INTRODUCTION:

The lay-up is a one of a few shooting skills that is involved within basketball. Among the jump shot, the lay up has been seen as one of the easier shots to complete with a lower risk of fouling occurring. This shooting skill is designed for players that are already in a running motion to drive towards the basket and shot off the backboard. The lay-up itself is a two-step push-like movement, requiring the player to leap towards the basket via pushing of the ground from the initial running movement (Blazevich, 2010, p. 196) in order to take at shot, this skill enables players to be able to complete a easy shot with out the need to come to a complete stop. Overall this skill combines many biomechanic principles to successfully complete the run up phase, ball handing phase, the soft shot into the basket and successfully landing without injury. The ability to perform a lay-up reflects on a players or students perceptual-motor landscape, as they are to coordinate t heir actions in relation to the environment around them. In order to achieve the sequence of events needed to preform the skill they must retain movement patterns from a pervious experiences and transfer pervious skills learnt, such as catching, running, jumping and grabbling in order to achieve the acquisition of this new skill. (Davids, Button, & Bennett, 2008, pp. 94-95)

This blog will explain via each skill cue required in a basketball layup, the biomechanics involved to effective execute the skill at hand.

The Basketball Lay-up

THE ANSWER:
Preparation Phase: Footwork
Skill Cue One:
For a lay up to be completed correctly, the players footwork during the initial run up must adhere to the rule outlines of the skill, which entitles the player to be able to take two steps holding the ball before they release it. The ‘One, Two, Up’ Approach. Generally before a player begins the ‘One, Two, Up’ approach they often provide the run up with a slight curve, or the ‘J-Approach’. This approach aids in transforming horizontal momentum into a vertical momentum (Pettitt & Bryson, 2002, p. 22) Depending on what hand/arm will be used for shooting, the opposite foot will be used as the launch foot that will entail the jump itself, other wise known as a one-legged vertical jump. For example, it the player is to shot with their right hand, they will use their left foot as their launch foot. The player should then have the same leg as their shooting arm following upwards much like they were joined together by a piece of string, Overall influencing the balance of the player, the height of the jump itself, and the trajectory of the ball after release. If the player is able to jump high and quickly it will eliminate the time for the opposing team to defend the shot

'One, Two, Up Approach'

Biomechanics within the Preparation Phase.

·     Newton’s Law

     Kinetic Chain: Push-like movement pattern

·      One-legged vertical jump.

·      J-approach

·      Lengthening Strides.

      Contact Phase: Ball Handing

Skill Cue Two:
During the original run up motion within skill cue one, the position of the ball during a layup overall influences the resulting shot. As a layup is a skill that is preformed whilst the player is in motion, before the player is to start the ‘one, two, up’ approach, the final gribble during the ‘J-approach’ should be one that is hard and aggressive, so it is to come directly back to the player quickly and effectively. During the ‘one, two, up’ the hand used during the initial gribble should bring the ball up as the offhand comes in to meet it, ensuring that the ball does not pass the midline, protecting it from the defense.
Biomechanics with the Contact Phase:

·      Newton’s Third Law: Every Force has an equal and opposite reaction force.

·     -  Ball mass/dimensions

Release Phase: Overarm Shot.

Skill Cue Three:
One of the final steps for a layup is the overall shot, the inside hand will release the ball in order to form protection against the defense, while the shooting arm intends up towards the basket.  The underhand shot requires the shooting hand to turn underneath the ball, fully extending the arm. The ball should be released at the highest point of the jump, releasing it gently so that the tips of the fingers only slightly push the ball off towards backboard. It is important that during the release the ball, depending which side the lay up will be done on, the player is the aim for the top closes corner on the backboards black square, eyes are to be fixed on the corners of the backboard thus overall increasing the probability of the ball going into the basket. This form of lay-up shot will decrease the opponent’s opportunity to smack the ball out of the player’s hand whilst shooting. The gentle nature of the release, and the correct aim should result in a perfect shot every time.

Biomechanics with the Release Phase:

·      Projectile Motions – speed, angle and height.

·      Ball mass/dimension

Follow Through Phase: Landing

Skill Cue Four:

After the ball as left the hand, the player should land directly back on the original launch foot, followed by the other leg in a form of running motion to continue the movement and create a softer landing thus deceasing the chance of an injuring occurring.

 Biomechanics of the follow through phase:

·      Landing Motion

·      Law of Gravity

Biomechanics within the skill cues:
Sub Questions:
Q1: Does the angle of the run-up effect the overall lay-up skill?
Q2: What are the biomechanics aspects of the lay-up shot that will increase accuracy?

