previous
practice. The runs were faster today than ever
before with this pattern but still of a high quality; for
the first time today I executed some runs that adhered to pattern (ball
touched on every pace, alternation between touch with left foot and touch
with head) that moved at a speed significantly faster than the
fastest speed at which I can walk. The best runs today excelled
any runs done previously with this WC06-left-nonskip-foot/head alternation
pattern. After 3 hours there was a dramatic decline in skill
level even though I did not feel very tired.
Today there were high quality four touch, five touch,
and six touch runs that adhered to pattern and covered 10 yards at a speed
faster than ever before with this pattern. There was sometimes a
little of slight skipping on paces between touches.
At 750 PM, 100 minutes after I began, there was a decline in skill
level. There was another decline in skill level at 910 PM after 180
minutes. Altogether the practice lasted 205 minutes the entire
time except for about ten seconds, I was on my feet.
Today there were several fast impressive runs that slightly deviated
from pattern. The deviations were not extreme: for example, one pace
without a touch on the ball, ball kicked twice in a row and then headed.
Today was not just fast, today the amount of distance covered per
pace on the runs was even more impressive than it has been. I estimate that on some of the runs, I covered 26 feet on
the third and fourth paces of the run, 13 feet per pace, while at
the same time succeeding in keeping the ball off the ground and close to
the body as I covered the ten yards! Such is amazing to me
because the first pace of the run is about a foot forward and
slow, the second pace of the run is about another three feet forwards and
slow, and then all of a sudden there are these paces that cover 13 feet
each. Thus today in more ways than one was a very athletic day.
With regards to the decline in consistency and the increase in speed
today, my attitude as usual was to 'let it be'. I figure that some
days I forge ahead in one way and other days I forge ahead in other ways,
such is the course of nature, let nature take its course.
I had more endurance today doing this drill than I ever
have.
Again today I noted that one of the admirable characteristics of the
pattern I ran today, is that when the left foot kicks the ball
with the intention that the next touch should be with the head, if the
left foot kicks the ball too short, the run can continue with another
kick, and if the left foot kicks the ball too long, the run can also
continue with another kick.
Today, I had the nutrients cocktail 1.5 hours before practice
started, a little stir-fry 4 hours before practice started, about 10 oz
coffee 4-2 hours before practice started. By way of contrast prior to the
previous soccer practice, I had the nutrients cocktail 1 hour before
practice started, 8 chicken drumsticks and some chocolate 4 hours before
practice started, about 16 oz of iced coffee 4-2 hours before practice
started. The previous soccer practice the carrot juice was part of the
nutrients cocktail this practice it was left out and today there were no
diarrhea like symptoms whereas the day of the previous practice there
were. Today I had been awake for 5 hours when the practice started;
the previous practice I had been awake for 8 hours when the practice
started. Today before the practice started I felt rested, relaxed and
happy because of cool weather and rain. The previous practice it was very
hot and humid. Today I consumed the 365 Brand Nutrient Enhanced Water
instead of the Glaceau brand Vitaminwater, the 365 has no caffeine
the Glaceau has caffeine and caffeine containing Guarana; the 365
Brand seems to have more sugar in it. Could be that the
reasons for the difference between today's practice and the previous
practice can be found in these differences.
Faces in the Crowd
There was this high school sophomore who said he played for the
Lexington High basketball team practicing basketball while I practiced
soccer. He was quite a college-distance three-point (21
footers) shooter, he shot about 44% according to
my count from the college three-point
21-foot distance (with his eyes open when shooting).
Watching him I was so impressed--it was beyond me to imagine myself as
being his equal; by way of contrast I generally feel unimpressed
by my own shooting. To me he seemed like a much better shooter than
me. But such could simply be a symptom of me having an inferiority
complex with regards to basketball, rooted in the fact that I am only of
average height and never practiced basketball much back when I was a boy
and other boys were deeply into basketball.
I am shooting about 30% from 24
feet with my eyes closed; the percentage would
be about ten points higher if I was not switching
shooting styles every 25 minutes; the percentage would be (I estimate)
another ten points higher if I shot every segment using
the same style; the percentage would be about 5% higher if I were shooting
with the best method alone, simply because the best method excels the
average of all the methods by about 5%; the percentage would be
even higher if I had my eyes open when
shooting; the basketball practice two days ago was only my twelfth
basketball practice day since I returned to basketball; the
first day I returned to basketball after a layoff of several years I shot
35% from 24 feet without an warmup
shots; I count all my shots none are uncounted as warmups but when I
started counting the shots by the Lexington HS guy he had warmed up
already. Nevertheless watching the Lexington High sophomore shoot
it seemed to me that he outclassed me as a shooter, I could not imagine my
self shooting with a skill comparable to his--even though in reality the
facts show that it would be a leap of faith to say that he is a better
shooter than me. Seems when it comes to basketball and
baseball also my image of myself in my mind, is exceeded by what I am in
reality. If this Lexington HS sophomore shot 75% on free throws,
which he seemed capable of, and 45% from 21 feet, you could expect him to
shoot 30-40% from 24 feet assuming a decline of five percent for every
foot further out from 21 feet. That is the percentage I am now shooting at
with my eyes closed and under various other additional disadvantages.
|
Adidas Bracara Indoors Shoes with 1
layer Propel Gel Padding;
Adidas Replique ball inflated to 7.5
psi |
||||
Friday
July 25
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:
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.
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 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 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: |
Adidas Bracara Indoors Shoes with 1 layer Propel Gel
Padding;
Spalding TF-1000 Microfiber Composite Basketball,
inflated to 8.0 psi as usual |
||||
Saturday July 26
545-750 PM
Waltham Y Gym |
125 minutes (120 minutes actually pitching) pitching baseball,
with sidearm and three-quarters style, trying out different ways of
spinning the ball.
cup coffee bought at Exxon Tigermart consumed 315- PM-345
PM;
Details re food and sleep missing due to delay between taking
practice notes and typing up log entry.
430 PM, McD's big mac, coffee
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 ???hours when practice started.
Drank ??? during the practice.
|
Baseball Pitching:
Used a soft 5 oz Reebok ball to practice pitching at a
20 inch wide, 24 inch high target, bottom edge 9" above the ground (I was
not on a mound) on the wall 18 yards from where I pitched the ball
(red sideline of basketball court). Closed my eyes before starting
foot movements involved in pitch; kept eyes closed until AFTER ball
released. Experimented with sidearm and
submarine styles, and with various different twists of the wrist when
releasing the ball. Threw 47% strikes submarine style with
counter-clockwise movement of wrist of kleft throwing arm on delivery
Released ball just before foot hit ground; no elaborate old-fashioned
windup before pitch thrown, pitching 'from stretch'.
All pitches thrown were scored from the beginning. There were no
unscored warm-up pitches.
Material repeated from previous log entries in small type:
From the beginning I took detailed notes re
how I threw the ball when I pitched a strike. B means ball, S
means strike. 7B S for example, means 7 balls were thrown and then a
strike. B means a pitch that was a ball. CC means counterclockwise.
Wr means the wrist was an important part of the delivery. CC-wr means the
wrist turned counterclockwise as the ball was delivered--remember I
am a lefty. For example, body+elbow+wrist means these three parts of
the body were the primary forces in the pitch; body+wr means body and
wrist were the primary forces; wr alone means the wrist was the
primary force. Dart means the pitch was thrown similar to the way
people throw darts. 'Slow sp' means the pitch was thrown at what is
for me is a relatively slow speed; 'medium sp' means
the pitch was thrown at what for me is a medium speed; 'fast sp'
means the pitch was thrown at a speed that for me is fast; ''max sp'
etc means the speed was thrown at a speed that for me is even faster than
fast, the maximum velocity I am capable of; forward lean means I
emphasized leaning forwards during the pitch; energy means I emphasized
being energetic during the pitch; zip means approx the same thing as
energy; long step forwards means during the delivery I stepped forwards an
unusually long length prior to releasing the ball; forward stretch means
approx the same thing as long step forwards; arm means the arm was a major
force in propelling the ball forwards; elbow means approx the same thing
as arm; deliv means delivery; hand down/up prior to delivery means
that while pitching sidearm, my hand moved first towards the ground and
then up towards the ceiling prior to releasing the ball; balanced=all
parts of the body involved in the pitch; body (noted by itself)=force of
pitch primarily from the body as opposed to arm or wrist; b6" etc
means the ball missed the strike zone by 6 inches or whatever number is
given after the B (for balls that missed by less than 13"); In
parentheses after an S I note how I threw the strike when I threw it:
Results:
How to read the numbers: 10/30 means out of 30 pitches
10 balls were strikes; this is followed by percent pitches that were
strikes; next figure, example: B<13": 7(10")/28, 25% means: 7 out of
the 28 pitches were balls that missed by less than 13 inches, the balls
that missed by less than 13 inches missed by an average of 10 inches, 25%
of the pitches were balls that missed by less than 13 inches. 4B 5B
etc means there were four balls in a row that missed the strike zone by
more than a foot; B by itself means one pitch that missed the zone by more
than a foot. Total 61% means 61% of the pitches were strikes or missed the
strike zone by no more than a foot.
All the segments involved 15 minutes of pitching though
some took longer than 15 minutes, due to various delays. There were no
uncounted unscored warmup pitches.
Note: As always I threw left-handed. When I say
clockwise and counter-clockwise I mean from my perspective when my hand is
held in front of me. All the pitches today were thrown with the middle and
index fingers stretched out over the ball, the little finger and the ring
finger curled to the side of the ball, and the thumb on other side of the
ball.
1 545-600 PM, sidearm style, (avoided
counter-clockwise movement of left throwing hand on ball
release): 3/20, 15%; B<13": 7(8")/20, 35%;
total 50%.
B, B12", S (throwing hand started back and low, arm almost straight
when ball released); B, B12", B2", B, B, B, B, B, B8", S (throwing hand
high then low then higher on release during course of delivery, arm almost
straight as ball released); B12", B10", B, B12", S (throwing hand started
low and back, throwing arm low duing delivery, clockwise turn of wrist on
follow-through); B, B
2 600-615 PM, submarine style, (avoided
counter-clockwise movement of left throwing hand on ball
release): 2/19, 11%; B<13": 4(7")/19, 21%;
total 32%.
S (lots of wrist action featuring throwing hand moving towards strike
zone); B, B5", B, B, B2", B, B, B, B, B, B, S (slight clockwise wrist
movement); B, B, B8", B, B, B12"
3 615-630 PM, submarine style (counter-clockwise
movement of wrist of left throwing arm during ball release):
7/15, 47%; B<13": 3(9")/15,
20%; total 67%.
S (med sp, slow loose delivery); B, B12", S (med sp, long forward
step, throwing hand starts delivery motion way back); S (low body,
throwing hand starts far back); S (body leans back and to left and pauses
at beginning of left-handed delivery); S (left throwing hand starts low
and far back); B4", S (left throwing hand starts low, back, with body lean
left, pause, then delivery); B, B, B12", B, B, S (body leans back and left
and pauses at start of delivery, left throwing hand starts back and
low).
This segment provided evidence showing that as I had suspected, I am
more accurate when I (left handed pitcher) twist the wrist in a
counter-clockwise direction when I release the ball.
By mistake this segment was the second segment in a row involving
submarine style throwing, and the strikes percentage was high. Could be
this shows that my strikes percentage would be higher if I threw more
pitches in a row using a given style.
4 630-645 PM, sidearm style (counter-clockwise
movement of wrist of left throwing arm during ball release):
4/15, 27%; B<13": 5(7")/15, 33%; total
60%.
B, B, S (body leans back and to left side, to throwing arm
side, at beginning of left-handed delivery); B12", B, S (left
throwing hand starts far back, body leans back and left to throwing arm
side and pauses at beginning of delivery); B8", B7", B2", B, S (body leans
back and left to throwing hand side and pauses at beginning of delivery,
left throwing hand starts far back and high at beginning of delivery,
constant vertical hand height during delivery, med sp); B8", B, B, S (left
throwing hand starts high at beginning of delivery, constant
vertical hand height during delivery, med sp).
This segment again provided evidence showing that as I had suspected,
I am more accurate when I (left handed pitcher) twist the wrist in a
counter-clockwise direction when I release the ball. Note: Prior to this interval between segments 4 and
5, after segments 1 and 2, I realized that it was too
vague to simply declare that all the pitches thrown in a segment
should be thrown without counter-clockwise rotation of
the left throwing hand. This because in avoiding counter-clockwise
rotation, the left throwing hand can either rotate clockwise or not rotate
either clockwise or counter-clockwise.
5 645-700 PM, submarine style (clockwise rotation
of wrist of left throwing arm during ball release): 2/18,
11%; B<13": 4(5")/18, 22%; total
35%.
B, B, B8", B, B, B, B4", S (left throwing hand starts low and back,
body low during delivery); B, B, B, B, S (fingertips of bottom two
fingers, little finger or pinky and ring finger, not just index and middle
fingers, used during ball release, palm of left throwing
hand pointing more than usual towards target strike zone when
wrist flicked); B2" (almost a strike thrown the way previous pitch was
thrown); B, B7" (almost a strike with hand rising on ball release), B, B.
While I was pitching this segment performance seemed much worse than
the final stats indicate.
6 700-715 PM, sidearm style (clockwise
rotation of wrist of left throwing arm during ball release):
2/16, 13%; B<13": 2(12")/16, 13%; total:
26%.
S (left throwing hand high, body high, more-than-usual body twist
during delivery); B, B, B, B, B12", B12" (ring finger of left throwing
hand involved in imparting spin to ball); S (entire arm involved in spin,
arm moving on upwards slant on release, palm at 45 degree angle, between
facing towards ground and facing towards target strike zone, when ball
released); B, B, B, B, B, S (entire body involved in imparting spin to
ball, tried to stop exaggerating spin); B, B.
7 715-730 PM, submarine style, neutral wrist (not
clockwise or counter-clockwise turn of wrist during release):
5/22, 23%; B<13": 1(12")/22, 5%; total
28%.
B, S (fingers in front of palm on ball release); B, B12", B, B, B, B,
S (body low, med speed, ring finger of left throwing hand supported ball
on release, wrist/hand movement towards target strike zone); B, B, B, B,
B, B, S (ring finger of left throwing hand involved in release,
wrist/hand moved towards target strike zone during ball release); B, B, S
(entire body involved in pitch, ring finger of left throwing hand involved
in release of ball, wrist/hand moved towards target strike zone as ball
releasede, ball released earlier than usual during delivery process); B, S
(ring finger of left throwing hand involved in ball release, strong wrist
movement towards target strike zone during ball release, body strongly
involved in pitch, ball released earlier than usual in delivery); B.
8 731-750 PM, sidearm style, neutral wrist (not
clockwise or counter-clockwise turn of wrist during release):
4/29, 14%; B<13": 8(12")/29, 28%; total
42%.
B, B12", B6", B, B, B, B, B12" (ring finger of left throwing
hand involved in ball release); S (body as a whole involved in pitch,
med speed, ring finger involved in ball release, wrist/hand movement
towards target strike zone during ball release); B, B, S (ring finger
involved in ball release, clockwise follow-through in wrist/hand of left
throwing arm during ball release); B12", B, B, S (entire body involved in
pitch, ring finger on ball during ball release, wrist movement towards
target strike zone during ball release, lean back and pause at beginning
of delivery); B, B, B12" (clockwise follow-through with left throwing hand
after release); B, B12", B, B10", B2" (clockwise follow-through with left
throwing hand after ball release); B, B, B, S (left throwing hand started
low, slight clockwise follow-through with left throwing hand); B.
Notes on the Practice:
Note: I pitch with my left hand.
I decided that today it was time to start premeditating how
the wrist would move during the release of the ball. As I expected, I have
the most accuracy with the counter-clockwise movement of my left throwing
wrist during delivery. During the practice I realized
that when attempting to as a change of pace avoid the counter-clockwise
movement of the wrist during delivery, I need to distinguish between a
clockwise movement of the wrist on delivery and a neutral movement of the
wrist on delivery that is neither clockwise nor counter-clockwise. By the
end of the practice I had realized that this neutral wrist technique can
involve either the wrist flicking towards the target during delivery or
minimal wrist movement.
Today I was surprised at how the accuracy when I throw with a
clockwise movement of the wrist of the left throwing arm, is approximately
equal to the accuracy when I throw with a neutral, neither clockwise nor
counter-clockwise movement of the left throwing arm. I had not expected
this to be the case.
Today I proved to myself that I am able--albeit
inconsistently--to throw fast accurate pitches sidearm and
submarine style, that involve clockwise, counter-clockwise, and neutral
movement of the wrist.
For me as a lefty the counterclockwise movement of the wrist comes
naturally when I pitch sidearm or submarine style and I expect this is
true for three-quarters and overhand style also. Seems that in the
future the first segments of the day should be thrown using the
counter-clockwise movement of the wrist as this is what is most natural
for me.
Could be that previously when I was not premeditating wrist movement,
I was using a slight counterclockwise movement on some strikes that I
threw but did not note the fact in the notes. I suspect that
previously when I was not premeditating wrist movement during a
pitch, whatever wrist movement I did use during the delivery was more
natural and less extreme and therefore productive of greater
accuracy compared to the wrist movements used today my first day
featuring premeditation with regards to wrist movement during delivery.
Seems it would be wise to distinguish between wrist movement
during release of ball and wrist movement after release of ball during
follow-through.
Today it seemed that I am becoming able to generate more speed per
given amount of effort expended now compared to previously; in general
today I noticed an increase in speed or velocity of the pitches.
Today I noticed that my endurance level for pitching has gone up; I
am able to pitch without feeling tired now at a point where previously I
would have been tired.
Today as I observed myself while attempting to throw the ball with
various types of spin, I noted how, although I was using the same
hand grip on every pitch, the involvement of the fingers and fingertips
was different when the ball is pitched accurately, depending upon the type
of spin imparted to the ball. This reminds me that pitchers use
different grips on the ball for different pitches. The various grips used
by three-quarters and overhand style pitchers are well known, but a
problem is that the grips used by sidearm and submarine style
pitchers are not well known. Up to now no matter how I
spin the ball I have been using just one grip: middle and index
finger over seams at point where seams are closest together, and ring and
little finger to side of ball, thumb on other side of ball.
It would be wise I suppose to review the literature re various
hand-grips, but then again if I slavishly follow the literature I might
end up failing to invent effective new grips that produce balls that
surprise batters. For instance, my experience today showed me that
gripping the ball with three fingers, the ring, middle and index
fingers stretched out over the ball might be a good way to throw
pitches thrown with a neutral or clockwise flick of the left throwing
wrist, whereas gripping the ball with just two fingers
the middle and the index stretched over the ball and the ring and little
fingers curled at the side of the ball could be the best way to throw the
ball when moving the left throwing wrist counter-clockwise on
delivery.
As for how the ball supposedly moves when the wrist is
flicked this way or that I need to be careful. There are web
pages that confidently proclaim that a ball spinning clockwise moves
left; and then there are web pages that with equal confidence proclaim
that a ball spinning clockwise moves right. They all use the big
words like 'magnus effect' and sound like amateur physicists but
they diametrically contradict each other.
Today while pitching I became aware of a
factor that is generally ignored in the internet literature re grips used
to throw various pitches, which is the angle of the palm during
delivery. The palm can be at various angles relative to the ground
and the target during delivery. There were alot of problems with the cardboard strike zone coming
loose during the delivery. This is because I bought a tube to keep the
cardboard strike zone in, rolled up the cardboard strike zone and stored
it in the tube, which curved the cardboard strike zone. My solution for
now is to curve it the opposite way after every baseball practice. I
wasted alot of time looking for the stores in Newton that used to sell
cloth either I could not find them or they are now closed. The best thing
would be a cloth strike zone.
Starting with segment 4, and ending approx before segment 7, there
were delays in pitching due to little kids running around so not that many
pitches were thrown during those segments.
Notes From Dreamland
Prior to the practice I dreamt that I was keeping track of the stats
of the practice and ordering the practice in a new and different way. I
saw a page that had clusters of text on it such as A 1 2 3, then
separately B 1 2 3, then separately C 1 2 3 and etc. Each of these
clusters represented a different way of throwing a pitch; when I threw a
strike using method A then the 1 after A would be checked off; when I
threw another strike using method A then 2 after the A would be checked
off; after three strikes were thrown using method A I would move on to
method B; after three strikes were thrown using method B I would move on
to method C, and etc. The clusters all had about two out of three of the
numbers checked off meaning with each method a couple of strikes had been
thrown. In the dream I woke up in the morning and threw pitches and most
of the pitches thrown were strikes and the remaining blank spaces in the
cluster were checked off. A couple of the strikes represented instances of
me having seen the woman I call the 'Myrtle St. girl', (who was
a child and a friend of the neigbors when I lived on Myrtle St. Waltham
MA) on the sidewalk when driving. In the dream I was admiring the
dramatic nature of the "Myrtle Street girl"'s personality.
Re this dream, seems to me that the new way of practicing and keeping
score represented in the dream could have a positive effect when combined
with the scoring and practicing methods I am using now, meaning sometimes
the practice could be done and scored the way I have been doing it and
other times the way done in the dream. The dream method would
produce: less stress re not throwing balls; more attempts with types of
pitches I am not good at.
|
Adidas Bracara Indoors Shoes with 1 layer Propel Gel
Padding;
Reebok official 5 oz soft
training baseball |
||||
Sunday July 27
Waltham Y
546-
745 PM |
119 minutes running the WC06-L-nonskip-foot-head/alternation
air-dribble pattern
Details re food and sleep missing due to delay between taking
practice notes and typing up log entry.
Cup coffee consumed at ???
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 ???hours when practice started.
Drank ??? during the practice.
|
WC06-L-nonskip Head/foot alternation
non-skip air-dribble pattern in soccer; runs
today consistent but not as good as previous
today
Suspect: drinking in bars evening
before day of practice
Repeated text in small
font:
(This is the version of the WC06 in which I try not
to skip, but step on each pace, while touching the ball on every pace
and alternating between touching the ball with the head and touching
it with the foot, all while keeping the ball off the ground and moving
forwards).
Runs today done without restrictions on use of eyes in
following ball. Thus the eyes followed the ball about half way down from
the apex of the arc.
Today for the first time I started 11 yards from the wall
instead of 10 yards from the wall.
Started practice at 546 PM. There was a perfect run at 548 PM. At 559
PM 8 minutes after practice started (accounting for a 5 min break after
practice started) there wass a slow perfect 7 touch run that covered the
11 yards to the wall.
Today during the practice I noted:
The first touch of the run has a dominant impact on the subsequent
nature of the run. If the first touch kicks the ball out unusually far, it
will be difficult to have a run that features a large number of touches
per distance covered.
Changing from starting 10 yards from the wall to starting 11
yards from the wall, seems to naturally result in more distance being
covered per touch on the ball.
Starting 11 yards from the wall is psychologically more intimidating
than starting 10 yards from the wall. Starting 11 yards from the wall, the
object still is to reach the wall having kept the ball off the ground and
close to the body the whole time.
At 732 PM there was a zig-zagging 7 touch run that reached the wall
with the ball kept off the ground and close to the body, alternation
between touch with foot and head, ball touched on every pace which is an
example of extended pattern-adherence. At 735 PM there was another
extended pattern adherence run that covered the 11 yards but this time the
run was straight not zig-zag. Approximately 735 PM seems to be a
time when I perform some of my best air-dribble runs.
Today the consistency was good, but the quality of the runs was a
little down, the runs were a little slower compared to the previous soccer
practice, overall the practice was not equal to the performance the
previous soccer practice day.
Still the performance was good the entire two hours from the
beginning all the way to the end at 745 PM.
The main error resulting in failure appears to be, kicking
the ball too far with the foot on the third touch of the run. A possible
solution to this is practicing kicking the ball on the third touch of the
run so as to bring forward movement to a halt or so as to move backwards.
During the practice I kept my head down so as not to look at
the distance from start point to wall 11 yards from start point from an
angle which made the distance look intimidating and impossible to cover
keeping the ball close to the body and off the ground especially
while adhering to this special pattern I have been adhering to. At
the end of the practice, I took a little time to look at the distance from
start point to wall from an angle that made the distance seem a long
way. Eleven yards really does look like a long way from a certain
angle. Looking at the ceiling I noted that the ceiling was 26 feet from
the floor and I had been covering 33 feet with the ball kept close to the
body, touched on every pace, touched alternately by the foot and by the
head. Looking at the 26 feet from floor to ceiling made the 33 feet
distance seem very long. Looking at these distances I felt awed by what I
had done.
I suspect that the main reason today's practice performance was not
as good as the performance in the previous soccer practice, is that the
evening before today's practice, I indulged in a shot of Tequila and a
'Mojito' cocktail at Franco's on Moody St. in Waltham, and then another
shot of Tequila at the Lincoln on Moody St. in Waltham (I was drawn back
to the Lincoln because they had a live band this time, I thought the
drummer--a young black man--was very good and complimented him and he
shook my hand). I could feel the after-effects of the alcohol. This month
I have generally continued to not drink more than on two days per week,
but I have been able to feel the effects of the drinking the day after I
drink. The main after-effect of the alcohol seems to be a physical
and intellectual sluggishness, which impairs sports performance
and which impairs endurance for intellectual tasks such as writing up this
blog or researching how the various pitches should be thrown on the
internet. Not sure if I have become more able to detect alcohol caused
impairment or if I have become more susceptible to alcohol consumption
impairment than I used to be. Seems tea and or coffee helps to overcome
the alcohol-aftereffects.
Seems to me that I can get an honorable kind of pleasure out
of alcohol if: I do not drink too frequently; drink after having
exercised my body, exerted myself in some way; drink after I have been
awake for at least 11 hours. I never began to realize until this year,
that since one is supposed to finish up drinking 3-4 hours before one goes
to sleep because drinking interferes with sleep, and since I do not enjoy
drinking if I have not been awake for at least 11 hours, this
leaves me a small window of opportunity during a day when I can drink,
that is from about 11 hours after I awake to about 13 hours after I
awake. It sort of shocks me that there are so many people in a
society as alcohol oriented as the USA, who seem to fail to realize that
the hours of the day in which they are most able to absorb the impact of
alcohol are very limited.
|
Adidas Bracara Indoors Shoes with 1
layer Propel Gel Padding;
Adidas Replique ball inflated to 7.5
psi |
||||
Tuesday July 29,
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:
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.
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 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, 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: |
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 30
435-945 PM Waltham Y Gym |
310 minutes practicing pitching three-quarters and overhand style;for
for first time tested out new 'Hobbzoid' pitch I invented.
Cup coffee consumed at approx 300 PM, 1.75 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 hour before practice started.
Had been awake for approx 5.5 hours when practice started.
Drank Glaceau Energy Vitaminwater and 365 brand Electrolyte enhanced
water during practice.
|
Baseball Pitching:
Used a soft 5 oz Reebok ball to practice pitching at a
20 inch wide, 24 inch high target, bottom edge 9" above the ground (I was
not on a mound) on the wall 18 yards from where I pitched the ball
(red sideline of basketball court). Closed my eyes before starting
foot movements involved in pitch; kept eyes closed until AFTER ball
released. Experimented with three-quarters and
overhand styles, and with various different twists of the wrist when
releasing the ball.
Today I had surprising success
using a new pitch I invented called the 'Hobbzoid'.
Today or the first time I allowed
myself a warmup segment, this produced very beneficial
results
Today there were segments
featuring very accurate three-quarters style throwing of Hobbzoid pitches,
and overhand throwing of pitches involving counterclockwise turn of the
wrist
Released ball just before foot hit ground; no elaborate old-fashioned
windup before pitch thrown, pitching 'from stretch'.
All pitches thrown were scored from the beginning, except for some
warmup pitched thrown between 625 and 740 PM. There were no unscored
warm-up pitches prior to the start of the practice.
