Potsdam, NY, Feb. 15, 2019 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Does listening to music while practicing make for better jump shots among NAIA Division I College Basketball players? That’s what Clarkson Assistant Physical Therapy Professor Ali Boolani and John LaRue, ’15, ’18, Physical Therapy, along with researchers from other universities, set to find out with their recent study on the effects of positive feedback, negative feedback, and music on jump shot efficiency among the players.
“I think it’s safe to say we all enjoy listening to music while exercising,” said LaRue. “We wanted to seek out whether music had an actual influence on shooting efficiency. In addition, all athletes are constantly being coached, not only during shooting in practice, but as part of a game competition environment, We wanted to understand whether males and females would respond well to supportive/positive feedback, or whether they would actually perform better under more negative criticism.”
Ten men and ten women participated. Each participant shot from five different locations 15-feet from the basket and five locations from the three-point distance. In the end, “both male and female collegiate basketball players had a greater shooting efficiency in silence or music when compared to either positive or negative feedback,” LaRue said. “We thought this was an interesting finding, as basketball players will often never play in a competitive environment where there isn’t noise, including both positive and negative feedback.”
LaRue felt this research was more than just about basketball. “I believe in sports performance as well as rehabilitation,” LaRue said. “ We need to better understand ways in which we can influence the people we treat. Whether this is facilitated through music, positive feedback, or more ‘tough love,’ is critical for the development of that individual.”
As a private, national research university, Clarkson is a leader in technological education and sustainable economic development through teaching, scholarship, research and innovation. We ignite personal connections across academic fields and industries to create the entrepreneurial mindset, knowledge and intellectual curiosity needed to innovate world-relevant solutions and cultivate the leaders of tomorrow . With its main campus located in Potsdam, N.Y., and additional graduate program and research facilities in the New York Capital Region, Beacon, N.Y., and New York City, Clarkson educates 4,300 students across 95 rigorous programs of study in engineering, business, the arts, education, sciences and health professions. Our alumni earn salaries that are among the top 2.5% in the nation and realize accelerated career growth. One in five already leads as a CEO, senior executive or owner of a company.
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Melissa Lindell Clarkson University 315-268-6716 mlindell@clarkson.edu
