"He was a gracious man. Everybody knew Pete.
He was good to everybody, had time for everybody
,
and has had a tremendous influence on the game
of basketball ... The game of basketball has
lost a great friend.
"
(Click on the play button for the youtube video for an explanation of the program)
Your team is 3 points down with 00:35 reading on the game clock. It is one of those 'make-or-break' scenarios you are so familiar with. Can your players deliver? All you expect them is to make the right choices and simply execute the plan.
Time-out. Your players are around you staring at the clipboard. You hear the fans roar and you know that you need your players' attention now. You want them to be focused. Their gaze tells a different story.
Have you really prepared them for that moment? Can they handle crunchtime decision making?
The Brain Gym Technology
Brain training – an emerging academic field – deals with all this, and more. It improves game intelligence significantly, leveraging all other skills to new heights.
The first brain gym applications were originally used to train fighter pilots, yielding 30% improvement in performance. Recently, the researchers implemented the concept to the game of basketball. Strangely enough, flying a jet was found to be similar to playing hoops. Quick decision making under pressure, shot selection, anticipation, execution, team work and spatial orientation are all skills in common.
Brain training applications look and feel like video games. Each player receives a CD to be installed on a standard PC. Once the program is launched the 'game' instructions are presented. The player is asked to operate his 'arsenal' in order to maximize the performance of his 'fleet'. The player uses the program 1-3 times a week, while the level of the training gradually evolves.
The training software incorporates the plays of each team on the program into the training plan. This way, the players are rehearsing their teams' patterns without even realizing that the spaceships in front of them are actually moving in the way they – or their rivals - are expected to.
By the time the player has completed his 8-10 training sessions, the result
s are clearly seen on the court. During the training period, the coaches receive detailed reports regarding the players' performance, including anticipation, attention span and general court-sense scores.
The Score Board
The first teams to try the brain training software were the University of Kentucky and University of Memphis. (Click here for a video of the use by Kentucky Men's team--Click here for The Basketball IntelliGym on ESPN as used by Memphis Men) Those who watched Darius Washington last season could see the effect. He started his brain gym training on Christmas break and the results soon followed. Compared to the games before the computer training, Darius had 38% more assists, 21% more rebounds and 5.5% less turnovers. Most importantly – he had 42% more points per game. Taking a look at the entire team during that same period tells a similar story: the Tigers have improved their shot selection dramatically. Their score increased by 10 points per game despite attempting 5 fewer shots. Soon enough, additional teams followed: Kansas, Iowa, Marquette, Nebraska, Duquesne, Florida, Georgia Tech and Long Beach State, to name a few.
Similar results were found when pro players went through a brain training program. "I'm impressed!" said Nick Collison of the Seattle SuperSonics "I added the game-int
elligence workout to my training regimen. By the time I completed the first 10 training sessions the results were unmistakable. It is easy to use, fun to play and above all – it really works!".
The science of Cognitive Engineering is conquering the last frontier of basketball conditioning: the brain. These game-intelligence training systems are for the mind what the gym is for the body.
"The mental is to the physical, as four is to one" said Bobby Knight. With this in mind, it is easy to see how brain training will soon become part of every team's training program.
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