Material repeated from previous log entries in small type:
From the beginning I took detailed notes re
how I threw the ball when I pitched a strike. B means ball, S
means strike. 7B S for example, means 7 balls were thrown and then a
strike. B means a pitch that was a ball. CC means counterclockwise.
Wr means the wrist was an important part of the delivery. CC-wr means the
wrist turned counterclockwise as the ball was delivered--remember I
am a lefty. For example, body+elbow+wrist means these three parts of
the body were the primary forces in the pitch; body+wr means body and
wrist were the primary forces; wr alone means the wrist was the
primary force. Dart means the pitch was thrown similar to the way
people throw darts. 'Slow sp' means the pitch was thrown at what is
for me is a relatively slow speed; 'medium sp' means
the pitch was thrown at what for me is a medium speed; 'fast sp'
means the pitch was thrown at a speed that for me is fast; ''max sp'
etc means the speed was thrown at a speed that for me is even faster than
fast, the maximum velocity I am capable of; forward lean means I
emphasized leaning forwards during the pitch; energy means I emphasized
being energetic during the pitch; zip means approx the same thing as
energy; long step forwards means during the delivery I stepped forwards an
unusually long length prior to releasing the ball; forward stretch means
approx the same thing as long step forwards; arm means the arm was a major
force in propelling the ball forwards; elbow means approx the same thing
as arm; deliv means delivery; hand down/up prior to delivery means
that while pitching sidearm, my hand moved first towards the ground and
then up towards the ceiling prior to releasing the ball; balanced=all
parts of the body involved in the pitch; body (noted by itself)=force of
pitch primarily from the body as opposed to arm or wrist; b6" etc
means the ball missed the strike zone by 6 inches or whatever number is
given after the B (for balls that missed by less than 13"); In
parentheses after an S I note how I threw the strike when I threw it:
Results:
How to read the numbers: 10/30 means out of 30 pitches
10 balls were strikes; this is followed by percent pitches that were
strikes; next figure, example: B<13": 7(10")/28, 25% means: 7 out of
the 28 pitches were balls that missed by less than 13 inches, the balls
that missed by less than 13 inches missed by an average of 10 inches, 25%
of the pitches were balls that missed by less than 13 inches. 4B 5B
etc means there were four balls in a row that missed the strike zone by
more than a foot; B by itself means one pitch that missed the zone by more
than a foot. Total 61% means 61% of the pitches were strikes or missed the
strike zone by no more than a foot.
All the segments involved 15 minutes of pitching though
some took longer than 15 minutes, due to various delays. There were no
uncounted unscored warmup pitches.
Note: As always I threw left-handed. When I say
clockwise and counter-clockwise I mean from my perspective when my hand is
held in front of me. All the pitches today were thrown with the middle and
index fingers stretched out over the ball, the little finger and the ring
finger curled to the side of the ball, and the thumb on other side of the
ball.
1 435-450 PM, three-quarters style,
counter-clockwise motion of left throwing hand during release of
ball: 5/20, 25%; B<13": 8(6")/20, 40%; total
65%.
B, B, S (slow, cc-wrist); B6", B6", S (balanced, index fingertip lst
part of hand to touch ball on release); B, B3", S (lean back and left at
beginning of delivery, pause, then quick body movement, medium speed
pitch); B9", S (relaxed, loose deliv); B, B12", B7", B, S (lean back and
pause at slow beginning of deliv, quick forward body movement,
medium speed pitch); B5", B (balls missing by more than a foot so far
usually involved late release of ball); B (throwing hand started unusually
low at beginning of delivery), B3".
I started off today with what I expected to be the most accurate
pitch, involving me using my left hand to produce a counter-clockwise
movement of the wrist as I released the ball with my left hand. 25% is a
good strikes percentage throwing with the eyes closed, without warmup of
the type pitchers usually get in the bullpen etc., on the first segment of
the day. The 40% of the pitches that missed the strike zone by
less than 13" and were balls, missed on average by only 6 inches.
2 450-505
PM, three-quarters style, neutral wrist motion
during throwing of ball, avoided clockwise or counterclockwise motion of
wrist during throwing of ball, exact motion of wrist unspecified:
1/23, 4%; B<13": 11(8")/23, 48%; total
52%.
B10", (entire body in pitch, ring finger on ball as ball released),
B2", (entire body in pitch, wrist flicked towards target on release); B,
B2" (entire body in pitch, quick body movement, index finger last to touch
ball); B12" (wrist flicked towards target); B, B6" (wrist flicked towards
target); B6", B, B, B12", B, B8", B, B9", B, B8", B, B, B, B, S (medium
speed, quick body movement on delivery, arm movement ceased on release of
ball, no follow-through); B12".
This segment was a classic example of tons of pitches missing the
strike zone by just a little while very few strikes thrown; it was
a classic example of importance of the morale-uplifting effect of
keeping track of pitches that were balls but missed by less than
13". I knew it would be tough for me to throw strikes without
using the counterclockwise movement of my left throwing wrist but I did
not think it would be this tough; in the past I have thrown lots of
strikes without the counterclockwise motion of the wrist. Has to do I
suppose with the fact this was the first segment in which the lack of
counterclockwise or clockwise motion of the wrist (neutral wrist movement)
was premeditated.
3 512-527 PM, three-quarters style, neutral wrist
movement, (clockwise and counterclockwise movement of wrist avoided) wrist
of left throwing arm during ball release) wrist flicks towards target on
ball release : 1/27, 4%; B<13": 8(11")/27,
30%; total 34%.
B, B9", B12", B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B8", B8", B, B10", B, B, B, B12",
B, B, B12", B S (medium speed, strong wrist action, on release fingers
perpendicular to alm, and pointed at target, no follow-through, almost
dart-throwing-like motion); B, B10", B, B10".
At least one pitch was not counted because it was accidentally
thrown using a clockwise wrist motion. This segment was weird--in the past
I have thrown lots of strikes without counterclockwise wrist motion and
with the wrist flicking towards the target on release of the ball. Just
goes to show how when the wrist flick towards the target becomes
premeditated for the first time, performance
goes down, probably because of exaggerated wrist flick towards target. The
hand being closer to the body when ball released, compared to where the
hand is when there is counterclockwise motion of the wrist on release,
seemed to improve performance. This method produced the fastest
speed of all the three-quarters style methods tried today.
Again this segment showed the importance of keeping track of close
misses. The segment would have been very depressing if strikes alone were
counted. During the segment it seemed like a lot less than a third of the
pitches were strikes or missing by no more than a foot.
4 533-553 PM (approx 15 mins
pitching), three-quarters style neutral wrist movement,
(clockwise and counterclockwise movement of wrist avoided) wrist of left
throwing arm during ball release) wrist movement minimized on ball release
: 4/21, 19%; B<13": 6(5")/21, 29%; total
48%.
B3", B, B, S (arm almost straight on release, loose quick deliv,
inded finger pointing towards target after ball release); B6", B2" (index
finger pointing to spot above target on ball release); B8", B, S
(counterclockwise follow-through with left throwing hand, entire body
involved in pitch, arm almost straight on ball release); S (loose deliv,
arm almost straight on ball release, middle finger and index finger
pointed towards area above target immediately after ball release); B, S
(entire body in pitch, wrist follow through towards target,, fingers of
throwing hand pointing towards area above target immediately after
release); B4" (entire body in pitch, throwing arm almost straight on
release, fingers of throwing hand pointed to area above target immediately
after ball release); B, B10", B, B, B, B, B, B.
This 'neutral' wrist movement segment was slower than the
previous 'neutral' wrist movement segment. But it was more accurate than
the previous 'neutral' wrist movement segment, which
produces a paradox. Teenage
basketball players wandering into the way delayed things thus the total
time period of the segment was extended. Some pitches were accidentally
thrown with the wrong method and not counted.
5 555-625 PM (approx 15 mins
pitching), three-quarters style (clockwise rotation of wrist
of left throwing wrist during ball release): 3/23,
13%; B<13": 5(8")/23, 22%; total
36%.
B9", B, B7", B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B10" (three-finger pitch, ring,
index, and middle fingers stretched across ball); B, B, B, S (lots of
entire body in pitch, on ball release palm of left throwing
hand pointed down and fingers of left throwing hand pointed at area above
strike zone, palm of left throwing hand did not twist all the way to
facing to my left, zippy medium speed pitch); B, B, B, B, B10" (medium
speed), B4", S (energetic quick delivery, medium speed, entire body in
pitch, palm of left throwing hand ended throwing motion pointing
towards floor); S (same as previous strike).
For me and I suspect for most every left hander, moving the wrist
clockwise on ball release, is more difficult than moving the wrist
counter-clockwise on ball release. More than once I was surprised
at the speed of strikes that were thrown using this method. Seems
using this method velocity can be gained by minimizing the amount of spin
put on the ball, and emphasizing clockwise movement of the wrist on
follow-through as opposed to during ball delivery. Seems this pitch
requires that alot of the entire body be put into the delivery of the
pitch.
While pitching this segment I got the idea that I should
concentrate on having the palm of the left throwing hand pointing towards
430 PM on the imaginary clock facing me at the end of a pitch
delivery in which the movement of the wrist is neutral neither clockwise
or counter-clockwise; and I should have the palm of the hand at the end of
the delivery pointing down towards the ground (not to my left) at the end
of a pitch in which the movement of the left throwing wrist is
clockwise. An idea that came to me at the end of this
segment is that different pitches should be classified in terms of which
direction the palm of the left throwing hand ends up facing at the end of
the pitch. This segment contained 15 throwing minutes but was
extended due to the fact I had to move the strike zone and other such
interruptions and delays.
At this point, from 625 PM to 740 PM, I pitched warm-up
pitches (first time ever I had an unscored warmup
segment) throwing this new pitch I invented that I call the
"Hobbzoid" pitch. Some kids were doing
'mountain climbing' on the wall, and this forced me, as it turned out
luckily, to practice warmup pitches from a distance closer than the usual
18 yards from the strike zone.
During this segment I thought about the pitches previously thrown
during the day's practice. It occurred to me that comparing the
three-quarters throwing motion, 'neutral wrist flick' involving the
wrist flicking towards the target to, the three-quarters
throwing motion, 'neutral wrist flick', involving the wrist
movement being minimized, that both motions end with the
palm of the hand pointing towards 430 on the imaginary
fighter-pilot's clock facing me, but the variant involving wrist
flick towards the target ends with my fingers pointing to my
right, whereas the variant involving minimal wrist flick
ends with the fingers of the throwing hand pointing towards the
target.
The new "Hobbzoid" pitch is in my opinion
"new" because, after spending several hours researching
various pitches on the internet, I never came across a pitch like what I
call the "Hobbzoid" pitch.
With the Hobbzoid pitch, the ball spins in approximately the
same way as it spins when I twist my left throwing hand in a clockwise
direction while throwing a pitch; but as it turns out
the ball can be delivered with more spin, velocity and accuracy when the
Hobbzoid pitch is thrown. The
spin on the Hobbzoid pitch is as follows: a topspinning
ball moves with the side of the ball facing the pitcher moving up and
the side of the ball facing the batter moving down; a ball spinning
clockwise and horizontally spins with the side of the ball facing the
pitcher moving from the pitcher's right to the pitcher's left and the side
of the ball facing the batter moving from the pitcher's left to the
pitcher's right; the Hobbzoid pitch's spin is in
between these two types of spin. Imagine a line being
drawn around the ball so as to resemble the equator line of the earth.
Imagine this equator line being on a diagonal, with its bottom being at
730 on the imaginary clock dial (imagine looking at a clock directly in
front of you), and its top being at 130 PM on the imaginary clock dial.
Imagine points on this diagonal line that face the pitcher moving from
bottom to top, and points on this diagonal line facing the batter moving
from top to bottom. Such is the spin on the Hobbzoid
pitch.
The Hobbzoid pitch is thrown in the following
manner: my left throwing hand points sideways to my
right at approx a 45 degree angle, towards 1:30 on the imaginary
clock fighter-pilot's clock facing me, with the palm of my left hand
facing to my right as the ball begins to be released, and
topspin is imparted to the ball as the ball is released, meaning, the left
throwing hand is twisted as the ball is released so that the palm of the
left throwing hand moves from facing towards my right side, from my
perspective, to facing towards me as I throw the ball.
During this time segment from 625 PM to 741 PM, as
warmup I threw the new Hobbzoid pitch at the strike
zone target in various ways. I threw it from about 5 yards away
from the strike zone; I threw it from about 10 yards away from the strike
zone, I gradually increased the distance from the strike zone as I threw
the pitch, throwing it from 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 117 and 18 yards. I
threw it with my eyes closed and I threw it with my eyes open. I threw it
with the front foot hitting the ground before the ball was released and I
threw it with the front foot hitting the ground after the ball was
released. When I was closer to the strike zone as I threw the Hobbzoid
pitch I aimed for higher spots above the strike zone, as I realized that
the ball descends on an angle as it leaves my hand and moves towards the
strike zone, which is also related to the difference in the
velocity of the pitch when it leaves my hand compared to when it hits the
strike zone. Even before I started pitching a 15 minute segment
from the usual 18 yards, I realized that this new Hobbzoid pitch
does incredible stuff. Pitching from closer than 18
yards enhanced my awareness of the movement of the ball when the
Hobbzoid is thrown. I noticed that when the Hobbzoid pitch is
thrown, from my perspective as the pitcher, the ball first travels
on a diagonal from my left to my right and from top to down; then it
straightens out; and also, sometimes, after it straightens
out, it seems to resume its diagonal left to right and top to bottom
slant. In other words, when the Hobbzoid is thrown the ball zig
zags. It seems to move more than any other pitch I have
thrown. I estimate that the reasons for the movement have to do with
interaction between angle from ball release point to strike zone, magnus
effect, rpm of spin changing as ball travels towards strike zone, magnus
effect changing as ball travels towards strike zone, and velocity changing
as ball travels towards strike zone, in general the interaction of all
these factors.
6 741-756 PM, three-quarters style, 'Hobbzoid'
wrist motion (see above explanation): 3/16, 19%;
B<13": 7(8")/16, 44%; total 63%.
B, B6" (lots of spin, medium speed, entire body in pitch, strong
forward step with lead foot); S (fast speed, lots of spin, entire body in
pitch, strong forward step with pitch, balanced--all parts of body
involved); B, B, B6", B12", B4", S (fast speed, entire body in pitch, arm
elbow wrist in pitch, balanced all parts of body in pitch, quick
delivery); B, S (fast speed, balanced--all parts of body in pitch, body
and arm in pitch, elbow and wrist in pitch, quick energetic delivery,
forward lean during delivery); B7", B8", B12", B, B.
I was very pleased with this segment. I had expected the
Hobbzoid to be very difficult to throw. Fast speed came
naturally to me during this segment. All the strikes and
almost-strikes involved: balance, meaning all parts of the body involved
in the pitch; forward lean of the body during delivery; energetic quick
delivery; fast speed of pitch; entire body moving forward along with the
front foot during delivery. None of the pitches that missed the strike
zone by more than a foot were wild.
At this point I switched from throwing three-quarters style
to throwing overhand
7 800-815 PM, overhand style, counter-clockwise
motion of left throwing hand during release of ball: 7/15,
47%; B<13": 7(12")/15, 47%;
total 94%.
B, S (fast speed, forward lean during deliv, balance--all parts of
body involved in pitch, body moving forward along with lead foot during
deliv, quick energetic delivery); S (same as previous strike); S (same as
previous strike); B8", B12", S (same as previous strike but medium speed);
B4", S (med speed, loose, relaxed, powerful delivery, similar to previous
strikes); B6", S (like previous strike, quick delivery, medium speed);
B4", B9", S (like previous strikes this segment but at slow speed), B10".
All of the strikes thrown in this segment involved a delivery
that was quicker than (with maybe a few exceptions) ever
before. All of the strikes in this segment featured forward lean
during delivery to the point that the trailing left foot had to move up to
near the right foot after delivery to prevent the body from falling
forwards, arm was almost straight on all the strikes. This segment
and the previous segment featured more forward lean during delivery than
ever before.
This was the best segment I ever threw in
terms of the total of the percent of the pitches that were strikes or
missed the strike zone by no more than a foot. Surprising
seeing that overhand has never been very accurate for me. I
estimate the main reason for this is that for the first time since I
started pitching, I did some loose relaxed warming up from 625-740
PM.
Notes re previous two segments:
Almost every warmup pitch I threw from 625-740 PM was a 'Hobbzoid'
pitch thrown using the three-quarters motion; still this warmup period had
a beneficial impact on segment 7 involving overhand motion and a
counter-clockwise as opposed to Hobbzoid motion of the wrist. The
warmup pitches from 625-740 PM resulted in segments 6 and 7 thrown
immediately after the warmup, being the happiest, most relaxed, most
enjoyable pitching segments I have ever thrown, because the warmup pitches
besides warming me up, relaxed me and got me a little sleepy. As
a result of the warmup segment (the first time I have ever used a warmup
segment) during the deliveries of the pitches in segments 6 and 7 there
was more forward lean than ever before, more of the body moving forwards
along with the lead foot than ever before.
8 816-831 PM, overhand style, neutral
wrist motion during throwing of ball, avoided clockwise or
counterclockwise motion of wrist during throwing of ball, exact motion of
wrist unspecified: 3/24, 13%; B<13":
4(8")/24, 17%; total 30%.
B10", B, B, B, S (quick delivery, entire body in pitch, forward lean,
body forward with front foot step forwards, so much forward lean that
traling foot had to move up to near lead foot to maintain balance); B6", S
(slow speed, entire body in pitch, throwing arm curved and almost
straight); B, B (note: at this point I noted that in segments
6, 7 and segment 8 up to this point, I had to some extent been
closing my eyes after moving my lead right foot back a little prior to
kicking my right foot forwards, whereas previously traditionally I had
been closing my eyes before moving my lead right foot back a little. I
realized that this slight difference in terms of when I closed my eyes
resulted in a significant impact on my pitching; at the same time I
realized that a main reason for the good pitching in segments 6 and 7 and
8 to this point, was that for the first time in my life I had a warmup
segment. After I returned to the strict practice of closing my
eyes before the first foot movements involved in the pitch, the pitching
delivery slowed down, and the level of forward movement of the body during
the pitch delivery declined). B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B5", B12", B,
B, S (quick delivery, medium speed, entire body in pitch).
I was not really expecting much from this segment, I knew that trying
to pitch overhand accurately and without counterclockwise movement of the
wrist on delivery would be tough for me.
The fact that a slight difference in terms of how long the eyes are
closed prior to the release of the ball is significant, indicates that
when I pitch with my eyes open I will be pitching much better.
9 833-851 PM (15 mins pitching), overhand style,
neutral wrist movement, (clockwise and counterclockwise movement of wrist
avoided) wrist of left throwing arm during ball release) wrist flicks
towards target on ball release : 3/21, 14%;
B<13": 8(8")/21, 38%; total 52%.
B, B, B, B9", B, B10", B, B, S (quick delivery, body moves forwards
on forwards step, low dart-throwing-like delivery); B, B, B, B5", S
(entire body in pitch, hand close to head on ball release, dart-like
delivery, remembered to point fingres at target on follow-through); B6",
B12", S (medium speed, fingers pointed at target immediately after ball
release again, with palm facing towards ground on follow-through, quick
delivery, forward body movement during deliv); B, B8", B6", B10".
The reduction in strikes percentage this segment was I think due
to a combination of a return to strictness re the exact time at which the
eyes closed, and, the benefits of the warmup segment fading away. This
segment had relatively speaking little in common in terms of pitching
style compared to the Hobbzoid pitches thrown during the warmup segment.
Seemed at this point that a slow delivery produces the advantages
of a slow delivery, a fast delivery produces the advantages of a fast
delivery such as the eyes being closed for a shorter time prior to ball
release; but a medium speed delivery lacks any advantages. By
delivery I mean the speed with which the processes prior to ball release
occur, I am not here talking about pitch velocity.
10 853-908 PM (approx 15 mins pitching), overhand
style neutral wrist movement, (clockwise and counterclockwise
movement of wrist avoided) wrist movement minimized on ball release
: 1/28, 4%; B<13": 4(10")/28, 14%; total
18%.
B, B, B, B, B, B, B, (at this point I reverted back to the slower
delivery involving rocking back and pausing that I used prior to the
warmup segment that changed my delivery into a very quick delivery); B9",
S (med speed delivery, less forward body motion compared to new quick
delivery inspired by warmup segment); B, B, B, B9", B, B, (at this point I
started to alternate between the slower delivery I was used to prior to
the warmup segment, and the new very quick delivery inspired by the warmup
segment); B9", B, B, B, B, B, B, B12", B, B, B, B, B
The gym had become empty at this point and was no longer lively which
perhaps impaired performance. During this segment I became
'schizophrenic', so to speak, with regards to whether I should use the
slower delivery I had been using prior to the warmup segment, or the new
very quick delivery involving lots of forwards body movement and forwards
body lean inspired by the warmup segment. By the time this segment ended I
had decided that I should generally speaking use normal delivery of the
type I used to use prior to the first warmup segment ever that I had
today, for segments that did not have a warmup segment preceding the given
segment that used the same style as the given segment; and use whatever
delivery is inspired by a warmup segment in the segment after the warmup
segment, noting of course that warmup segments will use the same pitch as
used in the subsequent segment. At this point the thought in my mind was,
that warmup segments prepare one for the kind of pitch delivered in the
warmup segment, the style evolving out of the warmup segment may not be
appropriate for other types of pitches. The warmup induced performance
enhancing spell eventually fades. When the warmup inspired style
differs from the style that is not warmup inspired this produces two
different methodologies that can be compared.
I expected this segment to be tough, overhand is a hard style to
throw accurately, minimizing wrist rotation is a difficult thing to do.
11 910-925 PM, overhand style (clockwise rotation
of wrist of left throwing wrist during ball release): 0/19,
0%; B<13": 7(8")/19, 37%; total
37%.
B, B, B, B8", (entire body in pitch, high velocity pitch); B12", B,
B12", B, B12" (body twists clockwise during delivery); B, B, B, B12" (body
twists clockwise during deliv, high velocity, entire body in pitch); B, B,
B, B, B12", B10".
I had expected this segment to be tough. I'm glad I kept track of the
near-misses; the data makes me realize that the segment was not nearly as
bad as the strikes percentage indicates. On all the pitches the tip of the
middle finger was the last part of the body to touch the ball.
12 929-944 PM, overhand style, 'Hobbzoid'
wrist motion (see above explanation): 4/21, 19%;
B<13": 5(9")/21, 24%; total 43%.
B, B, B, B, B, B12", B, B12", B, S (fast speed, slow rock back and
pause at beginning of deliv); S (fast speed, slower delivery going
backwards at beginning, fast quick delivery going forwards at end of
delivery); S (fast speed, quick delivery without conscious attempt to
imitate delivery produced by the great warmup from 625-740 PM); B6", S
(medium delivery speed, medium pitch ball velocity, hand high on ball
release, arm almost straight on ball release); B, B, B, B, B, B12",
B3".
Notes on the Practice
For the first time in all the days I have
pitched since late May of this year 2008, I used some time, 75 minutes, to
warmup, using various warmup methods. This definitely seemed to have
produced important improvements in performance and in emotional
state. Baseball pitching is not like soccer or basketball.
Soccer and basketball players are expected to perform without warming up
but baseball pitchers are allowed to warmup before a game. Soccer
air-dribble warmup is naturally the same as the soccer air-dribble drill
itself thus warmup and actual practice merge into one. I should give some
thought to instituting a basketball warmup, think creatively about
incorporating warmup segments into baseball pitching practice. I now
believe that some of these pitches will be mastered much better and
quicker if I emply a warmup segment using the given pitch before
performing a scored practice using the given pitch.
I noted today that certain tendencies that were evident in the
pitching before the warmup segment became emphasized subsequent to the
warmup segment.
Today it seemed that sort of freezing the arm on ball release
and aborting the follow-through can be useful when experimenting using
various slightly different pitching methods.
As I suspected with the three-quarters style the
counterclockwise method left throwing wrist turn method produces the best
results compared to all other methods used prior to today; the surprise
was that the new Hobbzoid pitch was even more accurate than the
counterclockwise twist pitch. Also as I suspected in overhand the
counterclockwise movement of the throwing wrist is better than all the
other methods.
This log entry is so long that further comments inspired by the
practice today will be posted at a later time.
|
Adidas Bracara Indoors Shoes with 1 layer Propel Gel
Padding;
Reebok official 5 oz soft
training baseball |
||||
Thursday July 31
735-950 PM, Waltham Y Gym |
135 minutes running the WC06-L-nonskip-foot-head/alternation
air-dribble pattern
Cup coffee consumed gradually 330-630 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, no
brewers yeast or cacao powder this time, consumed approx 1.0 hours
before practice started. No problem from inclusion of the beta carotene
containing carrot juice today.
Had been awake for approx 8 hours when practice started.
Drank ??? during the practice.
|
WC06-L-nonskip Head/foot alternation
non-skip air-dribble pattern in soccer; runs
today consistent, notable for combination of speed and change of
direction
Repeated text in small
font:
(This is the version of the WC06 in which I try not
to skip, but step on each pace, while touching the ball on every pace
and alternating between touching the ball with the head and touching
it with the foot, all while keeping the ball off the ground and moving
forwards).
Runs today done without restrictions on use of eyes in
following ball. Thus the eyes followed the ball about half way down from
the apex of the arc.
Today again I started 11 yards from the wall instead of 10
yards from the wall.
Started practice at 735 PM. There was a good run at 738 PM.
Hot and humid in gym today. Drank bottle of champagne evening before,
had very long baseball practice day before, ate whopper jr, hamburger,
small order fries just 45 minutes before practice started. Due to
these factors I expected that the initial phase of clumsiness at the
beginning of the practice would be extended and such is what indeed turned
out to be the case.
The first kick of the runs is the most important touch of the run and
determines the character of the entire run. Though I realize this, at the
beginning of the practice I often fail to put 100% effort into the first
touch, which impairs performance. This because, the first touch is
executed better when I crouch down while rolling the ball back, flipping
it up and the kicking it--but especially at the beginning I find this
crouching down to be tiring and stressful on my still stiff knees. Could
be that a wise idea might be to do squats of some kind before
starting practice. The required energy, concentration, attention
comes naturally after the first touch, as the ball is in the air and the
excitement begins, but it does not come so naturally on the first touch.
Again I noted that high performance in this drill is a result of
energy, attentiveness, concentration--and sometimes such is just not
there.
Seemed today that the best way to overcome that lazy feeling
is to hustle. This is not quite so obvious as it seems.
The right foot was surprisingly competent when it was brought
into play on runs that deviated from pattern, even though it has
been used little in the past few weeks.
It is hard to judge practices such as today due to continually rising
expectations. I estimate today was good after the clumsiness at
the beginning. I never thought during the first hour today, that I would
end up being as good as I was after the first hour.
I noted today that I am developing consistency in the sense
of traveling the 11 yards with the ball kept close to the body and off the
ground on a high percentage of attempts, either while adhering to pattern
or deviating a little from pattern. The prescribed pattern in
this drill is that the ball is touched on every pace, alternating between
touch with the left foot and touch with the head.
Often in attempting to adhere to pattern, the result is that the ball
flies off through a miskick, whereas in a game I would sacrifice
exact pattern adherence for the sake of ball control.
As a matter of fact, in games deviation from pattern
adherence is the rule and the norm not the exception.
Today there were 4 excellent 6 touch pattern adherence runs,
and 2 good 6 touch pattern adherence runs. By this I mean that
the ball was touched 6 times while the 11 yard distance was covered, with
the ball kept close to the body and off the ground, with the ball touched
on every pace, and with alternation between touch with the left foot and
touch with the head.
Generally today was notable for the speed of the runs and for
change of direction combined with
speed. There was one fast tightly controlled excellent six
touch run that zig zagged.
|
Adidas Bracara Indoors Shoes with 1
layer Propel Gel Padding;
Adidas Replique ball inflated to 7.5
psi |
||||
Friday August 1, 805-950 PM, Waltham Y Gym |
105 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.
Nothing consumed in the 14 hours prior to start of practice except
glass of watermelon juice
Had been awake for approx 10 hours when practice started; slept
only 4 hours in the 24 hours prior to start practice.
Drank approx 40 oz Glaceau Energy Vitaminwater
during the practice.
|
Today (basketball) I shot all my shots with
my eyes closed 24 feet from the basket;
Again today I implemented
mental-stress/effort expended per shot minimization; today I
shot 2.0 shots per minute; today the average of the percentages was
26% down from the 28% of the previous basketball practice, due to lack of
sleep and food.
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.
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 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, I attempted to
shoot the shots with a minimal amount of thought involved per shot, and a
high number of shots taken per minute; the only thought in my mind was to
do my best to get the basketball into the basket.
Segment 1 805-830 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: 13/51, 25% (progression of
baskets-made/attempts: 1/10, 2/12, 3/13, 4/19, 5/21, 6/24, 7/25, 8/26,
9/27, 10/29, 11/34, 12/38, 13/51). Not
counting the first 9 and the last 13 shots, this segment was 11/29,
38%. Previous basketball practice this method was at
33%. Segment 2 830-855 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: 14/53, 26%
(progression of baskets-made/attempts: 1/1, 2/6, 3/7, 4/12, 5/16,
6/18, 7/20, 8/21, 9/26, 10/27, 11/28, 12/29, 13/40, 14/47, 14/53). Counting only the first 29 shots, I was 12/29,
41%. Previous basketball practice this method was 21%.
More than usual amount almost went in but missed. the ball of the left
foot was slipping during the footwork prior to the shot. Many of the shots
were well short but a little short, the ball travelling not quite far
enough.
Segment 3 855-920 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):
12/43, 28% (progression of baskets-made/attempts:
1/1, 2/5, 3/8, 4/13, 5/15, 6/16, 7/25, 8/29, 9/31, 10/35, 11/38, 12/43).
Previous basketball practice this method was at 27%. More than usual
almost went in but did not. Again as with the previous segment, alot of
the shots were well aimed but a little short, meaning the ball was not
shot quite far enough.
Segment 4 924-949 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): 12/50,
24% (progression of baskets-made/attempts: 1/2, 2/6, 3/13,
4/19, 5/20, 6/29, 7/31, 8/32, 9/33, 10/36, 11/46, 12/49, 12/50). Previous
basketball practice this method was at 30%. Lots almost went in but did
not. Lots were well aimed but short, the ball was not propelled quite far
enough.
Notes on the Practice:
Today the average of the percentages was 26%. In the 24 hours prior
to the start of the practice I only had 3 hours of sleep; I had been awake
except for a 1 hour nap for 10 hours before practice started; I had not
eaten anything for about 14 hours when practice started; all I had to
drink in the 24 hours before the start of the practice was a little
watermelon juice 7 hours before the practice started; the nutrients
cocktail type stuff was completely skipped, no pills oils juices no
nothing; all I had was the Glaceau Energy Vitaminwater about 40 oz during
the practice. Thus this was a sleep-deprived and food-deprived
practice. Predictably, a large number
of the shots were short meaning the ball was not propelled far
enough.
Something that occurred to me today is that a good experiment
would be to compare minimal use of the wrist during the shot to maximal
use of the wrist during the shot. Secondarily, you have maximal
use of arm vs miminal, maximal use of legs/body vs minimal; and various
combinations such as maximal use of wrist, legs/body, and minimal use of
arm.
I noted today that my form is very inconsistent and that this
is a main cause of missed shots, which reminds me that I once
read of how one of the best shooters said that he shoots every shot using
exactly the same form. By way of contrast, I manage to shoot 50 shots
using almost 50 different forms of shooting, even when all 50 are shot
using the same general method such as M1, M2, M3, M4 etc.
Seems that since the ball of my left foot is slipping when I
move it back and to the sides and then forwards prior to a shot, I
should when I move the left foot back and to the side and just sort of
touch the ground with my toe as opposed to attempting to place the ball of
the left foot on the ground to push off the ground and generate forwards
momentum. Maybe I need new indoor soccer shoes (I have
been using my indoor soccer shoes when practicing basketball); maybe I
need to buy basketball shoes and use them.
|
Adidas Bracara Indoors Shoes with 1 layer Propel Gel
Padding;
Spalding TF-1000 Microfiber Composite Basketball,
inflated to 8.0 psi as usual |
||||
Saturday August 2,
Waltham Y
550-750 PM |
120 minutes experimenting
with 'Sidearm 8A' and 'Sidearm 8B' pitches.
Two smallish cups coffee w cane sugar and organic
half n half consumed at approx 510 PM, 0.7 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 0.7 hours before practice started.
Had been awake for approx 6.0 hours when practice started.
Drank Glaceau Vitaminwater not sure which type during the
practice.
|
Baseball Pitching:
Successfully Tested for the
First Time Two New Pitches I have never heard of anyone throwing, 'Sidearm
8A', & 'Sidearm 8B'--Both Pitches change direction twice on way to
target and were thrown
accurately at a high velocity
Used a soft 5 oz Reebok ball to practice pitching at a
20 inch wide, 24 inch high target, bottom edge 9" above the ground (I was
not on a mound) on the wall 18 yards from where I pitched the ball
(red sideline of basketball court). On every
scored pitch, I closed my eyes before starting body movements
involved in pitch; kept eyes closed until AFTER ball released.
During scored segments released ball just before foot hit ground; no
elaborate old-fashioned windup before pitch thrown, pitching 'from
stretch' or 'set' or whatever they call it depending on who they are.
Pitches thrown today were thrown without the stepping back with
the front right foot prior to kicking out the front right foot (I
throw with my left hand). This was a result of how warming up with a given
pitch naturally evolves the style with which the pitch is thrown at this
point for me.
There was a warmup period before each scored segment because
sidearm 8A and sidearm 8B are pitches I have never thrown before that I
expected to be difficult to throw.
Material repeated from previous log entries in small type:
From the beginning I took detailed notes re
how I threw the ball when I pitched a strike. B means ball, S
means strike. 7B S for example, means 7 balls were thrown and then a
strike. B means a pitch that was a ball. CC means counterclockwise.
Wr means the wrist was an important part of the delivery. CC-wr means the
wrist turned counterclockwise as the ball was delivered--remember I
am a lefty. For example, body+elbow+wrist means these three parts of
the body were the primary forces in the pitch; body+wr means body and
wrist were the primary forces; wr alone means the wrist was the
primary force. Dart means the pitch was thrown similar to the way
people throw darts. 'Slow sp' means the pitch was thrown at what is
for me is a relatively slow speed; 'medium sp' means
the pitch was thrown at what for me is a medium speed; 'fast sp'
means the pitch was thrown at a speed that for me is fast; ''max sp'
etc means the speed was thrown at a speed that for me is even faster than
fast, the maximum velocity I am capable of; forward lean means I
emphasized leaning forwards during the pitch; energy means I emphasized
being energetic during the pitch; zip means approx the same thing as
energy; long step forwards means during the delivery I stepped forwards an
unusually long length prior to releasing the ball; forward stretch means
approx the same thing as long step forwards; arm means the arm was a major
force in propelling the ball forwards; elbow means approx the same thing
as arm; deliv means delivery; hand down/up prior to delivery means
that while pitching sidearm, my hand moved first towards the ground and
then up towards the ceiling prior to releasing the ball; balanced=all
parts of the body involved in the pitch; body (noted by itself)=force of
pitch primarily from the body as opposed to arm or wrist; b6" etc
means the ball missed the strike zone by 6 inches or whatever number is
given after the B (for balls that missed by less than 13"); In
parentheses after an S I note how I threw the strike when I threw it:
Results:
How to read the numbers: 10/30 means out of 30 pitches
10 balls were strikes; this is followed by percent pitches that were
strikes; next figure, example: B<13": 7(10")/28, 25% means: 7 out of
the 28 pitches were balls that missed by less than 13 inches, the balls
that missed by less than 13 inches missed by an average of 10 inches, 25%
of the pitches were balls that missed by less than 13 inches. 4B 5B
etc means there were four balls in a row that missed the strike zone by
more than a foot; B by itself means one pitch that missed the zone by more
than a foot. Total 61% means 61% of the pitches were strikes or missed the
strike zone by no more than a foot.
All the segments involved 15 minutes of pitching; I closed my
eyes before starting the body movements involved in the pitch and opened
my eyes after the ball was released. As always I threw
left-handed.
1 550-620 PM (time approximate): warmup, throwing sidearm 8A and
sidearm 8B from various distances closer to the target than the usual 18
yards, sometimes throwing with my eyes open and ball released before lead
foot hit ground, sometimes throwing with eyes open and ball released after
lead foot hit ground, sometimes throwing with eyes closed and ball
released before lead foot hit ground.
2 620-706 PM (time approximate): warmup, similar to that described
above, throwing only sidearm 8A.
3 706-721 PM, sidearm 8A, changes direction in
flight: 3/23, 13%; B<13":
5(8")/23, 22%; total 36%.
B2", B, B, B, B, B, B, B, (at this point I discovered what I had not
discovered in the warmup, to shift some of the limb-twist burden from the
wrist to the elbow); S (fast speed, good 3 phase movement, meaning ball
changed direction on way to target twice; more of angle from elbow as
opposed to wrist, lots of body in pitch); B, B6" (same as previous strike,
good 3 phase movement); B12", B, B, S (fast speed, 3-phase movement, quick
delivery, imitation of style developed during warmup, body in pitch,
limb-twist burden shifted from wrist to elbow); B6" (2 phase movement,
ball changed direction once on way to target, thrown like previous
strike); S (fast speed, like previous strike, imitation of style developed
during warmup as opposed to frustrated deviance from style developed
during warmup, 3 phase movement, ball changed direction twice); B, B, B,
B, B12", B
4 721-735 PM: warmup, similar to that described above, throwing
only sidearm 8A.
5 735-750 PM, sidearm 8B, changes direction in
flight: 7/24, 29%;
B<13": 4(8")/24, 17%; total
46%.
S (medium speed, looser slower delivery than 8A, 3 phase movement of
ball, ball changed direction twice, limb twist burden shifted from wrist
to elbow); S (same as previous strike, medium speed); B, B, B, S (fast
speed, sharp 2 phase movement ball changed direction once, shift of
limb-twist burden from wrist to elbow, entire body in pitch); B6" (3 phase
ball movement ball changed direction twice, third phase was very
short); B, B, B, S (live previous strike, and: throwing hand dipped at
beginning of delivery, 3 phase movement, ball changed direction
twice); S (same as previous strike, 3rd phase movement shorter than
with 8A); B8", S (third phase movement of ball short in distance, second
change of direction of ball slight change of direction only, fast speed);
B, B, B, B12", B, S (fast speed, perfect strike, 3rd phase movement short
in distance, second change of direction slight compared to 8A); B, B10"
(slowing down the speed of the pitch increased the length of the third
phase of the movement and made the angle of the second change of direction
appear sharper); B, B, B.
The pitches that missed the strike zone by more than 12 inches did
not miss by as much with 8B compared to 8A. The third phase of
ball movement was shorter with 8B and the second change of direction of
the ball on the way to the target was not as sharp with 8B. This
I found to be surprising but I think I understand what happened.
8B was more accurate as I expected from the time of the beginning
warmup. On every strike thrown I concentrated simply on hitting
the target.
Notes on the Practice
I was pleasantly surprised that I was
able to throw pitches sidearm 8A and sidearm 8B with high velocity and
accuracy combined with the ball changing direction once or twice
on the way to the plate. I think I understand why the
second change of direction of the ball seemed slighter with sidearm 8B and
why the distance the ball traveled after the second change of direction
was less with sidearm 8B. As I expected sidearm 8B was more accurate than
sidearm 8A. This leaves the paradox of sideam 8B being more
accurate but sidearm 8A showing more change of direction in the
ball's flight towards the target. I did not expect that sidearm 8A
would show more change of direction than sidearm 8B this
surprised me.
Early in the practice I found the arm-twisting involved in throwing
sidearm 8A and sidearm 8B to be somewhat painful. Another paradox is that
the solution I found of shifting the burden of the arm-twist from
the wrist to the elbow, decreases the pain and the stress on the arm, but
at the same time reduces the sharpness of the changes of direction
the ball goes through on its way to the target.
During the warmup segments I noticed that I have become much
more accurate throwing with the eyes open than I used to be in late May,
this despite a dramatic increase in the velocity of the ball.
With my eyes open I am approaching the point of 100% pitches missing the
strike zone by no more than a foot; at distances closer than 18 yards I am
becoming able to target and hit a certain area of the strike zone.
This is a result of practicing pitching throwing with my eyes
closed.
In segment 3 I was tempted to deviate from the style for
throwing sidearm 8A that developed while warming up throwing sidearm 8A,
due to the frustration of missing at the beginning of the segment. But I
stuck with the style developed in the warmup with good results. During
segment 5 I noted that the warmup prior to segment 5 had developed a style
of throwing that was different from that used in segment 3; I think as a
result of fatigue this style involved a slower pitch delivery process. I
decided to use the slower delivery with good results.
I realize that if I am going to compare different pitches I
experiment with to each other, I need to to some extent standardize the
length of the warmup prior to the scored segment, standardize what is done
during the warmup.
Today's baseball log entry is somewhat
mysterious because for now I have decided to be somewhat
mysterious. Seems reasonable to be somewhat mysterious in a field as
competitive as pitching. Why should I give away all my pitching secrets to
competitors? Notes From Dreamland
In the dream I had last night, I saw a page in which in row
after row had noted down the strikes I had thrown, with comments on each
strike. The notes for some special strikes contained a little photo of
this woman who I think is named Lillian who works at the Hannaford
Supermarket. When I awoke I was thinking of the age-old connection in the
minds of American boys, the connection which somehow connects baseball
with American girls; and I was thinking, maybe there is some
advantage to keeping track of strikes thrown and not balls thrown, pitches
that miss the target. When I first switched from pitching without
counting strikes and balls to pitching with strikes and balls counted my
performance declined; I was thinking of the dream I had and thinking of
how the stress of counting how many pitches hit the target and how many
miss, can reduce performance and maybe also reduce the rate of
improvement. However while the pitches were being scored I discovered how
to shift the burden of the arm-twist from the wrist to the elbow,
something I did not discover while not under the stress of the number of
pitches hitting and missing the target being counted. I suspect
that the ideal is a combination of unscored pitching and pitching scored
in various different ways.
|
Adidas Bracara Indoors Shoes with 1 layer Propel Gel
Padding;
Reebok official 5 oz soft
training baseball |
||||
Sunday August 3,
Waltham Y
502-745 PM |
153 minutes running the WC06-L-nonskip-foot-head/alternation
air-dribble pattern
Cup coffee consumed gradually 345-415 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 5 hours when practice started.
Drank Glaceau vitaminwater during the practice.
|
WC06-L-nonskip Head/foot alternation
non-skip air-dribble pattern in soccer;
"...the consistency was close to
but not equal to my most consistent day; the quality of the runs was
better than on any previous day; the speed of the runs was higher than on
any previous day; the distance covered per touch was greater than on any
previous day; my physical endurance was better than it ever has
been..." -- (excerpt from my text in
this log entry)
Repeated text in small
font:
(This is the version of the WC06 in which I try not
to skip, but step on each pace, while touching the ball on every pace
and alternating between touching the ball with the head and touching
it with the foot, all while keeping the ball off the ground and moving
forwards).
Runs today done without restrictions on use of eyes in
following ball. Thus the eyes followed the ball about half way down from
the apex of the arc.
Today again I started 11 yards from the wall instead of 10
yards from the wall.
Started practice at 502 PM. From 502-507 PM, I did 10
shallow and 10 deep squats as a way of loosening up my knees for the
crouch-like process of the beginning roll-back, flip-up, and first touch
with the left foot; prior to today I had never loosened up with such
squats or any kind of stretch before. At 508 PM there was a good
5 touch run, as I was about to head the ball for the fourth touch, a boy
ran in front of me, I zig-zagged around him by heading the ball to my left
and then kicking it to my right. There continued to be excellent runs all
the way to the end at 745 PM.
Today I noted the best runs, the excellent runs in the notebook.
The following were all excellent runs that adhered to pattern, with the
ball touched on every pace, the ball touched alternating between the left
foot and the head, the ball kept under tight control, movement at walking
speed or faster towards the target 11 yards away from the start, the
target reached with the ball under control, the ball kept off the ground
the entire time: two 7-touch runs; one 6-touch
run; eight 5-touch runs that would have been 6-touch runs except for
the fact that I ran into the wall; two 5-touch runs; four
4-touch runs that would have been 5-touch runs except that I ran into the
wall; two 4-touch runs. And then there were other runs that
successfully adhered to pattern and covered the entire 11 yards that I did
not note, because they were something less than excellent--still most of
these un-noted runs were good.
Thus in the 157 minutes of practice there were 19 excellent
runs; this in a practice in which after every run that was at
least good I rewarded myself with a sip of sports drink and cooling off in
front of a fan or in the cool exercise machine room. Thus estimating
that 2.0 minutes were spent after each excellent run drinking cooling
off and noting in the notebook, 38 minutes were spent sort of celebrating
after each excellent run. The practice lasted 119 minutes not counting
these 2-minute reward times. In these 119 minutes there were 19 excellent
runs, about one excellent runs every 6 minutes.
According to my notebook notes most of these 19 excellent
runs were either fast or very fast (in relation to how fast this
kind of touch ball on every pace run is usually done). Most of these runs
were straight as an arrow as intended but there were two
or three runs featuring unintended but impressive zig-zagging.
From 530 PM I was running a line parallel to a curtain 3 yards to my
left but I rarely ran into the curtain.
The distance traveled per touch was up compared to
previous days. This resulted in many runs that could have been six touch
runs ending up being only five touch runs, and so forth, which is somewhat
demoralizing as the performer (me) is deprived of the glory of that last
touch. Another reason for so many of the runs ending up being at
least one touch less than they could have been were it not for the wall,
is that the quality of the 4th, 5th and 6th touches of the runs
was improved today. If for example on the fifth touch of the run
(a kick with the left according to pattern), I kick the ball at least
somewhat inaccurately so that I would not have been able to head it on the
second touch even if there was not wall in the way, I do not feel like the
wall has deprived me of the glory of that additional sixth touch.
Thus it now appears to me time to move the start point back yet
another yard this time to 12 yards from the wall. I have been
avoiding keeping detailed stats re these soccer practices, the ever-rising
expectations syndrome clouds judgement, but the fact that I now feel to move the start point back yet
another yard proves that I have been continuing to
progress.
In general today I estimate that the consistency was close to
but not equal to my most consistent day; the quality of the runs
was better than on any previous day; the speed of the runs was higher than
on any previous day; the distance covered per touch was greater than on
any previous day; my physical endurance was better than it ever has been.
Re the squats done before starting the runs: I felt looser in the
legs than usual; less stiff in the legs than usual; the first half hour
contained more excellent runs than usual; but it was not my best day in
terms of consistenly producing good kicks on the crouching first kick with
the left foot (the squats were intended to help with this first kick).
My estimate is that doing the squats at the beginning will improve
performance once I get used to doing the squats at the beginning.
Relatedly a surprising thing about current sprint speed maximization
doctrine is that stretching the legs before sprinting using the
traditional type of stretching with the body in one place not
moving, is not recommended (there are two types of stretching, I
forgot the scientific names they have).
During the practice I felt a little nauseated by the moderate
amount of beer and tequila I had the evening before, but the practice
still went well. Physically I felt as if my body is
getting tired of sports drinks containing sugar. The sports drink
makers seem to think their 'cane sugar is some kind of manna from heaven
compared to mere white sugar. But health experts declare that cane sugar
is not extremely different from white sugar.
Faces in the Crowd
There were lots of basketball players sharing the gym today. They
were polite and well behaved. Amongst these were three
South Asian young men playing basketball, they all wore black t-shirts
which made them look like a gang of priests; they waved hello to me.
Towards the second half of the practice the basketball players all
abandoned their basketball and started kicking a soccer ball around which
made me feel as if I had impressed them, they say imitation is the
sincerest form of flattery. One of the young men playing basketball
glanced in my direction and said, "that's pro!"--he was saying that my
soccer was at a pro level. And so it looks like being able to
execute one excellent run every 6 minutes (every 8 minutes counting the
little break I give myself for achieving an excellent run) is enough to
impress the young men around with the idea that I am a pro (one
reason I am more detailed than usual re stats in today's entry is I wanted
some kind of number to relate to the phenomenon of being considered to
have produced an impressive professional performance).
Frustrating thing is I am now much much better at this soccer
air-dribbling than I was at various times in the last couple of years when
the boys around compared me to greats like Pele and Maradona, yet I have
not heard the comparisons to Pele and Maradona lately. This
because, far as I can tell, the drill I am doing now (which has
improved my skills so much) is less impressive looking than the loose form
high speed long distance air-dribble I used to do, even though it is much
more difficult. Just goes to show sometimes the medicine
that is good for us does not taste good. Which reminds me of the folly of
trusting solely in the senses such as taste, vision, and hearing, and
touch, when it comes to making judgements about the nature of the
universe.
|
Adidas Bracara Indoors Shoes with 1
layer Propel Gel Padding;
Adidas Replique ball inflated to 7.5
psi |
||||
Tuesday August 5,
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:
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.
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 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 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 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, 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 |
||||
Wednesday,
August 6, 2008
715-950 PM
Waltham Y Gym |
120 minutes experimenting
with 'three-quarters 1A and 1B' pitches.
1 very large cup coffee consumed at approx 600-615 PM, 1.0
hrs before practice.
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 (including cod liver oil
pills) plus the mineral pills, no brewers yeast or cacao powder this time,
consumed approx 1.0 hours before practice started.
Had been awake for approx 4.5 hours when practice started.
Drank approx 10 oz Glaceau Vitaminwater not sure which type
during the practice. |
Baseball
Pitching:
Successfully Tested for the
First Time Two New Pitches I have never heard of anyone throwing,
'three-quarters 1A', & 'three-quarters 1B'--Both Pitches change
direction once or twice on way to
target and were thrown
accurately at a high velocity
Used a soft 5 oz Reebok ball to practice pitching at a
20 inch wide, 24 inch high target, bottom edge 9" above the ground (I was
not on a mound) on the wall 18 yards from where I pitched the ball
(red sideline of basketball court). On every
scored pitch, I closed my eyes before starting body movements
involved in pitch; kept eyes closed until AFTER ball released.
During scored segments released ball just before foot hit ground; no
elaborate old-fashioned windup before pitch thrown, started with ball at
chest and simply threw. Pitches thrown today were thrown without
the stepping back with the front right foot prior to kicking out the front
right foot (I throw with my left hand). This was a result of how
warming up with a given pitch naturally evolves the style with which the
pitch is thrown at this point for me.
There was a warmup period before each scored segment because
three-quarters 1A and three-quarters 1B are pitches I have never thrown
before that I expected to be difficult to throw.
Material repeated from previous log entries in small type:
From the beginning I took detailed notes re
how I threw the ball when I pitched a strike. B means ball, S
means strike. 7B S for example, means 7 balls were thrown and then a
strike. B means a pitch that was a ball. CC means counterclockwise.
Wr means the wrist was an important part of the delivery. CC-wr means the
wrist turned counterclockwise as the ball was delivered--remember I
am a lefty. For example, body+elbow+wrist means these three parts of
the body were the primary forces in the pitch; body+wr means body and
wrist were the primary forces; wr alone means the wrist was the
primary force. Dart means the pitch was thrown similar to the way
people throw darts. 'Slow sp' means the pitch was thrown at what is
for me is a relatively slow speed; 'medium sp' means
the pitch was thrown at what for me is a medium speed; 'fast sp'
means the pitch was thrown at a speed that for me is fast; ''max sp'
etc means the speed was thrown at a speed that for me is even faster than
fast, the maximum velocity I am capable of; forward lean means I
emphasized leaning forwards during the pitch; energy means I emphasized
being energetic during the pitch; zip means approx the same thing as
energy; long step forwards means during the delivery I stepped forwards an
unusually long length prior to releasing the ball; forward stretch means
approx the same thing as long step forwards; arm means the arm was a major
force in propelling the ball forwards; elbow means approx the same thing
as arm; deliv means delivery; hand down/up prior to delivery means
that while pitching sidearm, my hand moved first towards the ground and
then up towards the ceiling prior to releasing the ball; balanced=all
parts of the body involved in the pitch; body (noted by itself)=force of
pitch primarily from the body as opposed to arm or wrist; b6" etc
means the ball missed the strike zone by 6 inches or whatever number is
given after the B (for balls that missed by less than 13"); In
parentheses after an S I note how I threw the strike when I threw it:
Results:
How to read the numbers: 10/30 means out of 30 pitches
10 balls were strikes; this is followed by percent pitches that were
strikes; next figure, example: B<13": 7(10")/28, 25% means: 7 out of
the 28 pitches were balls that missed by less than 13 inches, the balls
that missed by less than 13 inches missed by an average of 10 inches, 25%
of the pitches were balls that missed by less than 13 inches. 4B 5B
etc means there were four balls in a row that missed the strike zone by
more than a foot; B by itself means one pitch that missed the zone by more
than a foot. Total 61% means 61% of the pitches were strikes or missed the
strike zone by no more than a foot.
All the segments involved 15 minutes of pitching; I closed my
eyes before starting the body movements involved in the pitch and opened
my eyes after the ball was released. As always I threw
left-handed.
1 715-802 PM (time approximate): warmup,
throwing 'three-quarters 1A' from various distances closer to
the target than the usual 18 yards, sometimes throwing with my eyes open
and ball released before lead foot hit ground, sometimes throwing with
eyes open and ball released after lead foot hit ground, sometimes throwing
with eyes closed and ball released before lead foot hit ground.
Throwing 'three-quarters 1A' during this warmup segment, I
evolved a certain style for throwing 1A: slow first half of delivery
process, brisk second half in delivery process, body and elbow both
strongly involved in delivering pitch, pitch thrown at brisk speed,
throwing hand not far from body, close to head when ball released,
dart-like throwing motion, no lead right foot moving back prior to moving
forward at beginning of delivery, nonchalant attitude.
2 807-822 PM, three-quarters 1A, changes direction
in flight: 7/23, 30%;
B<13": 8(9")/23, 35%; total 65%.
B, S, S, B, S, B12", B12", (to this point, strikes were thrown in the
style evolved during the warmup, with a nonchalant attitude); S, B, B, B,
B, B12", (during the preceding phase the nonchalance began to evaporate);
B8", B, S (thrown in style evolved in warmup, brisk second phase of
delivery, fast ball speed); (the briskness of the delivery faded away for
a while along with the nonchalance during the off-target streak); B8",
B12", B, B2" (looked like a strike but veered away at the last fraction of
a second); S (I was careful to imitate the style evolved during warmup on
this pitch); B6", S (careful to imitate warmup style on this pitch).
First segment the previous baseball practice, throwing 8A sidearm,
the accuracy was much lower, it was:
7/23, 13%; B<13": 5(8")/23, 22%; total 36%. This
segment all the strikes were thrown at a fast but not maximum
velocity using the style evolved during the warmup. Today in
this segment having learned from the past I stayed close to the
style evolved for the pitch during the warmup while throwing.
During this segment I observed that in phases when the accuracy
diminishes the tendency is to: lose the sense of nonchalance, slow down
the brisk portion of the delivery process, slow down the speed of the
pitch--this having to do with failure naturally leading to
tension and the natural assumption that slowing down the delivery and the
speed will improve accuracy. However after an inaccurate phase I was
able in this segment to return to the nonchalant relaxed attitude, the
briskness of the second part of the delivery process, and the fast ball
velocity; as a result the strikes rate went back up. 3 825-910 PM: warmup, similar to that described in (1), throwing
only three-quarters 1B. By this time I had finally begun to attain
to the sought-after standardization of the warmup process. I
Started out close to the target, aiming for a spot above the target which
got lower and lower as I moved farther and farther away from the target.
From each distance I pitched in a cycle: first eyes open, lead foot hits
ground before ball release; second, eyes open, ball released before lead
foot hits ground; third, eyes closed, ball released before lead foot hits
ground; repeat cycle. As soon as I threw a pitch that satisfied me using
one of these three styles, I omitted it from the cycle. When I had
thrown a pitch that satisfied me with all three styles I moved back to a
distance farther from the target.
The style I evolved for three-quarters 1B in this segment was
identical to the style I earlier evolved for three-quarters 1A.
4 915-930 PM, three-quarters 1B, changes direction
in flight: 6/31, 19%; B<13":
11(10")/31, 35%; total 54%.
B, B12", B10", B, S, B12", B, B10", S, B, B4", S, B8", S, B, B10", B,
B, B12", B, B, S, B, S, B12", B, B12", B, B, B, B12".
All the strikes thrown were thrown in the style
evolved in the warmup at a fast ball velocity. The
ball moving laterally as it neared the plate made it difficult to judge
whether a pitch was a ball or a strike, which is a sure sign of ball
movement at almost the exact spot where ball movement is most difficult
for a batter. I gave myself the benefit of the doubt when in
doubt as to whether a pitch was a ball or a strike. This segment again I
noted how I can fall victim to what can be a delusion: the idea
that slowing down the delivery process will improve accuracy.
Previous baseball practice the score for the second segment was: 29%;
B<13": 4(8")/24, 17%; total 46%.
6 930-950 PM, three-quarters 1A and three-quarters 1B,
unscored.
Today I realized that the desire to throw strikes in scored segments
conflicts with the desire to make the ball change direction in the course
of flight--the more one tries to put change of direction
via ball-release-point and spin into the ball, the less accurate
one becomes. Thus I felt that throwing some unscored pitches
while concentrating on putting movement into the ball would allow me to
better understand how three-quarters 1A and three-quarters 1B balls move
in flight on the way to the target.
Notes on the Practice
Observation of the manner in which the ball moved, was complicated by
various factors. Often the ball would be thrown with an unintended
spin. The white wall the black strike zone target was affixed to
blended in with the color of the ball. At the end of the
practice I threw at a wall which had blue and red padding on it
this made the movement of the ball easier to see.
I now realize that with this particular type of pitch, 1A/1B,
the most interesting change of movement probably is
achieved if the directional force produced by the line from the release
point to the target (aside from ball-spin) at the beginning of the
pitch (pitcher's perspective) is in a right to left
direction. This kind of directional force for a lefty such as
myself is more easily achieved throwing
overhand than it is throwing three-quarters
style. Right now I feel that I (a left hander) should
try throwing this 1A/1B pitch overhand, with the ball released (pitcher's
perspective) from the right side of the 'pitcher's
rubber' my left foot is on, with my upper body tilted to my right on
release (note: the pitcher's rubber for me is simply a strip of
tape on the floor). This is something I have never
seen--a left handed pitcher leaning to his right to release the
ball from the right side of the rubber, or a right handed pitcher leaning
to his left to release the ball from the left side of the
rubber--but I am convinced that it can be done, producing
a pitch that is accurate, fast, and moves on the way to the plate--just as
I am convinced that a few other things that are not done can be done
resulting in fast accurate pitches featuring interesting lateral and
vertical movement on the way to the plate.
Today I was unusually careless in terms of noting the horizontal and
vertical movements of the 1A/1B type ball on the way to the plate. But I
did notice that the ball did engage in interesting horizontal
and vertical movements on the way to the plate which deviated
from a straight line from throwing hand to target. Usually there was one
such deviant change of direction but sometimes there were two. The 1A and
1B pitches engaged in deviation from straight line movements that were not
consistent. Even with the direction of the spin imparted to
the ball kept constant, from pitch to pitch the ball moved in different
ways. After I finished the practice I realized
that the spin-produced movement of the ball can
be influenced by the angle of the pure directional force (aside
from the spin) from the release point to the target, which can be right to
left, straight, or left to right, varying from pitch to
pitch, producing inconsistency in spin-effect as it combines with spin
effect.
I estimate the variance in ball movement from pitch to
pitch with the 1A/1B has to do with the interplay between
directional force and force exerted due to the spin of the ball.
This interplay is effected by the angle of the throw from release
point to target, the velocity of the throw, and the intensity of the spin
of the ball; angle, velocity, and spin vary from pitch to pitch; and
angle, velocity and spin are not constant during the course of the ball's
flight towards the target during any given pitch.
I noted that the movement of the ball was effected by whether
the ball hit the target area at a high height or at a low height.
Generally there seemed to be less difference between 1A and 1B then there
was earlier between sidearm 8A and sidearm 8B. The 1A/1B pitches seemed to
move less than the 8A/8B or the earlier 'Hobbzoid' pitches.
According to the notes taken in the practice: the 1A/1B
pitches sometimes break a lot going through three movement phases and two
changes of direction; the changes of direction or breaks can be
enormous when the ball is thrown slowly; it is easy to accidentally put an
unintended spin on the ball when throwing the 1A/1B; a combination of
throwing the ball high and throwing it slow especially exaggerates the
breaks or changes of direction the ball goes through on the way to the
plate; the ball goes through two changes of direction on the way to the
plate sometimes but not often and the second change of direction is
usually slight; the 1A/1B when traveling at a speed faster than
slow, breaks or moves more on the way to the target when it hits the
target at a vertically low point than it does when it hits the target at a
vertically high point.
General Notes
I now realize that a good pitching practice can require compared to
the other (basketball, baseball) practices more thought and homework
before the practice, thoughtful homework that I am not inclined to do; and
it can also require alert attentive observation of the movement of
the ball, which can be inconsistent and vary from pitch to pitch even with
angle of ball-spin kept constant. The ball cannot simply be
assumed to move according to what one would expect given one's
understanding of magnus force and spin, because the velocity of the pitch,
the level of spin, and the general direction of the pitch are
not constant and interact with each other. The wikipedia article on fastballs (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fastball) emphatically
declared that although baseball players claim to have seen pitches
that rose vertically after moving parallel to the ground or after
moving downwards, it is impossible to throw a pitch
that rises, that gains altitude after losing altitude or after moving
parallel to the ground. But today it seemed to me that actually it is
possible to throw a pitch that gfirst loses altitude or
maintains constant altitude and then gains altititude. This due to
the interplay between angle of pitch, velocity of
pitch, and level of magnus force produced by spin, all of which effect
each other and change during the course of the pitch. Seems to me
that it is not hard to imagine the possibility of a combination of angle,
velocity, and spin, that results in the ball gaining altitude after losing
altitude.
Question: how does the curve of the seam on the
ball, as the seam encounters the air rushing by the ball effect the
magnus force? Depending on how the ball is spinning the shape
of the curve of the seam on the ball which collides with the air
rushing past the ball, differs from pitch to pitch.
Question: I've heard it said that the velocity of
the ball at the beginning of the ball's flight towards the target is
different from, faster than, the velocity of the ball when it reaches
home plate. But is there not an acceleration phase during which
the ball gains velocity after it leaves the pitcher's hand? I
find it hard to believe that the pitcher's arm or wrist moves at 100 mph
when a '100 mph' pitch is thrown.
|
Adidas Bracara Indoors Shoes with 1 layer Propel Gel
Padding;
Reebok official 5 oz soft
training baseball |
||||
Thursday, August 7 2008
814-945 PM
Waltham Y Gym |
91 minutes running the WC06-L-nonskip-foot-head/alternation
air-dribble pattern
Not sure re food and sleep prior to practice because of two day delay
between taking notes on paper and typing them up. I estimate the food
sleep situation was similar to the previous day. |
WC06-L-nonskip Head/foot alternation
non-skip air-dribble pattern in soccer;
"Today's practice was notable for
producing...the best runs ever and the fastest runs ever doing this
pattern" (excerpt
from my text in this log entry)
Repeated text in small
font:
(This is the version of the WC06 in which I try not
to skip, but step on each pace, while touching the ball on every pace
and alternating between touching the ball with the head and touching
it with the foot, all while keeping the ball off the ground and close to
the body while moving forwards).
Runs today done without restrictions on use of eyes in
following ball. Thus the eyes followed the ball about half way down from
the apex of the arc.
Today for the first time, I started 12 yards from the wall
instead of the previous 11 yards from the wall.
Started practice at 814 PM. From 814-819 PM, For the second
soccer practice in a row, I did 10 shallow and 10 deep squats as a way of
loosening up my knees for the crouch-like process of the beginning
roll-back, flip-up, and first touch with the left foot; first time
doing this was the previous soccer
practice. At 820 PM only 1 minute afer
the practice started, there was an excellent 5 touch run that
adhered to pattern and covered the 12 yards to the wall with the ball
kept close to the body and off the ground, the ball touched on every pace,
alternation between touch with head and touch with foot; this
run would have been 6 touches except for the obstruction of the
wall. There continued to be excellent runs all the way until the
end of the practice at 945 PM.
I have progressed enormously since I began doing this drill.
Runs that I labeled as 'perfect' at the beginning I would consider
to be junk today.
Today again, I noted the best runs, the excellent runs in the
notebook.
Note: unless noted, all the runs
I mention in this and subsequent soccer log entries featured: 1)
the ball being kept off the ground and close to the body for the entire 12
yards to the wall; 1) the ball touched on every pace; 2) alternation
between touch with the foot and touch with the head; 3) speed approx the
same as my fastest walk (such is what I call 'fast', 'very fast' is faster
than this) 4) straight direction, that is a straight line from
the beginning point to the intended end point.
A semicolon separates the description of one run from the description
of another:
4-touch: 3: 5th touch with rf,fast; very
fast, 5th touch with rf 2 feet from wall; 11 yds 5th touch
with rf;
5 touch: 5: fast, fast; very fast 10 yds; fast
tightly controlled 11 yds; fast to 9 yds;
5 touch would have been 6 touch but ran into wall:
3: fast; extremely fast, fastest ever(?),
straight, combined speed with tight control as ball kept low but
moving at fast horizontal velocity; fast.
6 touch: 4: fast; fast; fast zig zag;
very fast, tightly controlled at 944 PM
6 touch, would have been 7-touch but ran into wall:
1: fast slightly zig-zagging, tightly controlled, excellent,
perfect at 939 PM
7 touch: 1: fast;
Thus I estimate that over 86 minutes there were 12 excellent runs,
one excellent run every 7.2 minutes. Previous practice
there was one excellent run every 8.3 minutes, with
the minutes count not reduced to account for the reward time I give
myself in front of the fan and taking a sip of sports drink for a good
run.
Today's practice was notable for
producing best I can tell, the best runs ever and the fastest runs ever
doing this pattern (admitting to the fact that there have
been some runs in the past that equalled the best runs of today in terms
of quality). The consistency in terms of adhering to pattern while
traveling the twelve yards was good whenever there was a good first
kick on the run. But there was some inconsistency in terms of
putting up a good first kick on the runs.
Endurance-wise today I felt stronger than ever while doing
this kind of soccer practice
I can sense now, and I can sense that others can also sense this,
that it is now just a matter of time before the inevitable occurs
and I develop into a superstar. Although soccer is a low
scoring game, even the best defenses will find
it very difficult to defend against me if I prance at them at a speed
faster than the fastest walk, keeping the soccer ball off the ground but
close to my body, touching the ball on every pace, alternating between
touching the ball with my foot and touching the ball with my head.
Again today I did 20 squats at the beginning. Again as during
the previous soccer practice, the effect of this seemed to be:
improved quality of performance in the first half hour; reduced
consistency on the first kick overall; improved quality of performance
overall; reduction of stress and pain in the knee; increased
enjoyment of the practice.
General Notes
After the practice, the TV news while doing a story about the stormy
weather in the area, briefly showed video of storm clouds and the sun
setting (or maybe rising) around some large important building in the
area. The video of this building surrounded by stormy clouds and the
rising or setting sun somehow reminded me of my practices and this log I
keep of them. The video image was dramatic, and at the same time contained
a sense of concise science as reflected in the clever engineering that had
gone into creating the building in the image. I guess the storms and the
sun reminded me of the practices and the concise science reflected in the
engineering of the building reminded me of this log I keep that you are
now reading.
|
Adidas Bracara Indoors Shoes with 1
layer Propel Gel Padding;
Adidas Replique ball inflated to 7.5
psi |
||||
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:
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.
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 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, 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 |
||||
Tuesday August 26
351-525 PM
740-945 PM
Waltham Y Gym |
219 minutes experimenting
with 'submarine 7A and submarine 7B pitches'.
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 1.5 hours
before practice started.
Felafel plus couscous plus jumus plus tadziki plus syrian bread eaten
approx 1.5 hours before practice
Had been awake for approx 7 hours when practice started.
Drank a a couple cups tea prior to practice
Drank nothing first half of practice; second half of practice drank
about 25 oz Vitaminwater energy and relaxed
types |
Baseball
Pitching:
Tested for the First
Time Two New Pitches I have never heard of anyone throwing, 'submarine
7B', & submarine 7A'-- Both Pitches drop sharply and cut in on right
handed batters as they near the plate. Second segment of practice threw
submarine 3B and submarine 3A--these pitches drop and cut away from a
right handed batter as they near the plate
Repeated text in small font; note: I pitch
left handed
Used a soft 5
oz Reebok ball to practice pitching at a 20 inch wide, 24 inch
high target, bottom edge 9" above the ground (I was not on a
mound) on the wall 18 yards from where I pitched the ball (red
sideline of basketball court). On every scored
pitch, I closed my eyes before starting body movements involved in
pitch; kept eyes closed until AFTER ball released.
During scored segments released ball just before foot
hit ground; no elaborate old-fashioned windup before pitch thrown, started
with ball at chest and simply threw. Pitches thrown today were
thrown without the stepping back with the front right foot prior to
kicking out the front right foot (I throw with my left hand).
This was a result of how warming up with a given pitch naturally evolves
the style with which the pitch is thrown at this point for
me.
There was a warmup period before each scored segment
because submarine 7B and submarine 7A are pitches I
have never thrown before that I expected to be difficult to
throw.
Started the delivery with right
foot further back and to the side than usual due to
nature of 7B and 7A
From the beginning I took detailed notes re
how I threw the ball when I pitched a strike. B means ball, S
means strike. 7B S for example, means 7 balls were thrown and then a
strike. B means a pitch that was a ball. CC means counterclockwise.
Wr means the wrist was an important part of the delivery. CC-wr means the
wrist turned counterclockwise as the ball was delivered--remember I
am a lefty. For example, body+elbow+wrist means these three parts of
the body were the primary forces in the pitch; body+wr means body and
wrist were the primary forces; wr alone means the wrist was the
primary force. Dart means the pitch was thrown similar to the way
people throw darts. 'Slow sp' means the pitch was thrown at what is
for me is a relatively slow speed; 'medium sp' means
the pitch was thrown at what for me is a medium speed; 'fast sp'
means the pitch was thrown at a speed that for me is fast; ''max sp'
etc means the speed was thrown at a speed that for me is even faster than
fast, the maximum velocity I am capable of; forward lean means I
emphasized leaning forwards during the pitch; energy means I emphasized
being energetic during the pitch; zip means approx the same thing as
energy; long step forwards means during the delivery I stepped forwards an
unusually long length prior to releasing the ball; forward stretch means
approx the same thing as long step forwards; arm means the arm was a major
force in propelling the ball forwards; elbow means approx the same thing
as arm; deliv means delivery; hand down/up prior to delivery means
that while pitching sidearm, my hand moved first towards the ground and
then up towards the ceiling prior to releasing the ball; balanced=all
parts of the body involved in the pitch; body (noted by itself)=force of
pitch primarily from the body as opposed to arm or wrist; b6" etc
means the ball missed the strike zone by 6 inches or whatever number is
given after the B (for balls that missed by less than 13"); In
parentheses after an S I note how I threw the strike when I threw it:
Results:
How to read the numbers: 10/30 means out of 30 pitches
10 balls were strikes; this is followed by percent pitches that were
strikes; next figure, example: B<13": 7(10")/28, 25% means: 7 out of
the 28 pitches were balls that missed by less than 13 inches, the balls
that missed by less than 13 inches missed by an average of 10 inches, 25%
of the pitches were balls that missed by less than 13 inches. 4B 5B
etc means there were four balls in a row that missed the strike zone by
more than a foot; B by itself means one pitch that missed the zone by more
than a foot. Total 61% means 61% of the pitches were strikes or missed the
strike zone by no more than a foot.
All the segments involved 15 minutes of
pitching; I closed my eyes before starting the body movements
involved in the pitch and opened my eyes after the ball was
released.
1 351-443 PM (time approximate): warmup,
throwing 'submarine 7B' from various distances closer to the
target than the usual 18 yards, sometimes throwing with my eyes open and
ball released before lead foot hit ground, sometimes throwing with eyes
open and ball released after lead foot hit ground, sometimes throwing with
eyes closed and ball released before lead foot hit ground.
Throwing 'submarine 7B' during this warmup segment, I evolved
a certain style for throwing 7B: slow first half of delivery process,
brisk second half in delivery process, pitch thrown at fast
speed, delivery starting with right foot further to right and further back
than usual. I found that throwing using a grip specially designed for
submarine 7B was easier than using my generic grip.
2 443-458 PM, submarine 7B (ball grip specially
designed for submarine 7B), drops and cuts in on right handed
batter at last fraction of second: 5/30, 17%; B<13":
11(9")/30, 37%; total 54%.
B, S (calm, warmup style); B, B, B12", B10", B8", B, B12", S (calm,
warmup style); B6", S (extended follow-through ending with hand pointed
towards target, warmup style); B, S (body low, extended follow-through
ending with hand pointed towards target, warmup style); B,. B, B, S
(extended follow-through ending with hand pointed towards target, body in
pitch, body low in delivery, warmup style); B, B12", B, B, B, B6", B, B8",
B, B12", B3", B6".
In this segment I felt unusually stoic and calm, maybe partly due to
the days of rest. All the strikes and pitches were at a speed between
medium and fast. The pitching hurt my arm somewhat; similarly the pitching
of the baseball practice previous to today's, resulted in my arm hurting a
little for a few days. The pitches broke when they were very close to the
target, resulting in making it difficult to call balls and strikes, a good
sign. The pitches sometimes looked like balls but dropped down and in to
become strikes at the last fraction of a second. Sometimes they looked
like strikes but dropped down and in at the last fraction of a second to
become balls. The downwards drop was sharp and accentuated by the fact
that due to the submarine style delivery the ball was rising on its way to
the plate. I surprised myself with my ability to deliver this pitch, with
its particular kind of speed, at high speed submarine style.
3 458-510 PM: warmup, similar to that described in (1), throwing
only submarine 7A (using my generic grip) from 18 yards, throwing
sometimes with lead foot hitting ground before ball released and eyes
open, sometimes with ball released before lead foot hit ground and eyes
open, sometimes with ball released before lead foot hit ground and eyes
closed.
The style I evolved for submarine 7A in this segment was
like to the style I earlier evolved for submarine 7B, but with the ball
thrown at a lower speed. Seems the grip designed specifically for this
pitch (submarine 7B), produces higher velocity than the generic grip
(submarine 7A).
4 510-525 PM, submarine 7A, drops down and
in on right handed batter at last fraction of second: 4/24,
17%; B<13": 7(7")/24, 29%; total
46%.
S (mind concentrated on target, body low in delivery, hand pointed
towards target on follow-through, body in pitch); B12", B, B9", B, S (body
low, medium speed, body in pitch, hand pointed at target on
follow-through); B, B, B2", B, B9", B, B, B, B, B S (medium+ speed, body
low in delivery, body in pitch, first half delivery speeded up, hand
pointed at target on follow-through); B10", B4", B, B3", S (med speed,
mind concentrated on target, body low in delivery); B, S (med speed, mind
concentrated on target, deliberate attempt to get ball up in vertical
height); B, B12", B10", B, S, B12", B, B10", S, B, B4", S, B8", S, B,
B10", B, B, B12", B, B, S, B, S, B12", B, B12", B, B, B, B12".
All the strikes thrown were thrown in the style
evolved in the warmup at a fast ball velocity or at a ball velocity in
between medium and fast. The ball velocity was lower than it
was with 7B the first segment; the velocity was usually about medium speed
whereas with 7B the ball velocity was between medium and fast, close
to fast, surprisingly. The generic grip used with 7A in the segment
appears to slow down ball velocity. It also felt less accurate as the
score indicates. 7A and 7B, which are like twins but not identical twins,
are difficult pitches, involving a spin that is difficult to put on the
ball with a submarine delivery. This I estimate is why the grip especially
designed for the 7 A/B submarine style pitch worked better (7B) than the
generic grip (7A). The strikes thrown this segment were all basically
thrown using the style generated in the warmup.
5 740-848 PM: warmup, similar to that described in (1), throwing
only submarine 3B (using grip specifically designed for
submarine 3B) my generic grip) throwing from close to target at area
above target and gradually increasing length from target, throwing
sometimes with lead foot hitting ground before ball released and eyes
open, sometimes with ball released before lead foot hit ground and eyes
open, sometimes with ball released before lead foot hit ground and eyes
closed.
The style I evolved for submarine 3B during the warmup
featured a slow first half of the delivery, a quick second half, with the
ball in the hand starting low and back and closer to the right side of my
body than usual.
In this warmup segment I found that when thrown properly, this pitch
breaks down and away from a right handed batter, contradicting in the
vertical and also horizontal sense the natural straight line of the ball
from hand to target. After the warmup I felt that this pitch is very
difficult to throw correctly.
6 856-911 PM, submarine 3B (uses
ball grip specially designed for submarine 3B), drops
down and out on right handed batter at last fraction of second: 4/33,
12%; B<13": 8(10")/33, 24%; total
36%.
B12", B12", B, B, S (lean back at beginning of delivery,
concentration on target, spin, and sufficient vertical height for pitched
ball); B12", S (lean back at beginning of delivery, concentration on
sufficient vertical height for pitch, moderate medium to slow speed,
concentration on spin and target); B, B, B, S (same as previous strike);
B, B, S (same as previous strike); B, B12", B, B, B10", B, B, B, B, B,
B12", B, B, B, B, B2", B6", B, B
Seems a lapse of concentration led to a streak of balls. Seemed after
this segment, that combining break from spin, and accuracy is hard with
this pitch. This pitch at this time appeared to be slower than 7 A/B done
previously today.
7 911-930 PM: warmup, throwing only submarine 3A
(using generic grip on ball, my natural grip, grip I most
commonly use) throwing from 18 yards from target, throwing sometimes
with lead foot hitting ground before ball released and eyes open,
sometimes with ball released before lead foot hit ground and eyes open,
sometimes with ball released before lead foot hit ground and eyes closed.
8 930-945 PM: submarine 3A (usin generic grip),
drops down and out on right handed batter at last fraction of second:
6/27, 22%; B<13":
7(11")/27, 26%; total 48%.
S (med+ speed, lean back at beginning of delivery, concentrate on
target, spin and accuracy); S (same as previous); B, B, B, B12", S (med+
speed, pitched ball broke to my left and down which would be down and away
from right handed batter, perfect pitch had break, speed and accuracy); B,
B, B12", B10", B12", S (good pitch, leaned back at beginning of delivery,
kicked front leg a little higher than usual); B, S (quick delivery, not
slow in first half of delivery, concentrated mentally on spin, target,
elevation of ball, leaned back at beginning of delivery, kicked front leg
higher than usual, cartwheel like left to right motion of body during
delivery, alot of body in pitch); S ( same as previous); B12", B, B, B, B,
B10", B12", B, S (pitching hand with ball started high, body into pitch,
left to right clockwise cartwheel like motion of body during
pitch);B, B, B
Th strikes this segment were medium or medium+ speed not fast speed.
They were faster than the strikes in the 3B segment. After this segment I
noted that with this pitch I need to get my body into it and
sort of wheel clockwise with my body during the delivery.
Notes on the Practice (pitches 7A and 7B): The ball behaved the way one would expect given
the laws of magnus force, which were operative in this pitch both
horizontally and vertically to deflect the ball from its natural path. The
magnus force interacting with the natural direction of the ball aside from
spin produced an interesting effect. The special quality of 7A and 7B
appears to be the way it suddenly drops and cuts in on a right handed
batter, making its move when it is only apparently a yard or so away from
the target 18 yards away from me. The other pitches I have been throwing
tend to make their change of direction move earlier.
Generally a problem to be aware of is that there is a tendency to
sacrifice level of spin in favor of accuracy. In 7B with this pitch the
index finger should definitely be the past part of the hand to touch the
ball if spin is to maximized. But this is not the case with 7A because the
grip is just the generic grip.
Pitches 3B and 3A when thrown just right were like 7 A/B in the sense
of breaking at the last fraction of a second, to the point where it would
be hard to determine if a pitch was a strike or a ball. However generally
speaking the movement in terms of change of direction on 3B and 3A was
significantly less than with 7B and 7A.
With 3B and 3A, and also to a somewhat lesser extent with 7B and 7A,
I surprised myself greatly with my scored performance. During the warmups
I never thought I would be able to pitch these pitches as well as I was
able to. The performance during the scored segments today was better
than the performance during the warmups. During the warmups I was jokingly
thinking to myself that 3 A/B would be a doozy of a pitch if only I had a
few thousand hours to work on it; but I felt much less disrespect for
myself re this pitch during and after the scored segments. Just goes to
show how much an hour or so of working on a pitch can improve performance.
Today I proved that it is indeed possible to combine speed, break of ball,
and accuracy on 3A and 3B but achieving such a combination is very
hard.
You might say that testing out these pitches that look like they have
no future after the first 10 minutes of warmup experimentation is a waste
of time. But my theory is that a good way to master task X, is to practice
tasks similar to task X that are even more difficult than task X. I
estimate that practicing throwing pitches with every conceivable spin and
every conceivable delivery motion will produce a high level of performance
with the spins and delivery motion I eventually settle on as my primary
spins and delivery motions.
With 3 A/B the generic grip on the ball (3A) worked better but with 7
A/B the grip specially developed for the pitch worked better.
About 900 PM, after about 174 minutes of practice, I finally began to
achieve that relaxed carefree state of mind people desire to attain to as
a result of exercise.
General Notes
For the sake of my overall psychological and physical health I have
got to start doing aerobic exercise like jogging, which I have been
neglecting due to my obsession with skill development.
Faces in the Crowd
Might be just my imagination, and I realize that it is folly to
generalize on the basis of anecdote, but today observing people around me
I felt this suspicion that in the area where I live there is this sisterly
war on men. Certain women seem to have this attitude: "look sister, look
what I stole from the big bad wolf the male for you, I stole this job for
you from him". Seems they devalue criteria males outscore females in and
overvalue criteria females outscore males in. Seems they like prefer males
who score low in terms of certain criteria compared to other males, as if
they are in a contest against males and desire to strike a blow against
the higher males. This sisterhood at war with males will eventually face
'blowback'; indeed seems they are already suffering the effects of
'blowback' which has rendered their sisterly war vs males
counter-productive for them. They will get the punishment they deserve in
the next life if not in this life.
|
Adidas Bracara Indoors Shoes with 1 layer Propel Gel
Padding;
Reebok official 5 oz soft
training baseball |
||||
Wednesday August 27
815-945 PM
Waltham Y Gym |
97 minutes WC06-L nonskip head foot alternation soccer drill
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; no cinnamon powder consumed approx 2.0
hours before practice started.
Mashed potatoes salisbury steak, piece chicken a little spaghetti
consumed approx 1.5 hours before practice started
Had been awake for approx 12 hours when practice started.
Drank approxc 32 oz Vitaminwater 'energy' and 'relaxed' types
during practice |
WC06-L-nonskip Head/foot alternation air-dribble
pattern in soccer;
"There was definitely a decline in skill due
to the 20 days away from soccer" -- excerpt from today's
notes.
Repeated text in small
font:
(This is the version of the WC06 in which I try not
to skip, but step on each pace, while touching the ball on every pace
and alternating between touching the ball with the head and touching
it with the foot, all while keeping the ball off the ground and close to
the body while moving forwards).
Runs today done without restrictions on use of eyes in
following ball. Thus the eyes followed the ball about half way down from
the apex of the arc.
Today again, I started 12 yards from the wall instead of the
previous 11 yards from the wall.
Started practice at 808 PM. From 808-811 PM, I did 20
shallow squats as a way of loosening up my knees for the crouch-like
process of the beginning roll-back, flip-up, and first touch with the left
foot; seemed to me previously that deep crouches, in which the
buttocks go all the way down to the heels, are too much of a stress on the
knees. At 815 PM I began attempting the WCO6 air-dribble nonskip head foot
alternation touch ball on every pace runs. The first 4 minutes were very
clumsy and stiff. At 819 PM, 4 minutes after practice started, I
achieved the first success a 5 touch 10 yard run. After this there were
several 4 touch runs. For the practice today I noted all the runs that
adhered to pattern for more than 4 touches of the ball:
T= touches on ball
tight=ball tightly controlled
whb=would have been
841 PM: 11 yds, 5T fast
844 PM 12 yds 5T fast
856 PM 10 yds 4T fast
903 PM 11 yd 5T fast tight
909 PM 10 yds 5T
913 PM 12 yds 6T fast tight; involuntarily slightly slanted
off-target
919 PM 10 yds 5T
922 PM 11 yds 5T fast tight
927 PM 8 yds 6T fast tight
935 PM 11 yds 5T
938 PM 12 yds 5T whb 6T? but wall obstructed; fast, tight
942 PM 5T
944 PM 11 yds 5T fast tight whb 6T 12 yds fast tight but wall
obstructed
All these runs featured the ball touched on every pace, alternation
between touch with foot and touch with head, ball not touching ground
between touches. The yds figures show how much distance was covered. Fast
means approx the speed of a very fast walk.
This was the first soccer practice in 20 days, the previous soccer
practice was August 7. There was definitely a decline in skill due to the
20 days away from soccer. But skills did not decline all the way back to
where they were say 2 weeks after I started doing this drill.
As with the baseball yesterday I was unusually calm during the
practice. I estimate this is partly due to the fact that on August 25 or
26 one or two days ago for about 15 minutes while I was driving I was
deliberately attempting to calm myself, become a calmer person. This
involved deeper breathing.
Today due to the 20 days away from soccer, I did not consistently
execute 5 touch runs until approx 26 minutes after the practice started. I
did not consistently execute 6 touch runs until 77 minutes after the
practice started. In general the runs today were mostly 4 and 5 touch runs
as opposed to the large number of 6 touch runs I was achieving before the
20 days away from soccer.
Today again I used the Pavlov inspired method of allowing myself a
sip of sports drink only after I succeeded on an attempt; also after every
success I gave myself some cooling off time in front of the fan.
General Notes
The nutrient cocktail stuff consumed today was the same as yesterday,
today it produced temporary diarrhea type symptoms whereas as yesterday it
did not. I estimate the cause of this is the brewers yeast and or the
Cacao powder. It appears that brewer's yeast and/or Cacao powder combined
with meat can produce diarrhea like symptoms. Yesterday the pre-game meal
was vegetarian today it contained meat. Today I forgot to consume the
cinnamon powder with the nutrients.
Now for the reasons for the 20 days away from sports. I think this
was due to exhaustion due to a combination of factors: I got involved in a
project of emailing poetic prayers and stuff to selected Olympic athletes,
the project took as usual more time and energy than I thought it would, as
usual regardless of the time and energy involved I did a thorough job and
finished the project; I was tired and needed a few days rest but something
went wrong in that if healthy I would have needed only about three days
rest; the workouts in the hot humid gym in August tired me out; watching
and listening to the broadcasts of the Olympics events tired me out;
switching the time at which I sleep tired me out; I spent a few hours with
this annoying guy, seems I am allergic to him and every time I spend time
with him I get tired and need rest from exercise for a few days; when I
saw the annoying guy I smoked a cigarette made from cheap tobacco which
exhausted me (I am now smoking about 4 cigarettes per year).
|
Adidas Bracara Indoors Shoes with 1
layer Propel Gel Padding;
Adidas Replique ball inflated to 7.5
psi |
||||
Thursday August 28
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:
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.
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 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.
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. 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
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; 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.
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 Spalding TF-1000 Microfiber Composite Basketball,
inflated to 8.0 psi as usual |
||||
Friday August 29, 2008
Waltham YMCA
747-945 PM |
118 minutes experimenting
with 'overhand 2-fingered 8A' and 'overhand 3-fingered 8B' baseball
pitches.
juice naturally containing vitamin C , juice naturally
containing vitamin A beta-carotene plus oils (wheat germ,
cod, hemp, fish,oils) plus the vitamin pills (including cod liver oil
pills) no mineral pills (ran out), no calcium pill (ran out),
consumed approx 1.0 hours before practice started.
Slice pizza, 16 oz clam chowder eaten 6 hours before practice
started.
Quadruple strength tea sweetened with agave plus organic non dairy
creamer consumed 1.5-1 hour before practice.
1.5 hour nap ended 2 hours before practice started.
Woke up in morning 11 hours before practice started.
Drank approx 12 oz electrolyte water during
practice.
.
|
Baseball
Pitching:
Tested for the First
Time Two New Pitches I have never heard of anyone throwing, 'overhand
2-fingered 8A', & 'overhand 3-fingered 8B'-- Both Pitches vs
right-handed batters: first-move down and in; second-at least
relative to first phase trajectory, move up and out; third-at least
relative to second phase trajectory, move down and in; thus both pitched
go through two changes of direction. Both pitches were surprisingly
difficult to throw accurately.
Repeated text in small font; note: I pitch
left handed
Used a soft 5
oz Reebok ball to practice pitching at a 20 inch wide, 24 inch
high target, bottom edge 9" above the ground (I was not on a
mound) on the wall 18 yards from where I pitched the ball (red
sideline of basketball court). On every scored
pitch, I closed my eyes before starting body movements involved in
pitch; kept eyes closed until AFTER ball released.
During scored segments released ball just before foot
hit ground; no elaborate old-fashioned windup before pitch thrown, started
with ball at chest and simply threw. Pitches thrown today were
thrown without the stepping back with the front right foot prior to
kicking out the front right foot (I throw with my left hand).
This was a result of how warming up with a given pitch naturally evolves
the style with which the pitch is thrown at this point for
me.
There was a warmup period before each scored segment
because 'overhand 2-fingered 8A' and 'overhand 3-fingered 8B' are
pitches I have never thrown before, pitched that are difficult for me to
throw accurately. .
From the beginning I took detailed notes re
how I threw the ball when I pitched a strike. B means ball, S
means strike. 7B S for example, means 7 balls were thrown and then a
strike. B means a pitch that was a ball. CC means counterclockwise.
Wr means the wrist was an important part of the delivery. CC-wr means the
wrist turned counterclockwise as the ball was delivered--remember I
am a lefty. For example, body+elbow+wrist means these three parts of
the body were the primary forces in the pitch; body+wr means body and
wrist were the primary forces; wr alone means the wrist was the
primary force. Dart means the pitch was thrown similar to the way
people throw darts. 'Slow sp' means the pitch was thrown at what is
for me is a relatively slow speed; 'medium sp' means
the pitch was thrown at what for me is a medium speed; 'fast sp'
means the pitch was thrown at a speed that for me is fast; ''max sp'
etc means the speed was thrown at a speed that for me is even faster than
fast, the maximum velocity I am capable of; forward lean means I
emphasized leaning forwards during the pitch; energy means I emphasized
being energetic during the pitch; zip means approx the same thing as
energy; long step forwards means during the delivery I stepped forwards an
unusually long length prior to releasing the ball; forward stretch means
approx the same thing as long step forwards; arm means the arm was a major
force in propelling the ball forwards; elbow means approx the same thing
as arm; deliv means delivery; hand down/up prior to delivery means
that while pitching sidearm, my hand moved first towards the ground and
then up towards the ceiling prior to releasing the ball; balanced=all
parts of the body involved in the pitch; body (noted by itself)=force of
pitch primarily from the body as opposed to arm or wrist; b6" etc
means the ball missed the strike zone by 6 inches or whatever number is
given after the B (for balls that missed by less than 13"); In
parentheses after an S I note how I threw the strike when I threw it:
Results:
How to read the numbers: 10/30 means out of 30 pitches
10 balls were strikes; this is followed by percent pitches that were
strikes; next figure, example: B<13": 7(10")/28, 25% means: 7 out of
the 28 pitches were balls that missed by less than 13 inches, the balls
that missed by less than 13 inches missed by an average of 10 inches, 25%
of the pitches were balls that missed by less than 13 inches. 4B 5B
etc means there were four balls in a row that missed the strike zone by
more than a foot; B by itself means one pitch that missed the zone by more
than a foot. Total 61% means 61% of the pitches were strikes or missed the
strike zone by no more than a foot.
All the segments involved 15 minutes of
pitching; I closed my eyes before starting the body movements
involved in the pitch and opened my eyes after the ball was
released.
1 747-858 PM (time approximate): warmup, throwing 'overhand
2-fingered 8A' from various distances closer to the target than the
usual 18 yards, sometimes throwing with my eyes open and ball released
before lead foot hit ground, sometimes throwing with eyes open and ball
released after lead foot hit ground, sometimes throwing with eyes closed
and ball released before lead foot hit ground.
Throwing 'overhand 2-fingered 8A' during this warmup segment,
I evolved a certain style for throwing the pitch: body moves
forward during delivery, body in pitch, late release, dart-throwing-like
motion; elbow action, moderate speed. During the warmup I discovered that
from a right-handed batter's perspective the pitch: first angles down and
in; second* angles up and out; third* angles down and in. The third phase
of change of direction would be even more noticeable if the target was 20
yards 6 inches away from where I pitch from instead of 18 yards. I
read somewhere on the internet that alot of pitches will show no break
whatsoever if they are thrown from 18 yds instead of 20 yds, since
they break at the last instant. The movement of the pitch is in accordance
with what one would expect given an understanding of vertical and
horizontal magnus force. It appears that in the first phase the ball
follows the trajectory it would follow if it were not influenced by spin;
in the second phase it follows a trajectory influenced by the spin; and in
the third phase it returns to following the trajectory that it would
follow if there had been no spin-effect. The spin of the pitch is
such that both the vertical and also the horizontal magnus force
contradict the natural trajectory the ball would follow if there were no
spin-produced magnus force effect.
* By the asterisk I mean, 'at least relative to the trajectory of the
preceding phase'. I could swear that sometimes the pitch after angling
down and in, in the second phase actually angles up and out. Though many
baseball players swear there are pitches that do this, there are so-called
experts who declare such impossible. For now I can safely say that the
pitches, at least, angle up relative to the trajectory of the previous
phase.
2 858-913 PM: overhand 2-fingered 8A (my
personal generic common ball grip used, middle and index finger extended
over ball), vs right-handed batter angles down and in, then at
least relative to previous trajectory up and out, and sometimes then in a
third phase angles down and in. drops and cuts in on right handed batter
at last fraction of second: 3/37, 8%; B<13":
10(5")/37, 27%; total 35%.
B, B, B2", B S (warmup-produced-style, body low, hand close to body
on ball release, medium speed); B2" (2 changes of direction at med speed);
B, B, B12", B, B3" (2 changes direction at medium speed, veered away from
strike zone target at last instant); B, B5", B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, B, S
(med speed, 2 changes direction, last instant change direction); B, B, B,
B2", B, B4", B, B, B, B, S (more body than usual in pitch, warmup-evolved
style); B10", B3", B10".
On average the balls that missed the strike zone by less than 13",
missed by only 5". None of the last 4 pitches missed the strike zone by
more than 12".
3 913-930 PM: warmup, similar to that described in (1), throwing
only 'overhand 3-fingered 8B' (using grip specially
designed for this pitch with ring, middle and index fingers extended over
ball) from 18 yards, throwing sometimes with lead foot hitting ground
before ball released and eyes open, sometimes with ball released before
lead foot hit ground and eyes open, sometimes with ball released before
lead foot hit ground and eyes closed.
The style I evolved for 'overhand 3-fingered 8B' in this
segment was like the style I earlier evolved for 'overhand 2-fingered 8A),
but with the ball thrown at a faster velocity. The specially designed grip
and the use of the three fingers produced a higher velocity.
4 930=945 PM, 'overhand 3-fingered 8B',
(grip specially designed for pitch, three fingers stretched over
ball), vs right-handed batter angles down and in, then at least
relative to previous trajectory up and out, and sometimes then in a third
phase angles down and in. drops and cuts in on right handed batter at last
fraction of second: 4/33, 12%; B<13":
9(9")/33, 27%; total 39%.
B2" (ball changed direction twice in flight); B, B, B, B10", B, B10",
B, B12", B, B10", B8", B, B, S (medium+ speed of ball, ball velocity
higher than warmup ball velocity, 2 changes of direction for ball in
flight, 2nd change of direction came at last instant); B, B, B12", B, B,
B, S (smooth delivery motion, more body involvement than in warmup-evolved
style, overall use of warmup-evolved style, 2 changes of direction,
changes of direction slight, slow ball velocity); B, B10", B, B, S (2
changes direction for ball in flight, 2nd change of direction at last
instant did not look extreme, perhaps due to target being only 18 yds from
pitching rubber, medium+ ball velocity, warmup-evolved style used but ball
velocity faster); S (2 changes direction for ball in flight, second change
direction at last instant, pitched in warmup-evolved style but faster,
medium+ ball velocity); B, B, B10" (2 changes direction for ball in
flight, last change direction at last instant); B, B.
These pitches were thrown at a higher velocity than those in segment
2. Less of the pitches were wild in the sense of missing the strike zone
by a large amount. The pitches seemed to move less than the pitches in
segment 2, perhaps because of the higher velocity. The higher velocity
allows for less time for the final third phase after the second change of
direction, creating the sense of reduced change of direction.
Notes on the Practice I got tired in the afternoon and took a nap for 1.5 hours. However I
had plenty of energy for the evening practice, I could have gone on for
much longer, I was not tired this evening at all.
I temporarily over the course of about an hour experience symptoms
similar to diarrhea due to the nutrients drink, even though I left out the
brewer's yeast and cacao powder. I ate pizza and clam chowder before I had
the nutrients drink. Thus the problem now appears to be not the brewer's
yeast or the cacao powder but rather the interaction of other elements of
the nutrients drink with certain foods.
I estimate that it could be that my performance during pitching was
thrown off because I allowed myself to become emotionally angry, with
regard to the fact that this job that I applied for was given to this
white female instead of to me, because when they got the white woman's
application, they behaved as if they had found gold in the person of this
white woman, and rushed her into the job so quickly that by the time they
got my application the job had been filled.
The woman they gave the job to appears to be humble and nice, perhaps
she is needy also. However I detected a general sense of dissapointment
amongst the young men around this incident. They all seemed to
be amused at the absurdity of the event, and/or shocked, and/or annoyed,
and/or depressed about it. Now they are stuck with this white female
behind the front desk instead of me.
A personnel officer's job is to serve the personnel officer's
organization, the members and customers of the organization. A personnel
officer's job is not to act as a public welfare administrator. When the
customers of an organization are deprived of interacting with a fun,
interesting, knowledgeable, useful, intelligent person, because a job was
given to a merely typical person instead, the result can be tragic for the
people who are deprived of the interaction.
A personnel officer who rejects superior candidates for reasons such
as, 'I do not want to hire that person because he might go on to take my
job or the promotion I am interested in', is not doing his job properly;
said personnel officer's supervisors are incompetent to allow said
personnel officer to get away with such selfishness.
A personnel officer who displays prejudice in favor of certain
persons simply because those persons resemble his or her own self or
relatives is not behaving properly in my opinion. The hiring of persons in
the course of executing one's responsibilities as an employee, is not the
proper area in which to do things like honor one's father or mother or
manifest love of one's self.
Personnel officers should display patience when it comes to hiring;
they should not rush into hiring 'wood' when they could hire 'gold'
instead if they but showed a little patience. They should not treat 'wood'
like 'gold' or 'gold' like 'wood'.
As for the rejecting job candidates on the grounds that they are
overqualified--the reality is, that sometimes employers are guilty of
discrimination, which consists of improperly hiring the less qualified
person; however, if employees can be brushed aside as over-qualified,
employers can never be guilty of discrimination. Underqualified employees
are at least as much of a problem as overqualified employees.
Apparently many personnel officer types have twisted ideas re
justice. Justice is most definitely not: discriminating against atypical
persons; favoring typical persons; favoring those who possess
characteristics it is illegal to discriminate with regards to.
|
Adidas Bracara Indoors Shoes with 1 layer Propel Gel
Padding;
Reebok official 5 oz soft training
baseball
second practice with new ball, these Reebok balls really
last well, I'm impressed |
||||
Sunday August 31,
425-745 PM
Waltham Y Gym
|
200 minutes WC06-L nonskip head foot alternation soccer drill
Two pieces of toast (butter, organic 12 grain bread) eaten 2.5 hours
before practice started.
Two cups double strength tea consumed 6.5-2.5 hours before practice.
Woke up in morning 6.5 hours before practice started.
Drank 40 oz Glaceau Vitaminwater and 10 oz tapwater, 50 oz liquids,
one oz per 4 minutes practice,
during practice.
|
WC06-L-nonskip Head/foot alternation air-dribble
pattern in soccer;
Repeated text in small
font:
(This is the version of the WC06 in which I try not
to skip, but step on each pace, while touching the ball on every pace
and alternating between touching the ball with the head and touching
it with the foot, all while keeping the ball off the ground and close to
the body while moving forwards).
Runs today done without restrictions on use of eyes in
following ball. Thus the eyes followed the ball about half way down from
the apex of the arc.
Today again, I started 12 yards from the wall.
Started practice at 425 PM. From 425-530 PM, I did 20
shallow squats as a way of loosening up my knees for the crouch-like
process of the beginning roll-back, flip-up, and first touch with the left
foot. At 430 PM I began attempting the WCO6 air-dribble nonskip head
foot alternation touch ball on every pace runs. At 431 PM, 1
minute after practice started, I achieved the first success a 4 touch
run. For the practice today I noted all the runs that adhered to
pattern for 4 or more touches of the ball:
T= touches on ball
tight=ball tightly controlled
whb=would have been
431 PM: 4T
435: 6T, tight, striaght, 11 yds whb 7T 12 yds but wall
obstruct
440: 4T, slant fast 11 yds, 2 steps before 5th touch
443: 5T, fast, 11 yds
445: 7T, fast, very tight, 11 yds, slant
451: 5T, fast, 11 yds, extra step before T5 w RF;
454: 5T, fast, 10 yds
457 5T, fast, zz, 10 yds, T6 w LF at 11 yds
502 4T, very fast, 10 yds, T5 w RF at 12 yds
505 6T, very fast & tight, 12 yds, slight slant
509 5T, fast, tight, 11 yds, whb T6 w LF at 12 yds but wall
obstruct
512 4T, very fast, slant, 11 yds
517 4T 11 yds, very fast, whb T5 at 14 yds but wall obstruct
521 5T 9 yds, tight
524 4T 9 yds fast, T5 w RF well kicked,
528 4T very fast zz 8 yds
538 5T 11 yds fast tight whb T6 at 14 yds but wall obstruct
(trip to bathroom, notes taking)
558 6T, 11 yds, fast, tight
602 4T very fast 9 yds, T5 w RF at 12 yds
605 5T 11 yds slant right fast
608 5T 9 yds very fast, tight
610 5T 9 yds slant left fast
619 4T 7 yds fast tight slant
622 5T 111 yds fast zz
625 5T 9 yds, fast
628 4T, 10 yds very fast
634 5T very fast, tight, 11 yds, whb T6 at 13 yds but wall
obstruct
639 6T 11 yds, fast tight slant left
644 6T 9 yds fast tight
646 5T 11 yds fast tight
652 4T 9 yds fast T5 w RF at 11 yds
653 40 oz Glaceau 'Energy' 'Vitaminwater' used up
656 5T 10 yds fast tight slant right
701 5T very fast tight 11 yds whb T6 at 14 yds but wall
obstruct
706 5T fast tight 10 yds zz
709 5T 10 yds very fast, tight
714 5T 9 yds fast tight slant left
717 6T fast tight very straight 12 yds perfect
720 5T fast tight 10 yds
722 4T fast 8 yds slant left
729 4T very fast tight 7 yds
737 5T 10 yds, fast tight
741 5T 11 yds fast tight zz
743 6T 12 yds, fast very straight, skillfully came to a halt in terms
of forward progress of body and ball to make T6 just before wall.
All these runs listed above, featured the ball touched on every
pace, alternation between touch with foot and touch with head, ball not
touching ground between touches. The yds figures show how much distance
was covered. Fast means approx the speed of a very fast walk. Today there were 29 runs that successfully adhered to pattern for 5
or more touches over 190 minutes; that computes to 6.55 minutes per run
that adheres to pattern for 5 or more touches. The figure for the previous
practice was 13 such runs in 90 minutes, one per 6.92 minutes. Notably the
successes per hour was greater today, this level of success per hour was
kept up for a workout that was more than twice the duration of the
previous soccer workout.
I am still not back to the level of skill I was at before the 20 day
break. On the positive side today was a day in which my nature was to go
very fast on the runs; the runs were both fast and tightly
controlled. I paid for this speed by way of failing to adhere to
pattern for 6 or more touches lots of times.
I think a problem was that I drank about 10 oz Tequila the night
before. The Tequila was triple-distilled, I could not feel a hangover
today, but I could feel unusual clumsiness especially on the third touch,
where often I messed up balls that usually are easy for me to handle. The
problem seemed to be more one of judgements related to acceleration of
body and ball as opposed to slow reflexes. The tequila also appeared to
have caused fatigue during the practice, 'heartburn' in the stomach. Plus
I had one cigarette (I still am smoking less than one cigarette per
month); this one cigarette appeared to result in a fatigue problem.
Today as usual with soccer, again I used the Pavlov
inspired method of allowing myself a sip of sports drink only after I
succeeded on an attempt; also after every success I gave myself some
cooling off time in front of the fan.
General Notes
The nutrient cocktail stuff today produced a couple of watery
'runs' (bowel movements) in about half an hour than all was back to
normal. Today the nutrients contained the brewers yeast and the cacao
powder, I ate two pieces of buttered organic 12 grain bread toast
with the cocktail, and had two cups double strength tea prior
to taking the nutrients 'cocktail'.
Today it seemed that I felt better, more energized, when drinking tap
water as opposed to the Glaceau 'Energy' 'Vitaminwater'. The Glaceau
Vitaminwater contains cane sugar. I have been feeling less tired during
the day than usual simply due to now having gone just two days without
sugar. I have replaced sugar in my diet with Agave nectar sweetener.
They should come up with a sports drink that uses Agave as the
sweetener. The Agave nectar does not need to be refrigerated. These
companies seem to lack intelligence. A sports drink that avoided sugar or
sugar substitutes that arouse suspicion would make alot of money now. I
guess companies being dumb in such fashion is related to what appears to
be a mindless obsession with credentials, experience, and the hiring of
persons who rude people label as 'dorks'.
But I must admit it was cool in the gym today, the cool temp could
have had something to do with me feeling more energetic during the
practice. Nevertheless, in general during the course of the days aside
from sports I've felt less tired since eliminating/minimizing sugar. Also
to be exact I am now using the minimally refined 'Rapunzel' brand of
Rapadura Organic Whole Cane Sugar ( www.rapunzel.com ).
I could blab some more re today's practice but I am too tired. If
later I add to the notes in this entry, I will in the log entry
corresponding to the day on which I add the notes, declare that I have
added the more notes to this entry. |
Adidas Bracara Indoors Shoes with 1
layer Propel Gel Padding;
Adidas Replique ball inflated to 7.5
psi |
||||
Wednesday September 3,
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 (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 water only when a shot
went in; again gave self minimal time between
shots
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:
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.
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 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.
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. 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.
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; 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, except in segment
2, record body to basket movement and wrist emphasis during shot because
on every shot I tried to emphasize body to basket movement and use of the
wrist.
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 Spalding TF-1000 Microfiber Composite Basketball,
inflated to 8.0 psi as
usual |
||||
Friday Sept 5,
750-950 PM Waltham Y Gym |
120 minutes experimenting
with 'three-quarters 8A', 'three-quarters ring & middle
finger 8B', 'three-quarters paused 8A', and 'three-quarters
paused ring & middle finger 8B',
juice naturally containing vitamin C , juice naturally
containing vitamin A beta-carotene plus oils (wheat germ,
cod, hemp, oils) plus the vitamin pills (including cod liver oil
pills), mineral pills, no calcium pill (ran out), consumed
approx 2.5 hours before practice started.
Two pieces organic bread eaten 2.5 hours before practice, 1 piece
eaten 0.75 hours before practice
Triple strength white tea sweetened with agave plus organic half
n half consumed 0.75 hours before practice..
Woke up in morning 11 hours before practice started; got out of bed 9
hours before practice started; lied in bed without sleeping for 1.3 hours
until 1 hour before practice started.
Drank approx 10 365 brand SPors Drink orange
flavor during practice. |
Baseball
Pitching:
Tested for the First Time four New
Pitches I have never heard of anyone throwing, 'three-quarters
2-fingered 8A', 'three quarters ring & middle finger 8B',
'three-quarters 2-fingered 8A paused delivery', 'three quarters
ring & middle finger 8B paused delivery',
-- Both Pitches vs right-handed batters,
when they are going through the maximum amount of
movement: first-move down and in; second-at least relative to first
phase trajectory, move up and out; third- (occasionally when there is a
third phase) at least relative to second phase trajectory, move down
and in; thus both pitched sometimes go through two changes of
direction. Usually with these pitches the balls
go through just one change of direction which is more common than two
changes of direction with this pitch--they move sharply down and less
sharply in from a right handed batter's perspective at the last
instant. Both pitches do not move as much as overhand 2-fingered 8A
and overhand 3-fingered 8B; but they are more
accurate.
Innovations never
used before such as paused delivery with ball low and back, and middle and
ring fingers stretched over ball with index finger to side of ball, worked
well despite being new.
Repeated text in small font; note: I pitch
left handed
Used a soft 5
oz Reebok ball to practice pitching at a 20 inch wide, 24 inch
high target, bottom edge 9" above the ground (I was not on a
mound) on the wall 18 yards from where I pitched the ball (red
sideline of basketball court). On every scored
pitch, I closed my eyes before starting body movements involved in
pitch; kept eyes closed until AFTER ball released.
During scored segments released ball just before foot
hit ground; no elaborate old-fashioned windup before pitch thrown, started
with ball at chest and simply threw. Pitches thrown today were
thrown without the stepping back with the front right foot prior to
kicking out the front right foot (I throw with my left hand).
This was a result of how warming up with a given pitch naturally evolves
the style with which the pitch is thrown at this point for
me.
There was a warmup period before each scored segment because
the pitches thrown today are pitches I have never thrown
before.
From the beginning I took detailed notes re
how I threw the ball when I pitched a strike. B means ball, S
means strike. 7B S for example, means 7 balls were thrown and then a
strike. B means a pitch that was a ball. CC means counterclockwise.
Wr means the wrist was an important part of the delivery. CC-wr means the
wrist turned counterclockwise as the ball was delivered--remember I
am a lefty. For example, body+elbow+wrist means these three parts of
the body were the primary forces in the pitch; body+wr means body and
wrist were the primary forces; wr alone means the wrist was the
primary force. Dart means the pitch was thrown similar to the way
people throw darts. 'Slow sp' means the pitch was thrown at what is
for me is a relatively slow speed; 'medium sp' means
the pitch was thrown at what for me is a medium speed; 'fast sp'
means the pitch was thrown at a speed that for me is fast; ''max sp'
etc means the speed was thrown at a speed that for me is even faster than
fast, the maximum velocity I am capable of; forward lean means I
emphasized leaning forwards during the pitch; energy means I emphasized
being energetic during the pitch; zip means approx the same thing as
energy; long step forwards means during the delivery I stepped forwards an
unusually long length prior to releasing the ball; forward stretch means
approx the same thing as long step forwards; arm means the arm was a major
force in propelling the ball forwards; elbow means approx the same thing
as arm; deliv means delivery; hand down/up prior to delivery means
that while pitching sidearm, my hand moved first towards the ground and
then up towards the ceiling prior to releasing the ball; balanced=all
parts of the body involved in the pitch; body (noted by itself)=force of
pitch primarily from the body as opposed to arm or wrist; b6" etc
means the ball missed the strike zone by 6 inches or whatever number is
given after the B (for balls that missed by less than 13"); In
parentheses after an S I note how I threw the strike when I threw it:
Results:
How to read the numbers: 10/30 means out of 30 pitches
10 balls were strikes; this is followed by percent pitches that were
strikes; next figure, example: B<13": 7(10")/28, 25% means: 7 out of
the 28 pitches were balls that missed by less than 13 inches, the balls
that missed by less than 13 inches missed by an average of 10 inches, 25%
of the pitches were balls that missed by less than 13 inches. 4B 5B
etc means there were four balls in a row that missed the strike zone by
more than a foot; B by itself means one pitch that missed the zone by more
than a foot. Total 61% means 61% of the pitches were strikes or missed the
strike zone by no more than a foot.
All the segments involved 15 minutes of
pitching; I closed my eyes before starting the body movements
involved in the pitch and opened my eyes after the ball was
released.
1 750-831 PM (time approximate): warmup,
throwing 'three-quarters 2-fingered 8A' from various distances
closer to the target than the usual 18 yards, sometimes throwing with my
eyes open and ball released before lead foot hit ground, sometimes
throwing with eyes open and ball released after lead foot hit ground,
sometimes throwing with eyes closed and ball released before lead foot hit
ground.
Throwing 'overhand 2-fingered 8A' during this warmup segment,
I evolved a certain style for throwing the pitch: body moves
forward during delivery, body in pitch, late release, moderate speed.
During the warmup I began to suspect that pausing during delivery with the
ball in hand, low and back, might produce good results. During the
warmup I discovered that from a right-handed batter's perspective the
pitch when the movement of the ball is maximal is like overhand 8A/8B: it
first angles down and in; second* angles up and out; and third*
(sometimes) angles down and in. The third phase of change of
direction would be even more noticeable if the target was 20 yards 6
inches away from where I pitch from instead of 18 yards. The movement of
the pitch is in accordance with what one would expect given an
understanding of vertical and horizontal magnus force. It appears
that when there is maximal movement, in the first phase the ball
follows the trajectory it would follow if it were not influenced by spin;
in the second phase it follows a trajectory influenced by the spin; and in
the third phase it returns to following the trajectory that it would
follow if there had been no spin-effect. The spin of the pitch when
there is maximal movement, is such that both the vertical and also
the horizontal magnus force contradict the natural trajectory the ball
would follow if there were no spin-produced magnus force effect. This
pitch does not move as much as the overhand 8A/8B. Compared to overhand
8A/8B, a lower percentage of the pitches go through two changes of
direction; the changes of direction are generally less extreme. With
this 3/4 version, more of the pitches go through just one change of
movement: a sharp drop, and a moderate movement inwards from a
right-handed batter's perspective, at the last instant. I estimate
this is due to the fact that with the 3/4 version the hand is in line with
the forearm, whereas with the overhand version the hand is at a sharp
angle compared to the forearm--with the overhand version the sharp angle
of the hand compared to the forearm forces more spin into the
pitch.
* By the asterisk I mean, 'at least relative to the trajectory of the
preceding phase'. I could swear that sometimes the pitch after angling
down and in, in the second phase actually angles up and out. Though many
baseball players swear there are pitches that do this, there are so-called
experts who declare such impossible. For now I can safely say that the
pitches, at least, angle up relative to the trajectory of the previous
phase.
All the pitches thrown were thrown with basically the same style
evolved in the warmup, exceptions to this being noted in the parentheses
after the S's representing strikes.
2 831 PM-846 PM: three-quarters 2-fingered 8A
thrown with a pause at a point in the delivery
when the ball is low and back (my personal generic common
ball grip used, middle and index finger extended over ball), vs
right-handed batter generally travels straight and then at the last
instant down and in: 2/31, 6%; B<13":
15(9")/31, 48%; total 54%.
B3", B2", B8", B12", B8", B12", B, B10", B, S (slow to med speed,
body low on release); S (same as previous strike); B5", B6", B6", B,
B12"", B12", B, B, B, B, B, B12", B, B, B12", B, B7", B, B, B.
Of the first 17 pitches thrown this segment, 14 (76%) were strikes or
missed the strike zone by less than 13 inches. This segment was thrown
with the ball in hand brought back and low and then a pause during the
delivery, which is a new method for me. 3 847-902 PM, three-quarters 2-fingered 8A thrown
without a pause at a point in the delivery when
the ball is low and back (my personal generic common ball
grip used, middle and index finger extended over ball), vs
right-handed batter generally travels straight and then at the last
instant down and in: 4/33, 12%; B<13":
11(9")/33, 33%; total 45%.
S (slowish relaxed delivery, slow-medium ball speed); B, B4", B,
B12", B, B, B, S (elbow close to chest and forward at ball release,
medium speed); B, B2", B, B, B7", B6", B, B, B, B, B, B, B12", B, B12",
B12", S (slow ball speed, elbow forward and close to body at ball
release); B3", B, B12", S (moderate speed); B12", B, B.
This segment preceded by short 6 minute warmup.
4 908-923 PM, three-quarters 8B thrown
without a pause at a point in the delivery when
the ball is low and back (grip specifically designed for this
pitch used, ring & middle fingers stretched over ball, index finger to
side of ball), vs right-handed batter generally travels
straight and then at the last instant down and in: 4/36,
11%; B<13": 15(8")/36, 42%; total
53%.
B, B, S (medium speed, moderate speed smooth delivery); B6", B, B,
B10", B10", B12", B2", B, B2", B, B3", S (slow ball speed, slow smooth
delivery); B, B12", B, B, B, B, B2", B, S (slow speed, slow smooth
delivery); B, B10", B, B, B12", B2", B12", B, S (slow ball speed, slow
smooth delivery); B, B12", B10".
Total accuracy was 53% despite use of new unusual grip on
ball.
This segment preceded by short 10 minute warmup.
5 933-948 PM, three-quarters 8B thrown
with a pause at a point in the delivery when
the ball is low and back (grip specifically designed for this
pitch used, ring & middle fingers stretched over ball, index finger to
side of ball), vs right-handed batter generally travels
straight and then at the last instant down and in: 4/35,
11%; B<13": 19(9")/35,
54%; total 65%.
Total accuracy for this segment was 65%,
despite the use of the new unusual pause in the delivery and the new
unusual grip on the ball. I estimate this
version of 3/4 style 8 produced the most movement on the
ball.
Notes on the Practice This 3/4 style version of pitch 8A/B does not move as much as
the overhand version but is more accurate. Though the movement of
the ball is less spectacular with this version, nevertheless,
today I often found myself amazed at how a pitches that looked like
strikes at the last instant veered away to become balls, and how pitches
that looked like balls at the last instant veered in to be strikes.
The new innovations such as the bizarre
new grip on the ball, and the pause in the delivery with the ball low and
back at the beginning of the throw, produced good results despite my lack
of experience with them.
The pause in the delivery when used, results in alot of force
of body, aside from arm and wrist, being put into the pitch.
General Notes
Seems that employers reserve certain types of jobs for women, but do
not reserve any types of jobs for men. Is this justice?
Is it proper that a smart athletic man who is knowledgeable
about sports should have to work at the supermarket, while an unathletic
marshamallow (overweight white female of typical level intelligence) works
at the YMCA?
|
Adidas Bracara Indoors Shoes with 1 layer Propel Gel
Padding;
Reebok official 5 oz soft training
baseball |
||||
Saturday Sept 6, 545-750 PM |
120 minutes WC06-L nonskip and skip head foot alternation soccer
drill
Tangerine juice, stir fry, and 3-teabag cup white tea consumed 45-30
mins before practice started.
Woke up in morning 7 hours before practice started.
Drank 20 oz 365 brand sports drink and 12 oz water during practice.
Had approx 150 ml vodka evening before practice.
|
WC06-L-nonskip
Head/foot alternation air-dribble pattern in soccer; experiments with
WC06-L-skipping Head/foot alternation air-dribble pattern;
general strategic concepts with regards to short distance tightly
controlled air-dribbles covering approx 7-12 yds distance approaching
a nearby defender.
Repeated text in small
font:
(The non-skip is the version of the WC06 in which I try not
to skip, but step on each pace, while touching the ball on every pace
and alternating between touching the ball with the head and touching
it with the foot, all while keeping the ball off the ground and close to
the body while moving forwards. The skipping version is the
same except I allow myself to skip when my foot hits the ground).
Runs today done without restrictions on use of eyes in
following ball. Thus the eyes followed the ball about half way down from
the apex of the arc.
Today again, I started 12 yards from the wall.
Started practice at 545 PM. From 545-550 PM, I did 20
shallow squats as a way of loosening up my knees for the crouch-like
process of the beginning roll-back, flip-up, and first touch with the left
foot. At 550 PM I began attempting the WCO6 air-dribble nonskip head
foot alternation touch ball on every pace runs. At 551 PM, on my
first attempt, I achieved the first success a tight 10 yd 6-touch
run. For the practice today I noted all the runs that adhered to
pattern for 4 or more touches of the ball:
T= touches on ball; tight=ball tightly controlled; whb=would have
been; w= with; RF= right foot; LF=left foot; 7T= 6 touches on ball during
run, 6T= 6 touches on ball during run etc; T4=4th touch, T5=5th touch etc;
straight = run was very straight did not slant towards left or right;
slant=run slanted left or right; if run is not labeled straight or slant
it was basically straight but not extremely so; zz=zig zag pattern.
551 PM: tight 6T 10 yds 1st attempt of day
556: 4T 9 yds, T5 w RF at 11 yds
601 4T 10 yds fast
603 4T 9 yds tight, T5 at 10 yds, w LF
605 6T 12 yds fast
609 5T 9 yds slant left tight fast
611 6T 12 yds tight, slanted left then straight
615 5T 10 yds tight fast
619 6T fast tight straight perfect
626 5T tight fast slant left 6 yds
629 5T fast straight 11 yds
633 5T fast tight straight 11 yds
638 4T very fast tight zz 7 yds
642 5T very fast tight straight 11 yds
(ran out of the 365 brand sports drink at this point, after 50
minutes after drinking approx 20 oz)
646 4T 7 yds slant left very fast
648 4T 8 yds very fast tight zz.
At this point (650 PM) I switched to experimenting with doing
the same pattern, but attempting to skip with my left and also my right
foot every time either foot hit the ground during the course of the run. I
discovered that this was too difficult. I switched to starting the skips
after the 2nd touch of the run; I moved the start point to a spot 10 yds
from the wall.
708 PM, 5T, 9 yds very fast tight zz, skipped every time left or
right foot hit ground after 2nd touch of run.
At this point it became apparent to me, that at least at the
beginning of my attempt to master this pattern with skipping with the left
and right feet, I should skip when my left foot hits the ground AFTER
kicking the ball but not when my right foot hits the ground BEFORE I head
the ball.
Thus for the remainder of the practice, the method followed was to
skip AFTER touching the ball with the left foot, but not require
myself to skip with my right foot BEFORE heading the ball.
722 PM 4T fast tight straight 9 yds
729 very fast tight 4T zz 9 yds
732 fast tight 9 yds
741 4T fast tight 9 yds
743 5T 5 yds
745 5T fast very tight straight 10 yds
747 7T very tight 10 yds
Notes on the Practice and General Notes
Conscious and dreaming thoughts both effected what was done in this
practice. On the conscious level, I have been beginning
to feel that this pattern in which I alternate between touching the ball
with my head and touching the ball with my foot, with the ball touched on
every pace, and no skipping on the steps with the feet, all with the ball
kept off the ground while I move forwards, is too difficult to be
practically useful in the sense of being employed with exactitude in a
game.
On the unconscious level I had some dreams related to soccer in
between the previous soccer practice and this one.
In one dream I was hiding in a trench surrounded by soldiers in the
uniform the Germans wore in WWII. The soldiers were all about five feet
three inches tall and thin. I wanted to make a run to the door of this
hollowed out mountain; I had to get a running start to burst through the
doorway. I figured when I ran the troops in the German uniforms might
think I was something different than a harmless civilian. I knew about
what happens to spies and to troops dressed as civilians or dressed in
enemy uniforms. I decided to wear a WWII style American uniform when I ran
for the door to the mountain. I walked and jogged towards the door in the
mountain and then sprinted for about 10 yds and burst through the door in
the hollowed out mountain. When I did this none of the German looking
troops even threw a stone at me or even shouted at me, none of them shot
at me, though they saw me. I burst threw the door in the mountain. Then I
was on a balcony on the wall of the hollowed out mountain. Down below me,
about 70 feet below me on the floor of the mountain I saw what looked like
female comic book superheroes dressed in those skin-tight female superhero
uniforms. Down on the floor of the hollowed out mountain I skipped
around, skipping with both left and right feet every time either foot hit
the ground, and I was thinking, if I could do this while air-dribbling the
soccer ball I'd be a superhero.
In another dream, I was driving my Honda Element (a small SUV) in
India. I was in a line of cars similar to my car driving into India. India
looked like it had been completely changed. The roads were in very orderly
condition; there were orderly well-maintained rows of yellow flowers
alongside the roads and or in between the lanes. I did not see any people
anywhere it seemed that the problem of too many people crowding up the
places had been solved. Inside India they were having some kind of
Olympics. One of the events was this race that went on for three days that
I was competing in. I ran over this huge mountain that was made of carpets
piled one on top of the other. I ran at a very fast speed for long periods
of time, I was winning the race, I was using extremely long strides, my
feet were hitting the ground in a way that minimized the impairment of
forward momentum produced when the foot hits the ground. I felt this
spirit that was like a combination of what is wise in the ancient Vedic
scriptures, and the wisdom of the Bible. The very long strides
combined with speed reminded me of how I move when I am doing the touch
the the ball on every pace alternate between foot and head, with no
skipping allowed air-dribble runs.
And then in a dream I had the night before today's practice,
I was doing an air-dribble run in which I touched the ball on
every other pace, and touched the ball with my left foot only; my control
of the ball and my speed level were both good; I was able to make sharp
changes of direction; my performance was similar to what it has
been when I have been deviating from pattern when doing the air-dribble
runs in the past dozen or so soccer practices.
Also on another page of this soccer log you can find entries in which
I talk about how a while back I succeeded in mastering
this air-dribble pattern in which I skip on every pace, touch the ball on
every pace, alternate between touching the ball with my left foot and
touching the ball with my right foot; this pattern was labeled WC06.
People were very impressed when they saw me do it.
Thus prior to the practice my conscious and unconscious minds
were both leading me in the direction of experimentation.
From the experimentation the first thing I discovered was that
whereas in the previously mastered impressive WC06 pattern in which I skip
on every pace and touch the ball with my left and right feet alternately
while skipping, the ball is always touched just before the foot hits the
ground; whereas, in the version of WC06 I am doing now, the ball is
touched with the left foot before the foot hits the ground, while the ball
is touched with the head AFTER the right foot hits the ground; this makes
it more difficult to skip with the right foot with this pattern.
I discovered today that I can perhaps run the air-dribble pattern
with more speed and tighter control if I skip when my left foot hits the
ground after kicking the ball and before I step with my right foot and
then head the ball. I decided that the skipping with the right foot before
heading the ball should at least for now be optional.
I concluded that I should experiment with a version of the
air-dribble pattern I have been doing, in which skipping with the left and
right feet are optional but not required.
As for the air-dribble in which the ball is touched on every other
pace and touched with only the left foot, I realized today that there are
various options for this kind of air dribble:
1 No skipping allowed when feet hit the ground.
2 Skipping optional when feet hit the ground
3 Skipping allowed with left foot only
4 skipping allowed with right foot only
5 skipping required with both feet.
I guess that the direction I am heading in, as a result of a
conceptual change of direction, is executing runs in which: skipping is
optional but not required; alternating between touching the ball with the
left foot and touching the ball with the head is not optional not
required; touching the ball on every pace is preferred but touching the
ball on every other pace is allowed; touching the ball with the left foot
twice in a row is allowed; touching the ball with the right foot after
touching the ball with the left foot, or touching the ball with the head
after touching the ball with the left foot, is preferred to touching the
ball with the left foot twice in a row; touching the ball with the
head twice in a row is avoided.
Conceptually the point is to quickly develop an effective,
consistent, game-ready, practical approach towards the defender in which
the ball is tightly controlled and kept off the ground. Looks like it will
take too long a time for the alternate between touching the ball with the
head and touching the ball with the foot approach to become consistent and
game-ready. Looks like it will take too long a time for the approach in
which skipping is not allowed to become consistent and game ready.
Thus, my intent now is to use drills in which this or that is not
allowed to develop the skills that are used in a flexible approach towards
the defenders in which some things are preferred but lots of things are
allowed.
As for the touching the ball with the head twice in a row, with the
ball touched on every pace, I am inclined to avoid this because it is
simply too easy for me and I want to work on things that are harder for
me. I realize that a touch with the foot produces options not available in
a touch with the head. I realize the danger involved in touching the ball
with the head several times in a row. I realize from past experimentation
that when starting an air dribble immediately on one touch after
receiving a volley or bounce pass, the natural pattern is alternation
between head and foot.
...
I am beginning to suspect that drinking even just 150 ml of
strong alcoholic drinks such as vodka, and Tequila the evening
before a practice impairs performance. Seems there is a negative effect on
endurance, morale, attitude, spatial judgement, and mood. This slight
negative effect may be no problem at all for your average Joe, but I am
beginning to suspect that it is a problem for me, because I am doing these
really difficult athletic tricks.
Today before the practice I just had a stir-fry and tangerine juice
tea made from three teabags of white tea mixed with the Agave Nectar and
half n half. I skipped the nutritional cocktail. There was still a
temporary problem of two stools in the space of an hour even though the
nutrients cocktail was skipped. Thus the list of suspects is now extended
from the nutritional cocktail with all the oils and pills, to
include tangerine juice, stir-fry, white tea and various comos
thereof. There are plenty of days in which I do not experience this
problem of hyper-frequent stools for about an hour. I do not exactly
understand the problem, but I can see how it would be a real problem
during a game. It is not a pleasant subject but realistically speaking,
one must face up to how there could be a problem during a game. The
temporary hyper-frequent stool problem was over by 700 PM, 100
minutes after I finished eating the stir-fry, drinking the
tangerine juice, and drinking the triple-strength tea.
|
Adidas Bracara Indoors Shoes with 1
layer Propel Gel Padding;
Adidas Replique ball inflated to 7.5
psi |
||||
Sunday Sept 7,
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 (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 water only when a shot
went in; again gave self minimal time between
shots
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:
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.
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 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.
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. 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.
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; shft-fpab=on follow-through fingers were pointed at basket
as opposed to wrist flicking down--wrist flicking down is represented
by simply shtb; 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 body to basket movemen during shot because on every shot I tried to
emphasize body to basket movement. In segment 5 with method 4 I emphasized
both body-to-basket movement and use of wrist, because with method 4 the
previous basketball practice, though I intended to emphasize use of wrist
and also body-to-basket for every shot, with method 4 by mistake I
emphasized only body-to-basket.
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 Spalding TF-1000 Microfiber Composite Basketball,
inflated to 8.0 psi as
usual |
||||
Monday Sept 8
430-630 PM
Waltham Y Gym |
120 minutes experimenting
with variants of sidearm 6.
Had just tea and potato chips before practice. Teas sweetened with
agave nectar not sugar.
Woke up approx morning 5 hours before practice started;
Drank approx 20 oz Glaceau 'Energy' Vitaminwater
during practice. |
Baseball Pitching
(left-handed):
Tested 4 new Pitches I have never thrown
before: sidearm 2-fingered 6A (my personal generic common ball
grip used, middle and index finger extended over ball); sidearm
2-fingered 6B (grip specially designed for this pitch, ring and
middle fingers extended over ball); sidearm 3-fingered 6B
thrown (grip specially designed for this pitch, ring middle and
index fingers, 3 fingers, extended over ball); sidearm
2-fingered 6B (grip specially designed for this pitch, middle
and index fingers extended over ball).
These pitches were thrown sidearm, with a spin that
from the ceiling perspective would look counterclockwise. The spin was
such that from my perspective as a pitcher, the side of the ball facing me
as the ball moved towards the plate, was spinning from upper left to lower
right. I tried to get the diagonalism out of the pitch but could
not.
These pitches, vs right handed batters, when they
are going through the maximal amount of movement: first move down and in
from the right-handed batter's perspective; then move at least relative to
their previous trajectory up and out; and finally at the last instant move
down and in. They do not move as much as similar three-quarters or
overhand type pitches. According to the laws of the 'Magnus Force',
some might expect the pitch to break out sideways on a right handed batter
at the last instant. The reasons this did not happen: I tried to get the
ball to spin parallel to the ground, I tried to take the vertical angle
out of the spin, but I did not usually succeed in this so that from my
perspective, the side of the ball facing me, as the ball moved towards the
target, was spinning from my left to my right, but on a diagonal from the
upper left to the lower right. This caused the pitches to not just move
out but also rise in the second phase of the movement of the ball in
flight.
Secondly, after the second
phase influenced by the Magnus Force, the natural Kinetic Force
re-asserted itself in the third phase, cause the ball to move down and in
on a right handed batter. In the second phase, the Magnus Force moved the
ball up and out from the right handed batter's perspective; but in the
final phase as the Magnus Force lost its power, the natural kinetic force
re-asserted itself to cause the down and in movement.
The middle and
ring fingers stretched over the ball innovation worked well again today,
producing the best segment (accuracy-wise) ever
.
Repeated text in small font; note: I pitch
left handed
Used a soft 5
oz Reebok ball to practice pitching at a 20 inch wide, 24 inch
high target, bottom edge 9" above the ground (I was not on a
mound) on the wall 18 yards from where I pitched the ball (red
sideline of basketball court). On every scored
pitch, I closed my eyes before starting body movements involved in
pitch; kept eyes closed until AFTER ball released.
During scored segments released ball just before foot
hit ground; no elaborate old-fashioned windup before pitch thrown, started
with ball at chest and simply threw. Pitches thrown today were
thrown without the stepping back with the front right foot prior to
kicking out the front right foot (I throw with my left hand).
This was a result of how warming up with a given pitch naturally evolves
the style with which the pitch is thrown at this point for
me.
There was a warmup period before some scored segments
because the pitches thrown today are pitches I have never thrown
before.
From the beginning I took detailed notes re
how I threw the ball when I pitched a strike. B means ball, S
means strike. 7B S for example, means 7 balls were thrown and then a
strike. B means a pitch that was a ball. CC means counterclockwise.
Wr means the wrist was an important part of the delivery. CC-wr means the
wrist turned counterclockwise as the ball was delivered--remember I
am a lefty. For example, body+elbow+wrist means these three parts of
the body were the primary forces in the pitch; body+wr means body and
wrist were the primary forces; wr alone means the wrist was the
primary force. Dart means the pitch was thrown similar to the way
people throw darts. 'Slow sp' means the pitch was thrown at what is
for me is a relatively slow speed; 'medium sp' means
the pitch was thrown at what for me is a medium speed; 'fast sp'
means the pitch was thrown at a speed that for me is fast; ''max sp'
etc means the speed was thrown at a speed that for me is even faster than
fast, the maximum velocity I am capable of; forward lean means I
emphasized leaning forwards during the pitch; energy means I emphasized
being energetic during the pitch; zip means approx the same thing as
energy; long step forwards means during the delivery I stepped forwards an
unusually long length prior to releasing the ball; forward stretch means
approx the same thing as long step forwards; arm means the arm was a major
force in propelling the ball forwards; elbow means approx the same thing
as arm; deliv means delivery; hand down/up prior to delivery means
that while pitching sidearm, my hand moved first towards the ground and
then up towards the ceiling prior to releasing the ball; balanced=all
parts of the body involved in the pitch; body (noted by itself)=force of
pitch primarily from the body as opposed to arm or wrist; b6" etc
means the ball missed the strike zone by 6 inches or whatever number is
given after the B (for balls that missed by less than 13"); In
parentheses after an S I note how I threw the strike when I threw it:
Results:
How to read the numbers: 10/30 means out of 30 pitches
10 balls were strikes; this is followed by percent pitches that were
strikes; next figure, example: B<13": 7(10")/28, 25% means: 7 out of
the 28 pitches were balls that missed by less than 13 inches, the balls
that missed by less than 13 inches missed by an average of 10 inches, 25%
of the pitches were balls that missed by less than 13 inches. 4B 5B
etc means there were four balls in a row that missed the strike zone by
more than a foot; B by itself means one pitch that missed the zone by more
than a foot. Total 61% means 61% of the pitches were strikes or missed the
strike zone by no more than a foot.
All the segments involved 15 minutes of
pitching; I closed my eyes before starting the body movements
involved in the pitch and opened my eyes after the ball was
released.
1 430-523 PM (time approximate): warmup, throwing trying to
throw this spinning sidearm pitch. Had problem getting vertical element
out of pitch. Decided for now to focus on maximizing spin and being
accurate, decided to leave getting vertical element out of spin for later.
The style evolved for the pitch during the warmup was basically my typical
sidearm style, plus: lead knee high, pause with lead knee high; slow first
half delivery; brisk second half delivery.
2 525-540 PM: sidearm 2-fingered 6A thrown (my
personal generic common ball grip used, middle and index finger extended
over ball) at moderate speed: 6/30, 20%;
B<13": 11(8")/30, 37%; total 57%.
b, b10", b6", b2", b, b, s (slower ball velocity); s (slight ring
finger involvement); b8", b, s (slight ring finger involvement, body
cartwheeled to my right on delivery); b, b12", b10", b, b, b11", b, s
(palm of left throwing hand facing target on follow-through); b12", b,
b2", b, s (lead foot out to right, carthweel to right on release); b,
b12", b5", s (front step planted foot to my right, wheeled, elbow of
throwing arm in); b, b. 3 550-555 PM: sidearm 2-fingered 6B thrown (grip
specially designed for this pitch, ring and middle
fingers extended over ball) at moderate speed: 7/11, 64%; B<13":
4(10")/11, 36%; total 100%.
S, B12", S, S, B12", B12", S (throwing elbow near body, slow 1st half
delivery, brisk 2nd half delivery); S (throwing elbow in, body fading to
my right on delivery); S (same as previous); b6", s (same as previous,
front foot to my right, body wheels right during delivery).
Best segment ever. This was sidearm, with
a spin that from the ceiling perspective looks counter-clockwise; thrown
with the ring and middle fingers over the ball instead of the usual middle
and index fingers.
4 555-600 PM: sidearm 2-fingered 6B thrown (grip specially
designed for this pitch, ring and middle
fingers extended over ball) at fast speed: 1/9,
11%; B<13": 6(10")/9, 67%; total
78%.
b, b12", b12", b12", b11", b, b10", s (body low, elbow in on
delivery); b4".
It appeared that when the velocity on the
pitch is increased, the first and/or second movement phases increase in
terms of the percent of the total flight of the ball that they cover, and
the third movement phase decreases.
This segment preceded by short 5 minute warmup.
4 605-610 PM, sidearm 3-fingered 6B thrown (grip
specially designed for this pitch, ring middle and
index fingers, 3 fingers, extended over
ball) at moderate speed: 0/12, 0%;
B<13": 5(9")/12, 42%; total 42%.
b2", b, b12", b10", b, b12", b, b8", b, b, b, b.
5 610-615 PM, sidearm 3-fingered 6B thrown (grip
specially designed for this pitch, ring middle and
index fingers, 3 fingers, extended over
ball) at fast speed: 1/10, 10%; B<13":
3(10")/10, 30%; total 40%.
b, b, b, b6", b12", b, s (lead foot steps to my right, body wheels
right, elbow in during delivery); b12", b, b.
This segment preceded by short 5 minute warmup. 6 620-625 PM: sidearm 2-fingered 6B thrown (grip
specially designed for this pitch, middle and
index fingers extended over ball) at moderate
speed: 2/11, 18%; B<13": 4(4.5")/11, 36%; total
56%.
b, b, s (lead knee up, lead foot lands to my right, body wheels right
during delivery); b12", b2", b2", b, s (lead knee up followed by pause,
lead foot lands to my right, body wheels to my right during delivery, alot
of body in pitch); b, b, b2".
The four pitches that were balls and missed by less than 13"
missed the strike zone by an average of only 4.5 inches this
segment.
7 625-630 PM: sidearm 2-fingered 6B thrown (grip
specially designed for this pitch, middle and
index fingers extended over ball) at fast speed:
3/11, 27%; B<13": 6(9")/11, 55%; total 82%.
b9", s (lead foot planted to my right, body wheeled right during
delivery, elbow throwing arm in); b7", s (same as previous strike, body
low); b6", b6", s (same as previous strike); b12", b12", b, b.
Same pitch as in previous segment but thrown faster.
Notes On the Practice
Some of these segments made the Red Sox sidearmer Javy Lopez look
like a schoolkid.
Again the weird new grip featuring the
ring and middle fingers wrapped over the ball and the little and index
fingers to the sides of the ball worked well. This finger pattern combined
with the seams of the ball adjusted to fit the finger pattern, combined
with sidearm throwing of the curve type spin thrown today, produced the
best segment ever.
The style that was most effective that evolved during the course of
the practice was: lead knee brought up high followed by a pause; slow
first half of delivery; lead foot planted to right not straight
ahead; body wheels right during delivery; body low during delivery; elbow
in during delivery. This delivery style is good for accuracy combined with
speed, however it reduces the sideways angle of the line from the hand at
ball release point to the strike zone. When this angle is reduced, the
final break of the ball that occurs after the magnus force has expended
itself is reduced also.
It appeared today that at this stage of the game for me, it is
important to throw all the pitches in a segment at moderate speed or all
at fast speed or all at slow speed, in order to develop accuracy.
Seems an important point noted today, is that the first and second
ball movement phases take up a greater percentage of the total flight of
the ball, and the final third movement phase takes up a lower percentage
of the flight of the ball, when the ball velocity is faster.
Looking at the major league baseball after this practice it seemed
that about 15% of the time the major league pitchers throw as fast as I
was throwing in the fast segments today.
General Notes
After practice outdoors in the night, I saw and heard a short brown
man and a tall bespectacled white man discussing the "fat whites"; they
sounded shocked; they were discussing how yet another job at the place
where they and I work out, had been given to a marshmallow. For sure
I am not the only bothered by marshmallow-ism. Marshmallows resemble
pregnant women, have these people got some kind of primitive neolithic
attachment to such? I estimate 15% of the area's population is
marshmallows; why are they so over-represented behind the front
desk?
|
Adidas Bracara Indoors Shoes with 1 layer Propel Gel
Padding;
Reebok official 5 oz soft training
baseball |
||||
Tuesday Sept 9
805-950 PM
Waltham Y Gym
|
105 minutes various skipping variants of air-dribble featuring
ball touched with left foot every two paces.
Clam chowder, toast eaten approx 2 hours before practice started.
Woke up in morning 7 hours before practice started. Drank 12 oz Glaceau brand 'power-c' Vitaminwater during
practice. .
Had approx 125 ml vodka evening before practice.
|
Kick ball with only left foot every two
paces air-dribble patterns in soccer--skip when left foot hits
ground, skip when right foot hits ground, and skip when both left and
right feet hit ground variants experimented with
Repeated text in small
font:
In these patterns I kept the ball off the ground but
close to the body while moving forwards about ten yards, touching the ball
with only my left foot. Sometimes I skipped whenever the left foot hit the
ground, sometimes whenever the right foot hit the ground, and sometimes
whenever either foot hit the ground.
Runs today done without restrictions on use of eyes in
following ball. Thus the eyes followed the ball about half way down from
the apex of the arc.
Today again, I started 10 yards from the wall.
Started practice at 805 PM. From 805-810 PM, I did 20
shallow squats as a way of loosening up my knees for the crouch-like
process of the beginning roll-back, flip-up, and first touch with the left
foot.
810-840 PM:
In this half hour for the first time ever, I ran the air-dribble
pattern in which I touch the ball with the left only every two paces, skip
when the right foot hits the ground, but do not skip when the left foot
hits the ground.
The first ten minutes were incompetent, but after the first 10
minutes I suddenly made tremendous improvement and became sort of half
competent, executing runs that covered 10 yards with the ball touched on
every other pace with the left foot, and with skipping when the right foot
hit the ground, on about a third to one half of the attempts.
840-910 PM:
In this half hour for the first time ever, I ran the air-dribble
pattern in which I touch the ball with the left only every two paces, skip
when the left foot hits the ground, but do not skip when
the right foot hits the ground.
The first ten minutes were incompetent, but after the first 10
minutes I suddenly made tremendous improvement and became sort of half
competent, executing runs that covered 10 yards with the ball touched on
every other pace with the left foot, and with skipping when the left
foot hit the ground, on about a third to one half of the attempts.
910-940 PM:
In this half hour for the first time ever, I ran the air-dribble
pattern in which I touch the ball with the left only every two paces, skip
when either the left or right foot hits the ground.
The first ten minutes were incompetent, but after the first 10
minutes I suddenly made tremendous improvement and became sort of half
competent, executing runs that covered 10 yards with the ball touched on
every other pace with the left foot, and with skipping whenever a foot hit
the ground, on about a third to one half of the attempts.
Notes On the Practice
When I become competent in every air-dribble technique, the best
comination of techniques will be chosen by myself on runs. Example. If I
am unskilled in skipping when air-dribbling, I will avoid the skip even
when the skip is the best alternative.
The subject reminds me of a movie called 'the Bridge Over the River
Kwai'. It can be a mistake when a drill becomes an end in and of itself,
while the ultimate goal of the drill is lost sight of.
Seems two versions of a given drill should be practiced. One the
strict and two the loose. For example in the strict version I try very
hard to skip when the left foot hits the ground; but in the loose version
if it is too awkward to skip when the left foot hits the ground, I allow
myself to step instead of skip when the left foot hits the ground.
The ultimate goal is to develop a preferred intended pattern for
air-dribble that fits the speed required and the tightness of control
required for a given situation; at the same time it must be kept in mind
that realistically speaking the preferred intended pattern will be
deviated from in game situations. Sometimes the intended preferred
alternative method, say for example a skip, cannot be accomplished and I
have to step instead. Conceiveable kicking the ball with the foot twice
in a row may be the intended preferred alternative; however it may
not be possible to adhere to what is preferred and it may be necessary to
follow a kick of the ball with heading the ball. In actual game situations
it becomes a mistake to favor the skip or the nonskip when the skip or the
nonskip is unnatural.
Seems that at least sometimes when I drill I should finish every run
no matter the level of deviation from the intended pattern.
Seems I should do some drills involving the use of the thighs on the
air-dribble, or thighs combined with feet and/or head. Heretofore I have
avoided such because air dribbling with the thighs had become easy for me;
however combining thighs with the head or the foot could produce an
interesting productive challenge.
In general it appeared today that skipping with one or both
feet when doing the left foot only touch ball every two paces air-dribble,
will be easy to master and excel the version in which I step instead
of skip, both in terms of speed and also in terms of tightness of
control.
It appeared today that I cover more ground per touch, about 4
yards, when I skip with both feet; when I skip with only one foot I cover
about 3 yards per touch.
An interesting run today: 1) at the start point I kicked the ball
with my left foot; 2) at yard 1 I skipped with my right foot; 3) at yard 2
I kicked the ball with my left foot; 4) at approx yard 6 I skipped with my
right foot; 5) at yard 10 I kicked the ball with my left foot. The ball
was kept off the ground but close to the body the entire time.
Between point 3 and point 5 I covered 24 feet in two paces with minimal
buildup of momentum.
General Notes
A white dad and his white son were practicing basketball in the gym
while I was working out. I could'nt help it, I looked in their direction
and remarked re 'the fat whites'. The dad responded sympathetically in
agreement, 'I know'. There is only one group this discrimination against
people who are not overweight white females ('marshmallows') is popular
with--the marshmallows.
|
Adidas Bracara Indoors Shoes with 1
layer Propel Gel Padding;
Adidas Replique ball inflated to 7.5
psi |
||||
Wednesday
Sept 10
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
(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; again gave
self minimal time between shots
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:
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.
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 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.
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. 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.
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; 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;
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 Spalding TF-1000 Microfiber Composite Basketball,
inflated to 8.0 psi as
usual |
||||
Thursday Sept 11
659-935 PM
Waltham Y Gym |
Practiced Tennis for First Time Using a Sxored Drill hitting ball
against wall.
Had nothing to eat whole day prior to practice except two or three
cups double or triple strength tea.
chewed nicotone gum and drank water during pratice.
Woke up approx 6.5 hours prior to start of practice. |
First Day of Tennis
Practice
I had been thinking of practicing tennis;
with tennis they cannot discriminate against you on the basis of age etc.
If you are beating the others this is evident for all to see. For a while
I did not do tennis partly because I have not dreamed about being a tennis
player. But I decided it would be a mistake to be overly controlled by
dreams. I have developed the attitude that dreams are like waking thought,
one can be stupid or smart in dreams as one can be stupid or smart when
awake. According to the guy from India at the Y, it could be that I have
not dreamed of tennis because it is so obvious to the waking mind that I
should do tennis.
My experience during my life with tennis has
been extremely limited. Tennis was not part of the regular phys ed routine
for me in grade school and high school. All my life there never was a year
in which I played tennis (vs backboard or human) on more than about
15 days. Most I ever played tennis was when I was in grade school
attending summer camp. The last time I played tennis was about 15 years
ago, hitting the ball against a wall without letting the ball bounce for
about an hour. Prior to that, about 25 years ago I hit the ball against a
backboard for about an hour. Thus over the past 25 years I'd played tennis
for just two or three hours.
My performance in tennis surprised me today.
Seems that starting to play a sport when you are a young boy, has lasting
positive effects in skill even if you did not play the sport often when
you are a boy.
Today in tennis I devised a scored drill. I
used black tape that was 2 inches thick, to create a box on the
wall, that was 28 inches wide and 22 inches high not counting the
tape used to delineate the box. I placed the bottom border of the box 3.5
feet above the ground.
I served the ball against the wall trying to
hit the box I made on the wall, from a point 13 yards away from the wall.
I then continued the volley, hitting the ball against the wall trying to
put the ball in the box on the wall on every stroke. I did this until it
was no longer possible to continue the volley. Then I served the ball
against the wall again and repeated the process. If I hit the wall on the
service I counted this. If I hit the box with a forehand shot or shots
during the volley I counted such. If I hit the box on the wall with
backhand shots I counted such also. Thus for each segment which started
with a serve and ended with the point at which I was no longer able to
continue the volley, I had a score. I kept track of the score
using notation as follows:
V= volley, a segment starting with a serve
and ending with the ball no longer being playable, the ball being hit at
the wall attempting to hit the box on the wall during the volley. S= the
box was hit with the ball on the beginning serve. F= the box was hit with
a forehand during the volley segment. B= the box was hit with a backhand
during the volley segment. Two or three F's means the box was hit
with the forehand twice or thrice during the volley segment. Same for
two or three B's. P = the volley was interrupted by the ball bouncing
weird from hitting a pillar on the wall.
My rule for this type of s cored practice
today: always make a good faith effort to hit the box on the wall with the
ball--no hitting the wall with easy lobs to work oneself closer and closer
to the box allowed; always make a good faith effort to play the ball on
one bounce as opposed to two or three, but continue the volley if the ball
bounced two or three times before being hit.
I suppose this scored practice could be
improved in terms of the placement of the box, the size of the box, and
the rules of the game, but there you have it for now. I noticed today that
since the bottom edge of the box is only 3.5 feet above the ground, I end
up often about ten yards from the wall in my effort to hit the ball after
it bounces just once. This could be improved by having one box as the
target for the service and a higher box as the target for volleys. Problem
is that if the target box is too high, than one develops habits that lead
to the ball being hit too long, result loss of point. The only way to hit
the ball hard and keep it in play is to hit the ball low and hard.
My score today was as follows:
659 PM Begin Tennis Practice:
V; V; VF; V; V; VF; VF; V; V; VFFF; (pain in
sole of left foot, 709 PM); V; V; V; V; V; VB; VB; V; V; V; V; V; VF; VF;
V; V; V; VF; V; VF; V; V; VSF; V; V; V; V; V; V; V; V; V; V; VSFBF; V; V;
V; VF; V; VS; VF; V; VS; VS; VSF;
(759 pm); VFB; V; VB; V; V; V; V; VFB; VF; V;
V; V; VF; V; V; V; V; VS; (822 pm, decided from this point on to record a
volley interrupted by the wall bouncing wildly due to hitting a corner or
edge of the pillars on the wall as a P); VP; (at this point laziness due
to fatigue set in); V; VF; V; V; V; (at this point a crowd of about half a
dozen teenage type girls who had been slightly crowding me and distracting
me for about half an hour left); VF; V; V; VS; VF; VFB; V; V; VF; V; V;
VFF; VBF; VF; V (at this point I noted that stretching the sole of my left
foot had banished the pain in the sole of the left foot...such is a big
improvement over the old days when the pain would not go away); VF; VSP;
V; VS; V; V; VFB; V; V; VS; (at this point 20 Framinham State rugby guys
entered the gym to be taught rugby by their coach Anthony Frongello, who
works at the Y; take note, marshmallow-ists, only one of them was
overweight; one of them was black...I had earlier cc'd Anthony my
important email with the poetic prayers and the metaphysics and theology
explained...seemed like the rugby guys were making a pilgrimage of sorts);
VFF; VFB; VFF; (859 PM);
VF; VSF; VF; VSB; V; VB; V; V; VBF; VSF; (at
this point the Glaceau vitaminwater 40 oz was used up, I switched to
simple spring water); VF; VFP; VSF; VFB; V; VSF; V; V; V; (929 PM); VS;
VSF; VFB; VB (END 935 PM, made way for the rugby guys who had nicely
crowded into one half of the gym so that I could have the other half all
to myself to this point).
So the total stats were:
Hour 1: V=55; S=6 (11%); F=16 (29%); B=3
(5%). This means that on 11% of 55 volleys the serve hit the target box,
on 29% of 55 volleys a forehand hit the target box; and on 5% of 55
volleys a backhand hit the target box.
Hour 2: V=52; S=5 (10%); F=19 (37%); B=7
(13%).
Hour 3: V=23; S=6 (26%); F=12 (52%); B=6
(26%).
Total: V=130; S=17 (13%); F=47 (36%);
B=16 (12%).
Notes on the
Practice
I felt that today I demonstrated that I am
able to hit the box with difficult forehand and
backhand shots from up to 15 yards away; and I am able to
hit the box with the serve. Seemed that slowing down the velocity of the
serve and slowing down how high I throw the ball on the serve, improved
the serve. Reminds me of how during baseball practice a while back, I
learned that imitating the pro baseball pitchers would be a premature
thing for me to do.
My performance was at its best while the 20
rugby guys were in the gym being coached by Anthony; reminds me that I
have noted that I seem to do better when people are watching and or when
my performance is being scored.
I found a 'Prince Integra' Titanium Tennis
racket in my closet which I used today. The problem with it, was that on
the handle its grooves spiral downwards, the diagonal being from my upper
left to my lower right as I grip the tennis racket with my palm facing me.
The grooves are always diagonalled like this no matter which side of the
racket handle I grip. Seems this could be appropriate for right handed
players not for lefties like me. |
Adidas Powerline crosstrainer shoes
Prince Integra titanium tennis racket
one of triplet of 'Penn 4' tennis balls bought today at
Walgreens
|
||||
Friday Sept 12
750-948 PM
Waltham Y Gym |
118 minutes experimenting
with finer-spin variants of submarine 3.
Had tea and Hannaford stir-fry approx 45 minutes before
practice started. In trotal in 4 hours before practice strarted had 3 cups
double or triple strength tea, combining white, green, and brown tea. Tea
was sweetened with agave as is usual nowadays for me. Used organic half n
half as is usual nowadays or me.
Woke up approx 6.5 hours before practice started;
Did not consume oils viramins minerals juices nutrients cocktail
prior to practice.
Drank approx 20 oz Glaceau 'Energy' Vitaminwater
during practice. |
Baseball Pitching
(left-handed):
Tested the submarine 3 A/B
again; last time this was done the wrist was used to spin the ball; this
time the fingers were used to spin the ball;
finger-spinning this pitch excels wrist-spinning it. Appears that
allowing the lead foot to hit the ground before ball release and the weird
new grip featuring the ring and middle fingers over the ball might improve
performance. I achieved high strikes percentages with this pitch but the
ball movement is relatively little with these
pitches.
Today I had my best streak ever (7
strikes in 8 pitches) throwing this pitch at medium+ speed, using the
ring/middle fingers wrapped over the ball, with the seams of the ball
especially positioned for the pitch (even though this was a spinner that
is not the easiest submarine variant).
These pitches were thrown submariner style. I
attempted to throw the ball with a spin such that from my perspective as a
pitcher, as the ball traveled from me towards the target, the spin on the
side of the ball facing me, was directionally from my lower left to my
upper right. The pitch was the same basically as the 3A and 3B thrown last
time I threw submarine style baseball pitches. The difference today was
that I put the spin on the ball by sliding the ball off the fingertips,
whereas last time I tried to put the spin on the ball by using my wrist,
so that my palm was facing downwards as the ball was released. Notably in
the cricket world of spin bowling, they distinguish between balls that are
ball with the spin imparted from the wrist, and balls that are bowled with
the spin imparted with the fingertips.
These pitches thrown today, vs right handed batters,
when they display movement, from a right handed batter's perspective:
first move slightly in; and, then move at least relative to their previous
trajectory, as the magnus force exerts its effect, down and out; sometimes
(apparently when the ball is pitched hard enough) there is a third
phase in which the kinetic force re-asserts itself and the pitch breaks
inwards.
The middle and
ring fingers stretched over the ball innovation worked well again today,
producing the best segment (accuracy-wise) ever
.
Repeated text in small font; note: I pitch
left handed
Used a soft 5
oz Reebok ball to practice pitching at a 20 inch wide, 24 inch
high target, bottom edge 9" above the ground (I was not on a
mound) on the wall 18 yards from where I pitched the ball (red
sideline of basketball court). On every scored
pitch, I closed my eyes before starting body movements involved in
pitch; kept eyes closed until AFTER ball released.
During scored segments released ball just before foot
hit ground; no elaborate old-fashioned windup before pitch thrown, started
with ball at chest and simply threw. Pitches thrown today were
thrown without the stepping back with the front right foot prior to
kicking out the front right foot (I throw with my left hand).
This was a result of how warming up with a given pitch naturally evolves
the style with which the pitch is thrown at this point for
me.
There was a warmup period before some scored segments
because the pitches thrown today are pitches I have never thrown
before.
From the beginning I took detailed notes re
how I threw the ball when I pitched a strike. B means ball, S
means strike. 7B S for example, means 7 balls were thrown and then a
strike. B means a pitch that was a ball. CC means counterclockwise.
Wr means the wrist was an important part of the delivery. CC-wr means the
wrist turned counterclockwise as the ball was delivered--remember I
am a lefty. For example, body+elbow+wrist means these three parts of
the body were the primary forces in the pitch; body+wr means body and
wrist were the primary forces; wr alone means the wrist was the
primary force. Dart means the pitch was thrown similar to the way
people throw darts. 'Slow sp' means the pitch was thrown at what is
for me is a relatively slow speed; 'medium sp' means
the pitch was thrown at what for me is a medium speed; 'fast sp'
means the pitch was thrown at a speed that for me is fast; ''max sp'
etc means the speed was thrown at a speed that for me is even faster than
fast, the maximum velocity I am capable of; forward lean means I
emphasized leaning forwards during the pitch; energy means I emphasized
being energetic during the pitch; zip means approx the same thing as
energy; long step forwards means during the delivery I stepped forwards an
unusually long length prior to releasing the ball; forward stretch means
approx the same thing as long step forwards; arm means the arm was a major
force in propelling the ball forwards; elbow means approx the same thing
as arm; deliv means delivery; hand down/up prior to delivery means
that while pitching sidearm, my hand moved first towards the ground and
then up towards the ceiling prior to releasing the ball; balanced=all
parts of the body involved in the pitch; body (noted by itself)=force of
pitch primarily from the body as opposed to arm or wrist; b6" etc
means the ball missed the strike zone by 6 inches or whatever number is
given after the B (for balls that missed by less than 13"); In
parentheses after an S I note how I threw the strike when I threw it:
Results:
How to read the numbers: 10/30 means out of 30 pitches
10 balls were strikes; this is followed by percent pitches that were
strikes; next figure, example: B<13": 7(10")/28, 25% means: 7 out of
the 28 pitches were balls that missed by less than 13 inches, the balls
that missed by less than 13 inches missed by an average of 10 inches, 25%
of the pitches were balls that missed by less than 13 inches. 4B 5B
etc means there were four balls in a row that missed the strike zone by
more than a foot; B by itself means one pitch that missed the zone by more
than a foot. Total 61% means 61% of the pitches were strikes or missed the
strike zone by no more than a foot.
All the segments involved 15 minutes of
pitching; I closed my eyes before starting the body movements
involved in the pitch and opened my eyes after the ball was
released.
1 750-835 PM (time approximate): warmup, throwing the
ball at the wall from first close and then progressively further and
further away. Not sure exactly how close I got to the intended
diagonal spin. Style evolved during warmup featured arm stretcher oud
almost straight which made putting lots of spin on the ball easier. But
when I started pitching the scored segments I decided to emphasize
accuracy at the expense of amount of spin for now.
2 835-845 PM: submarine finger-spun (as opposed to wrist
spun) 2-fingered 3A thrown (my personal generic common ball
grip used, middle and index finger extended over ball) at
moderate speed, spin not maxed, angle of release from
hand not maxed, ball released before lead foot hits
ground (such is the case unless mentioned otherwise): 7/16, 44%; B<13":
4(8")/16, 25%; total 69%.
b2", b, s (smooth mderate speed delivery, long step forwards with
lead foot, late ball release); b, b10", s (same as previous strike); b12",
s (arm almost straight, late ball release, long step forwards, no
follow-through); s (late ball release, long step forwards, arm almost
straight, arm height at high submarine level, limited follow-through); s
(almost like bowling bowling pins, arm low, limited follow through);
b10", b, b, s (late release, long lead foot step forwards, follow through
featured hand pointing at target); s (late release, long lead foot steop
forwards, follow through hand pointed at target); b. Same as previous segment but at fast speed, after 3 min
warmup.
3 852-902 PM: submarine finger-spun (as opposed to wrist
spun) 2-fingered 3A thrown (my personal generic common ball
grip used, middle and index finger extended over ball)
at fast speed, spin not maxed, angle of release from hand
not maxed, ball released before lead foot hits ground
(such is the case unless mentioned otherwise): 3/18, 17%; B<13":
5(9")/18, 28%; total 45%.
b, s (elbow closer to body and arm higher but still submarine); b, b,
b10", b12" (there was a third phase of movement); b, s (lead foot hit
ground before ball release?; elbow in and arm higher than starting style);
b, b, b, s (elbow in more and arm higher than starting style but still
submarine, lead foot stepped slightly to right, slight wheel right motion
with body); b, b, b10", b4" (there was a third phase of movement); b, b8".
Same as previous segment but with lead foot hitting ground prior to
ball release, and ball thrown at medium speed, after 3 min
warmup.
4 905-910 PM: submarine finger-spun (as opposed to wrist
spun) 2-fingered 3A thrown (my personal generic common ball
grip used, middle and index finger extended over ball)
at moderate speed, spin not maxed, angle of release
from hand not maxed, ball released AFTER lead foot
hits ground 3/13, 23%; B<13": 6(10")/13, 46%;
total 69%. s (elbow in arm higher than at start but still submarine); b12", b, s
(same as previous strike); b, b10", b12", b, b, b12", b6", b9", s.
Same as previous segment but at fast speed.
5 910-915 PM: submarine finger-spun (as opposed to wrist
spun) 2-fingered 3A thrown (my personal generic common ball
grip used, middle and index finger extended over ball)
at fast speed, spin not maxed, angle of release from
hand not maxed, ball released AFTER lead foot hits
ground 4/12, 33%; B<13":
4(8")/12, 33%; total
66%. b12", s, b, b6", b, s, s (elbow in more and arm higher than at start
of practice but still submarine); b, s (ball starts low and back during
delivery, with arm stretched out); b8", b, b7".
Thrown after 10 minute warmup, grip on ball changed.
6 925-935 PM: submarine finger-spun (as opposed to wrist
spun) 2-fingered 3B thrown (ball seams positioned
specifically for this pitch, ring and middle fingers extended
over ball) at medium speed, spin not maxed,
angle of release from hand not maxed, ball
released before lead foot hits ground 8/19,
42%; B<13":
2(8")/19, 11%; total 53%. b, b, b3", b, b10", b, b, S (body low); b, b, b, s (loose, hand with
ball starts unusually far back during delivery); s (3rd phase of movement
detected); s (body low, late ball release); b, s (body low, late ball
release, 3rd phase ball movement detected); s (body low, late ball
release); s (same as previous strike); s (body low, late ball release, arm
relatively high but still submarined, elbow in, slight wheel of body
to right on ball release).
This was the first segment of the day pitched with the ring and
middle fingers wrapped over the ball and the pinky and the index fingers
to the sides of the ball. After the first 11
pitches, 7 of the last 8 pitches thrown were strikes! This
has to be my greatest streak ever, even though the overall percentage for
the segment was not that great, which is understandable. On every strike, my body was thrown into the pitch to an
unusual degree.
These pitches were thrown significantly
faster than the pitches in segment 2.
Thrown after 3 minute warmup, same as previous segment but
at fast speed.
6 938-948 PM: submarine finger-spun (as opposed to wrist
spun) 2-fingered 3B thrown (ball seams positioned
specifically for this pitch, ring and middle fingers extended
over ball) at medium speed, spin not maxed,
angle of release from hand not maxed, ball
released before lead foot hits ground 3/15,
20%; B<13":
4(9")/15, 27%; total 47%.
b, b12", b, b2" (3rd phase movement detected); b10" (3rd phase
movement detected); b, s (body low, ball starts far back during delivery,
elbow relatively close to body, arm relatively high but still submarined);
b, s (body low, late ball release, elbow in, arm relatively high but still
submarined, body in pitch, 3rd phase movement detected); b, b, b12", b, b
(3rd phase movement); s (hand/ball starts back and high, body low, 3rd
phase movement of ball in flight).
After the first 6 pitches, 3/9 or 33% were strikes despite the high
speed and the weird grip. This pitch often caused pain in the fingers of
the throwing hand. All the pitches were thrown with a late release
of the ball.
Notes on the Practice
The practice demonstrated that the submarine 3 A/B pitches, are
better thrown when the spin is derived from the fingertips as opposed to
the wrist.
The practice showed that with submarine 3A/B, allowing the lead foot
to hit the ground before the ball is released may be the superior
alternative. Previously I had noted that with the submarine style, it had
seemed that such would be the case. It could be that I am evolving into a
pitcher who can throw with the eyes closed with the lead foot hitting the
ground before ball release. However earlier, I had found that with
three-quarters and overhand style, the jolt of the lead foot hitting the
ground before ball release radically impaired the accuracy of pitches
thrown with the eyes closed.
The practice showed that the weird new grip featuring the ring and
middle fingers wrapped over the ball and the pinky and the index to the
side, combined with the seams of the ball especially positioned for the
pitch, may be a superior alternative.
At the end of the practice I felt frustrated that I had not had a
chance to try out certain alternatives combining factors such as the lead
foot hitting the ground before ball release, the weird new grip on the
ball, the positioning of the seams of the ball in the hand, the
placing of the lead right foot to my right side and wheeling the body
during ball release.
Almost all the pitches thrown today were thrown with the lead foot
pointing at the target. Seemed that placing the lead foot to the side
works much better with sidearm than it does with submarine; with submarine
the putting the lead foot to my right side seems to slow the pitch down
alot.
The rule up to today has been that if the matter goes unmentioned,
the ball has been released prior to the lead foot hitting the ground.
Previously I had felt that my pitching accuracy was impaired if I
wore shoes other than the shoes I use for soccer when pitching the
baseball. Today this did not seem to be the case.
|
Adidas Powerline crosstrainer shoes
Reebok official 5 oz soft training
baseball |
||||
Tuesday
Sept 16
803-949 PM
Waltham Y Gym |
106 minutes various skipping variants of air-dribble featuring
ball touched with alternating left and right feet on every pace.
Nothing to eat in between waking up and starting practice.
Woke up aprox 4.5 hours before practice started. Drank 20 oz Glaceau brand 'energy' Vitaminwater during practice.
.
Had approx 125 ml vodka evening before practice.
|
WC06 Type Patterns
Experimented With: Touching ball on every pace, alternating between touch
with left and touch with right, sometimes skipping with left foot,
sometimes skipping with right foot, sometimes skipping with both
feet
Runs today done without restrictions on use of eyes in
following ball.
Two of the drills done today are variants of the drill that I did a
couple of years ago that impressed people so much (people parking
their cars and staring for 20 minutes, stuff like that) out
on the outdoors basketball courts at Moody & High streets in Waltham;
the third drill is the same as what I did out on the basktball
courts. When I was out on the basketball courts I did the
version in which I skipped with both feet, touched the ball with
alternating left and right feet on every pace, while moving forwards and
keeping the ball off the ground but close to the body.
Today I started 10 yards from the wall.
Started practice at 803 PM. From 803-840 PM, I did the WC06
Pattern in which I touch the ball on every pace with alternating left and
right feet, and skip with my left foot but not with my right foot.
Incompetence lasted for 2 minutes and then I began to be semi-competent.
At 814 PM I was surprised at the level of skill I was showing in this
drill, since I had not practiced anything similar in so long. It seemed to
me, that drills different from this such as the foot head alternation
which I have been doing, have ancillary or lateral effects, side-effects
(I had noticed this before). Seemed to me that drills such as I have been
doing produce lasting improvement even though there is degradation in
performance in terms of the specific drill, when it has not been practiced
for a long time. By 822 PM, the ball wa being kept low as it used to be
last time I did a similar pattern (a couple of years ago, the original
WC06, featuring me touching the ball on every pace, alternating left and
right feet, and skipping with on every pace with both left and right
feet). I estimate that I traveled on average 9.5 yds over 7 touches with
this pattern, that is 1.6 yards per touch, seeing that the last touch
does not take me anywhere as I run into the wall, and the first
touch starts at the 0 yds point.
Doing this drill it seemed to me dumb, that this kind of air-dribble
approach has not been applied by soccer players in games; today this drill
felt so easy, that I felt sure that quickly the pattern will be ready for
use in games. Similarly I have devised pitches, such as a new and improved
way to throw what is commonly referred to in the baseball world as the
'screwball', and I have been wondering how the entire baseball world
through so many decades could have failed to invent the pitch that I
invented.
Today compared to when I did the similar drill a couple of years ago,
I felt quicker, faster, lighter on my feet, more competent relative to the
amount the particular drill has recently been practiced, and less
fatigued. Yet all you ever hear in the world of sports is, age equals
decline, age equals decline. I have over the past couple of years worked
on improving habits related to my health, getting vitamins in their
natural form into my body.
From 847-918 PM, I worked on a pattern which is the same as the
previous one, but which involved skipping with the right foot but not the
left, touching the ball on every pace, touching the ball with alternating
left and right feet, moving forwards while keeping the ball off the
ground. This time there was 7 minutes of incompetence before I became
competent, more than with the first segment. I noted that I have the
ability to get the ball about waist high and still be accurate when I need
to get the ball about waist high to keep the run going; this ability was
not so good previous time I did a similar drill. The performance in this
segment featuring skipping with the right (about 1/3 of attempts succeeded
in covering 9 yds with the ball off the ground) was not as good as
the performance the first segment featuring skipping with the left (about
2/3 of the attempts succeeded in covering the 9 yards with the ball off
the ground). This segment I noted that thinking about sexy women seems to
have a detrimental impact on performance. The yards covered per touch with
this variant is about the same as with the previous variant, about 1.6
yards per touch.
From 918-949 PM, I did the same pattern but with skipping on every
step with both left and right feet. This segment there was 2 minutes of
incompetence followed by semi-competence. I estimate I covered with this
variant 10 yards in six touches, which comes to 2.0 yards per pace given
that the first touch is at 0 yds and the last touch produces no further
forward movement as the wall is reached.
During this segment I noted that I have gotten better at kicking
balls that go waist high at their apex, also better at accurately kicking
balls that go waist high at their apex, seemed this had to do with the
previous drill involving alternation between touching the ball with the
foot and touching the ball with the head. Seemed that this variant
featuring skipping with both left and right feet is faster than the
previous two variants which involve skipping with only one foot; in
general it seems more spirited, more fun, more amenable to changes of
direction. I noticed that though I am putting some backspin on the ball
now, there is not as much backspin put on the ball as was the case when
the soccer shoes I wore had shoelaces which went down the middle of the
foot, as opposed to the shoes I have now with laces that curve off to the
outside of the foot. Though I use the backspin less now I am still
effective in the drill or art or technique; now with the new shoes I use
the area above the toes more than I used to. It remains
questionable in my mind, whether the shoes with the laces down the middle
are superior for this kind of thing than shoes with laces that curve off
to the outside of the foot. With the new shoes with the laces
curving off to the outside of the foot, seems I kick the ball higher
on this kind of air-dribble, compared to using shoes with laces down the
middle of the foot; and it seems the foot hits the ball when it is higher
above the ground. This could be due to the change in the shoelaces
or it could be due to the fact that I have been doing the drill involving
alternation between left and right foot. It amazes me
that when I surfed the net I could find no soccer shoes that have the
laces down the middle like soccer shoes used to be. What a lack of
diversity. Put together the dumbness of this kind of air-dribble
not being used in games by the soccer world, the dumbness of pitches that
are easy to invent not having been used by the baseball world, and the
lack of diversity in terms of soccer shoes available, and you have a
pattern. My first instinct is to blame the MBA's, credentialism, the
mindless obsession (in hiring practices) with experience,
credentials, and the hiring of victims of rude people.
Overall with regards to today's experiments, seems to me that
skipping with both feet and skipping with the left foot alone,
excelled performance wise, skipping with the right foot alone (I am left
footed). It is still hard to say if one or both of the
two methods that worked out the best today, excel the method tested in the
previous practice, touching the ball every two paces with the left foot
alone. But I can say that touching the ball on every pace
alternating between foot touch and head touch is not as reliable as any of
the variants involving touching the ball on every pace or touching the
ball every other pace with the left foot alone. The thing to
remember is that these drills are not ends in and of themselves,
but are tools to be used to develop an air-dribble approach for attacking
a defender who is a typical distance, about seven
yards away. Then a separate issue is developing the best
technique for the phase that comes after the defender has been reached, at
the point where one begins to blow by the defender.
|
Adidas Bracara Indoors Shoes with 1
layer Propel Gel Padding;
Adidas Replique ball inflated to 7.5
psi |
||||
Wednesday
Sept 17
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:
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.
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 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.
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. 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.
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 Spalding TF-1000 Microfiber Composite Basketball,
inflated to 8.0 psi as usual |
||||
Thursday Sept 18 832-950 PM Waltham Y Gym |
78 minutes experimenting
with oberhand 1B spinning pitch.
Had tea and a piece of bread approx 45 minuts before practice.
,
Woke up approx 5 hours before practice started; out of bed aprox
2.5 hours before practice. Depressing stress producing stuff is keeping e
lying in bed after I wake up.
Did not consume oils viramins minerals juices nutrients cocktail
prior to practice.
Drank approx 16 oz Glaceau 'Energy' Vitaminwater
during practice.
Had approx 150 ml bodka evening before ractice.
|
Baseball Pitching
(left-handed):
Tested overhand 1B...this
pitch is fairly accurate and looks like it
is going to hit a right-handed batter in the head, then it veers off at
the last instant to catch the strike zone...potentially a very
valuable pitch!
These pitches were thrown overhand style. I
attempted to throw the ball with a spin such that from my perspective as a
pitcher, as the ball traveled from me towards the target, the spin on the
side of the ball facing me, was directionally from my upper
right to my lower left.
These pitches thrown today, vs right handed batters,
when they display movement, from a right handed batter's perspective:
first move in a trajectory that is more upwards and inwards then usual,
due to the magnus force effect forcing the ball upwards and inwards;
second, as the power of the magnus force (spin) relative to the
kinetic force (ball release point to target unaffected by spin) reaches
its peak, the ball, at least relative to its previous trajectory, jumps up
and in (at least compared to the trajectory of the previous phase); third,
as the kinetic force re-asserts itself relative to the magnus force, and
the power of gravity kicks in, the ball moves very sharply downwards and
out; sometimes in a fourth phase, I suppose as the magnus force and the
kinetic force equalize, moves straight towards the target angled neither
up nor down nor out nor in.
Repeated text in small font; note: I pitch
left handed
Used a soft 5
oz Reebok ball to practice pitching at a 20 inch wide, 24 inch
high target, bottom edge 9" above the ground (I was not on a
mound) on the wall 18 yards from where I pitched the ball (red
sideline of basketball court). On every scored
pitch, I closed my eyes before starting body movements involved in
pitch; kept eyes closed until AFTER ball released.
During scored segments released ball just before foot
hit ground; no elaborate old-fashioned windup before pitch thrown, started
with ball at chest and simply threw. Pitches thrown today were
thrown without the stepping back with the front right foot prior to
kicking out the front right foot (I throw with my left hand).
This was a result of how warming up with a given pitch naturally evolves
the style with which the pitch is thrown at this point for
me.
There was a warmup period before some scored segments
because the pitches thrown today are pitches I have never thrown
before.
From the beginning I took detailed notes re
how I threw the ball when I pitched a strike. B means ball, S
means strike. 7B S for example, means 7 balls were thrown and then a
strike. B means a pitch that was a ball. CC means counterclockwise.
Wr means the wrist was an important part of the delivery. CC-wr means the
wrist turned counterclockwise as the ball was delivered--remember I
am a lefty. For example, body+elbow+wrist means these three parts of
the body were the primary forces in the pitch; body+wr means body and
wrist were the primary forces; wr alone means the wrist was the
primary force. Dart means the pitch was thrown similar to the way
people throw darts. 'Slow sp' means the pitch was thrown at what is
for me is a relatively slow speed; 'medium sp' means
the pitch was thrown at what for me is a medium speed; 'fast sp'
means the pitch was thrown at a speed that for me is fast; ''max sp'
etc means the speed was thrown at a speed that for me is even faster than
fast, the maximum velocity I am capable of; forward lean means I
emphasized leaning forwards during the pitch; energy means I emphasized
being energetic during the pitch; zip means approx the same thing as
energy; long step forwards means during the delivery I stepped forwards an
unusually long length prior to releasing the ball; forward stretch means
approx the same thing as long step forwards; arm means the arm was a major
force in propelling the ball forwards; elbow means approx the same thing
as arm; deliv means delivery; hand down/up prior to delivery means
that while pitching sidearm, my hand moved first towards the ground and
then up towards the ceiling prior to releasing the ball; balanced=all
parts of the body involved in the pitch; body (noted by itself)=force of
pitch primarily from the body as opposed to arm or wrist; b6" etc
means the ball missed the strike zone by 6 inches or whatever number is
given after the B (for balls that missed by less than 13"); In
parentheses after an S I note how I threw the strike when I threw it:
Results:
How to read the numbers: 10/30 means out of 30 pitches
10 balls were strikes; this is followed by percent pitches that were
strikes; next figure, example: B<13": 7(10")/28, 25% means: 7 out of
the 28 pitches were balls that missed by less than 13 inches, the balls
that missed by less than 13 inches missed by an average of 10 inches, 25%
of the pitches were balls that missed by less than 13 inches. 4B 5B
etc means there were four balls in a row that missed the strike zone by
more than a foot; B by itself means one pitch that missed the zone by more
than a foot. Total 61% means 61% of the pitches were strikes or missed the
strike zone by no more than a foot.
I closed my eyes before starting the body
movements involved in the pitch and opened my eyes after the ball was
released.
1 832-920 PM (time approximate): warmup, throwing the
ball at the wall from first close and then progressively further and
further away.Sometimes I threw the ball with the lead foot hitting
the ground before ball release and my eyes open; sometimes I threw the
ball with the lead foot hitting the ground before ball release and eyes
open; sometimes I threw the ball with my eyes closed and the ball released
before the ball hit the ground. The style evolved during warmup
featured: hand releasing ball at approx 'twelve o'clock'
directly overhead; late ball release; ball released just before foot hits
ground (this has to do with eyes being closed during throw); alot of wrist
action in throw; left throwing hand angled inwards compared to left
forearm at ball release to produce spin sideways angle; ball spun
with fingertips to produce backspin.
2 920-935 PM: overhand finger-spun 2-fingered 1B
thrown (middle and index finger wrapped over ball, seams position
specially designed for this pitch) at
moderate (slow to medium) speed, spin almost maxed,
angle of release from hand almost maxed, ball released
before lead foot hits ground (such is the case unless
mentioned otherwise): 6/18,
33%; B<13": 8(9")/18, 44%; total
77%.
b12"; b8"; b; b; b10"; b; s (not too fast, moderate slow-med
speed, thrown in style evolved in warmup; 3 phases of ball movement; first
phase ball tending in and high relative to right handed batter; second
phase sharp in and up movement, third phase sharp down and out movement);
b12"; s (this time there was a 4th phase, ball moving straight towards
strike zone, otherwise it was the same as previous strike); s (looked like
the ball was about to to go where it would hit a right handed batter in
the head, then at the last instant the ball caught the inside upper corner
of the strike zone); b8", b10" (pitch broke alot, these pitches hard to
control as they break so much); s (ball velocity slow); b; b3" (looked
like the ball was about to hit where a right-handed batter's head would
be, at last instant ball missed bottom inside corner by 3 inches); b6"
(same as previous ball, missed by a little more); s (looked like about to
hit strike zone in middle of top border, but at last instant veered off to
hit bottom outside corner of strike zone); s (looked like about to miss
being a foot above strike zone, at last instant instant caught upper
outside corner of strike zone).
The control was very good given that: overhead style is relatively
hard to control for me; this is a spinning pitch; the ball breaks alot; I
put alot of spin on the ball during thes pitches; I kept the hand high at
release to almost maximize the kinetic angle. After the first pitch this
segment a little white black haired boy, I guess about 9 years old, walked
up to me and smiled and said "pretty nice pitching!". I say the pitches in
this segment were slow to medium, but that is from my personal
perspective, the boy is not the first one to be impressed by what I call
"slow to medium".
935-940 PM: warmup throwing same pitch as above but at faster
velocity, medium to fast, medium+ velocity.
3 940-950 PM: overhand finger-spun 2-fingered 1B
thrown (middle and index finger wrapped over ball, seams position
specially designed for this pitch) at
moderate (slow to medium) speed, spin almost maxed,
angle of release from hand almost maxed, ball released
before lead foot hits ground (such is the case unless
mentioned otherwise): 2/18, 11%; B<13":
8(9")/18, 44%; total 55%.
b; s (looked like bean ball that would hit righty in head, at last
instant caught inside upper right corner of strike zone); b12"; b12"; b; s
(looked like it would hit exact middle of strike zone, at last instance
veered off to catch outside bottom strike zone from right handed batter
perspective); b5" (looked like a bean-ball until last instant); b12"; b4";
b; b; b12"; b; b; b; b10"; b4" (this pitch had a 4th phase of movement);
b.
This pitch by its very nature, is difficult to throw at high
speed.
Notes on the Practice
The start of the practice was delayed due to an unscheduled rental by
a girls basketball team.
This pitch has alot of movement on it. Since it moves alot
and I can throw it at fairly good accuracy it looks like an interesting
pitch. This pitch's most memorable characteristic is that it
moves in such a way that it looks like it is about to hit a right-handed
batter in the head; then it veers down and out to catch the strike zone.
Needless to say, a pitch that looks like it is about to bean a batter in
the head and then veers down and out to catch the strike zone is a very
interesting pitch; such a pitch can intimidate batters into flinching and
then catch the strike zone.
I noted today that by throwing the ball similarly to the way this
pitch is thrown, with the left throwing hand pointing to my right
relative to the left forearm, I would have a good method for throwin a
pitch that spins clockwise as it travels towards the plate from my
perspective as a pitcher but with little vertical up or down spin
movement. Previously I had thought that such a pitch that spins clockwise
and has little topspin or backspin would be a pitch that I would throw
with alot of difficult clockwise wrist action with the palm of the hand
pointed downwards; but now I see that such a pitch can be thrown more
easily with the hand angled in compared to the forearm, and the ball
spinning off the fingers.
My feeling is that this pitch could be perhaps thrown well with the
ring and middle fingers over the ball and the index and pinky fingers to
the sides of the ball; or with the ring middle and index fingers over the
ball and the pinky finger to the side.
General Notes
Looks like the teenage overweight white female they hired instead of
me by the annoying employer is like Sarah Palin in that she: has black
hair; always wears glasses; is white; is about Palin's height. I find that
over and over again I am startled by the way personnel officers are
inclined to hire people who look like celebrities or have names similar to
the names of celebrities--which makes me think of these personnel officers
as having brains that are like peas wired to a TV set. As for me, a
beautiful woman who used to work for the employer in question expressed
marital interest in me and the marshmallow got the job instead, which adds
unnecessary disorderly complication to the problem of me meeting the
woman.
I must admit that a leading employee of the annoying employer,
and even the marshmallow who was hired instead of me, have been
acting apologetic re what has happend even though they are not to blame. I
saw the leading employee a few days ago, he seemed even depressed over
what had happened.
As for me, looks like at the exact moment when I am about to make it
to the pro level of performance in a few different sports, at the exact
moment when I am in position to marry a few beautiful woman and have high
quality kids, I am going to be swept under by a finacial tsunami and there
is nobody to help me survive the tsunami.
Notes from Dreamland
In between the last baseball practice and this one I finally had my
first dream related to major league baseball. In the dream I was holding a
dark brown pipe, looked like unpolished brass, which was about three
inches wide and ten inches long, in my left hand. In my right hand I held
what looked like a similar pipe, but a little wider, that had been sliced
in half the long way, so that in my right hand I had a half-pipe I could
fit the other pipe into. There was a piece of newspaper covering the
surface of the half-pipe in my right hand. I gently slid the pipe in my
left hand into the half-pipe in my right hand. This represented the act of
pitching. I saw black and white photos of baseball players in a newspaper;
the photos were head and shoulder type photos of players in action and
reacting during emotional segments of the game. Simultaneously in the
dream I knew in my mind that I had made it as a major league
baseball pitcher.
I had not had any dreams re being a pitcher prior to this one, but I
went ahead and did pitching practice anyway. And then the dream about
pitching came.
|
Adidas Powerline crosstrainer shoes
Reebok official 5 oz soft training
baseball |
||||
Friday Sept 19 815-945 PM Waltham Y Gym |
Practiced Tennis for second Time (90 mins) Using a Scored Drill
hitting ball against wall.
Had cup of tea and two pices of bread approx 1 hour before pratice
started.
chewed nicotine gum and drank water during pratice. Drank approx 10
oz glaceau energy vitaminwater at start of practice.
Woke up approx 4 hours prior to start of practiceout of bed
approx 3 hours prior to start practice.
Suffered again from stress caused by phone calls from annoying
person. |
Second Day of
Tennis Practice
Dramatic improvement
in serve, forehand, and backhand accuracy despite eight day interval
between first tennis practice and second, and despite fatigue.
Today in tennis I repeated
the scored drill done on the first day.
Repeated text in small font:
I used black tape that was 2 inches thick, to
create a box on the wall, that was 28 inches wide and 22 inches high
not counting the tape used to delineate the box. I placed the bottom
border of the box 3.5 feet above the ground.
I served the ball against the wall
trying to hit the box I made on the wall, from a point 13 yards away from
the wall. I then continued the volley, hitting the ball against the wall
trying to put the ball in the box on the wall on every stroke. I did this
until it was no longer possible to continue the volley. Then I served the
ball against the wall again and repeated the process. If I hit the wall on
the service I counted this. If I hit the box with a forehand shot or shots
during the volley I counted such. If I hit the box on the wall with
backhand shots I counted such also. Thus for each segment which started
with a serve and ended with the point at which I was no longer able to
continue the volley, I had a score. I kept track of the score
using notation as follows:
V= volley, a segment starting with a serve
and ending with the ball no longer being playable, the ball being hit at
the wall attempting to hit the box on the wall during the volley. S= the
box was hit with the ball on the beginning serve. F= the box was hit with
a forehand during the volley segment. B= the box was hit with a backhand
during the volley segment. Two or three F's means the box was hit
with the forehand twice or thrice during the volley segment. Same for
two or three B's. P = the volley was interrupted by the ball bouncing
weird from hitting a pillar on the wall.
My rule for this type of scored practice
today: always make a good faith effort to hit the box on the wall with the
ball--no hitting the wall with easy lobs to work oneself closer and closer
to the box allowed; always make a good faith effort to play the ball on
one bounce as opposed to two or three, but continue the volley if the ball
bounced two or three times before being hit.
My score today was as
follows:
815 PM Begin Tennis
Practice:
(started aiming for target on southwest wall, then switched to target
on n0rtheast wall used on first day).
vs; v; vs; vb; v; vf; vfbb; vff; v; vs; v; vs; vsf; vs; v; vs; vs;
(845 PM)
v; v; v; vsbf; vb; (855 switch to more familiar target on northeast
wall, advantage is that there is table near where I serve I can put my
stuff on); vfffb; vfb; vs; vp; vf; vfbf; vsf; vsp; vsb; vsffb; vsf; vb; vs
(915 PM)
v; vf; v; (noted that about this time many serves missing target box
by approx 2 inches only); vs; v; v; vsf; vff; vs; vsb; vs; vs; vs;
vsf; vsf; vsf; vf; vsfff; vsfff; vfff.
Hour 1: V=55; S=6 (11%); F=16 (29%); B=3
(5%). This means that on 11% of 55 volleys the serve hit the target box,
on 29% of 55 volleys a forehand hit the target box; and on 5% of 55
volleys a backhand hit the target box.
So the total stats this second day of
practice were: Hour 1: V=35; S=16 (46%); F=17 (49%); B=11
(31%). This means that on 11% of 55 volleys the serve hit the
target box, on 29% of 55 volleys a forehand hit the target box; and on 5%
of 55 volleys a backhand hit the target box.
Hour 2 (1/2 hour only): V=20; S=12 (60%); F=17 (85%); B=1 (5%)
Total: V=55; S=28 (51%); F=34
(62%); B=12 (22%).
By way of contrast on the first day of tennis practice Thursday Sept
11 eight days ago, the totals were:
Hour 1: V=55; S=6 (11%); F=16 (29%); B=3
(5%).
First Half Hour of Hour 2: V=21; S=1 (5%); F=5 (24%); B=3
(14%)
Total First 1.5 hours: V=76; S=7 (9%); F=21
(28%); B=6 (8%)
Hour 2: V=52; S=5 (10%); F=19 (37%); B=7
(13%).
Hour 3: V=23; S=6 (26%); F=12 (52%); B=6
(26%).
Total: V=130; S=17 (13%); F=47 (36%); B=16
(12%). In 156 minutes.
Thus looking at today's 1.5 hour practice
and the first 1.5 hours of the previous practice eight days ago, I
improved from: 9% to 51% re percentage of serves that hit the target box;
from 28 to 62% re the number of times I hit the target box with a
forehand divided by the number of volleys; and from 8 to 22% re the
number of times I hit the target box with a backhand divided by the number
of volleys.
Interesting thing is, that though eight days separated the
first practice from the second, there was still dramatic improvement.
Thus looking at the rate of improvement, one could expect that after
just two more practices: approx 100% of the serves will hit the target
box; and the number of times the target box is hit with a forehand will
equal the number of volleys. One could expect that after six more
practices the number of times the target box is hit with a backhand will
equal the number of volleys.
Thus there was dramatic improvement comparing practice 1 to practice
2. This despite the fact that today I felt much more tired than I did on
the first practice day. Today what I expected was that there would be
improvement on the serves but not on the forehands and backhands because I
felt fatigued. Today during the practice I felt as if I was not doing much
better than I was the first day which turned out to be illusory pessimism.
Today I felt the stress of having a yardstick to measure up to (the first
day's practice) which I did not feel the first day of practice.
Just goes to show that even when I feel tired, even when I feel like I am
not improving, even when I feel stressed, I can still turn in a
dramatically improved performance.
Towards the end of today's practice there was a streak during which
10 of 11 serves hit the target box. During this streak of
accurate serves, I just put into effect what I had learned from the
basketball and the baseball practices--I just concentrated on the target,
on hitting the target; and I did not hit the ball too hard or throw the
ball too high, did not try at this stage to emulate the form of a pro
tennis player. Due to experience I have gotten to the point where
if I just concentrate on hitting the target, I feel calm and relaxed and
confident (sort of like feeling the presence of a strong father figure).
This because I know from experience that my performance will be maximally
good in quality if I simply concentrate on the target mentally.
I estimate that the reason I felt fatigued today, was: it has
been so many days since I had the multivitamin multimineral nutrients
cocktail (last time I had it was Sept 5); and/or, drinking the vodka in
the evening has tired me out. I have never been an alcoholic, but
I must confess that I think the vodka yesterday evening was excessive,
around 225 ml, I guess, I have not been measuring. Also I had only been
awake for about 6.5 hours when I started drinking the vodka. I had
better put myself on guard against drinking vodka before having been awake
long enough, and against drinking excess amounts. I find such can
be tiring. It is too easy to get used to imbibing excess vodka. Mix vodka
with the right fruit juice, alot of vodka can go down the pipe and you
dont even feel it. With vodka, alot of alcohol can get into the body very
quickly compared to the case with beer or wine. One can get addicted to
vodka more easily and quickly than is the case with beer or wine.
General Notes
Re police persecuting males over trivial 'offenses' related
to heterosocial behavior, seems to me such is an example of tunnel vision,
getting lost in details, seeing the trees but not the forest.
Aside from the details re the trivial 'offenses' involving something a
male said or wrote, the people in our society are too
shy. Shyness leads to unhappiness. Shyness can lead
to: drug offenses, alcohol offenses, alcohol-related car
accidents, the use of prostitutes, venereal diseases contracted from the
use of prostitutes, sexual assaults, homosexuality, sodomy--police oppose
most or all of these things. Shyness can lead to sexual perversion,
voyeurism, shallow lusts. Shyness can impair performance in
various fields; lots of impaired individuals adds up to an impaired
society. Scripture says, 'open rebuke is better than
hidden
love'. |
Adidas Powerline crosstrainer shoes
Prince Integra titanium tennis racket
one of triplet of 'Penn 4' tennis balls bought Sept
11 at Walgreens
|