Newton’s Laws: 

Newton’s First Law: ‘An object will remain at rest of continue to move with constant velocity as long as the net force equals zero’ (Blazevich, 2010, p. 44)
During the initial stage of the
Newton’s Second Law: ‘The acceleration of an object is proportional to the net force acting on it and inversely proportional to the mass of the object’. (Blazevich, 2010, p. 45)
Newton’s Third Law: ‘For every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction.’ (Blazevich, 2010, p. 45)
Law of Gravity: All bodies are attracted to each other with a force proportional to the product of the two mass and inversely proportional to the square distance between them (Blazevich, 2010, p. 46)

As the basketball lay-up is a running continuous motion, several forces are needed in order to provide the appropriate leaps and jumps needed within the layup. Depending on the mass of the player, the inertia is able to be changed or moved from rest to motion by the original run up needed before the ‘one, two, up approach’, putting in motion Newton’s First Law that all things in motion want to stay in motion until acted on by an external force. As the player and their inertia is in a forward running motion, as previously stated, the mass of a player will determine the acceleration and speed of the run up, the lighter the player, the less force acting on them, resulting in the player to accelerate at a faster speed before the ‘one, two, up approach’  (Newton’s Second Law, Law of Gravity). Once the player begins their ‘one, two, up, approach’ the force created within the pervious run up will provide the jump with enough force to lift off the ground towards the basket. As the player jumps, the earth itself exerts an equal and opposite force from the original run up, which thus projects the player off the ground in a vertical motion (Newton’s Third Law). Newton’s Third Law is also evident within the aggressive dribble needed within the run-up before the ‘one, two, up approach’. The nature of the dribble is to provide a fast and quick bounce to bring the ball back to the player hand as quickly as possible, thus the force created by the downward motion of the ball is equally reacted via the court floor, enabling the ball the have an opposite force reaction to bring the ball back into the players hand. (Blazevich, 2010)

Newton's Third Law: For every action there is an equal and opposite reaction

Push-like movement: Open Kinetic Chain.
During the lay-up, joints such as the knee, hip, shoulder and elbows are all extend within the open kinetic chain to provide a single movement via the summation of forces. This thus then enables the body to create an overall high level of force, enabling the body to push off the ground during the one-legged vertical jump (Blazevich, 2010, p. 197). This straight lined singular movement via the free nature of the open kinetic chain overall increases the accuracy of the skill (Blazevich, 2010, p. 197).

One-legged vertical jump.
The lay-up involves jumping vertically off one foot after the initial run up and ‘one, two, up approach’ (Pettitt & Bryson, 2002) the one-legged vertical jump is also referred to as a ballistic movement (Miura, Yamamoto, Tamaki, & Zushi, 2010, p. 201), a muscle contraction that demonstrate maximum velocities and acceleration over a short period of time. Following in Newton’s second and third laws, the reaction force from running to jump exerts a large amount of force quickly from the beginning and overall improves the motor efficiency of the player (Miura, Yamamoto, Tamaki, & Zushi, 2010, p. 202)

One-Legged Vertical Jump

Sub- Q1 ANSWER:
J-approach.
During the original run up of the lay-up, players generally adopt the ‘J-approach’ as it converts a horizontal running motion into a vertical momentum (Pettitt & Bryson, 2002, p. 22). ‘The J-approach is mechanically more effective than jumping vertically from a linear running path because the body projects towards the basket with better accuracy’ (Pettitt & Bryson, 2002, p. 22) towards the overall shot. This approach involves the use of the hip abductors for the out side leg and of the contralateral adductors of the inside leg in order to prevent any opposing forces within the slight turn to act on the body (Pettitt & Bryson, 2002, p. 22).

'J-Aprroach' 

Lengthening Strides.
At the end of the J-approach, then follows in the one, two, up approach in which player are aloud to take two steps before they shot the ball. During this stage players need to increase the length of their strides from their original run up. Lengthening the strides within the one, two, up approach not only enables the body to cover more ground but also provides better conversion from horizontal running motion towards a vertical momentum (Pettitt & Bryson, 2002, p. 22). The ability to lengthen the strides within his approach, enables a narrower flexion of the knee joints, and a greater use of the quadriceps, this quick loading of the quadriceps encourages better deployment of the stretch reflex and elastic components of the quadriceps resulting in increasing the overall height of the one-legged vertical jump (Pettitt & Bryson, 2002, p. 22).

Sub-Q2 ANSWER
Ball Mass/Dimension:
As a player’s mass is able to affect the amount of force and acceleration given within a lay-up, it goes for the basketball in question also. Depending on the age of the players, studies have shown that changes within the ball weight and size can increase and improve overall shot performance (Arias, 2012, p. 53). This idea is particularly for useful for children or smaller sized players, as they generally lack in the physical characteristics and strength that adults may have, thus they will struggle with the rules and equipment required for adult sports (Arias, 2012, p. 52)

Sub-Q2 ANSWER CONT.
Projectile Motions – speed, angle and height.
Projectile motions come into play when finishing a layup, the trajectory of the ball in influenced by the projection speed, the projection angle and the relative height of the projection (Blazevich, 2010, p. 25) The ability to perform and effective shot all thus then depends on the speed, angle and the height of the overall shot. As stated within skill cue one, the ball should be released at the highest point of the jump, without too much force being expelled. The speed of the ball should be minimal in order to effectively create the ideal projection angle of 45º off the backboard, as this angle will ensure the ball will have an equal scale of vertical and horizontal velocity (Blazevich, 2010, p. 26). Increased angles have been found to provide an advantage of a steep angle of entry into the basket (Miller & Bartlett, 1996).

Landing Motion.
The ability land correctly within a lay-up in important as incorrectly landing can cause massive strain in the muscles, hips and knee joints resulting in injury and in worst cases surgery (Bressel & Cronin, 2005, p. 31). As the law of gravity suggests what goes up must come down (Blazevich, 2010), after the intimal lay-up and shot, landing within a running motion will decrease the amount of force produced off the court floor resulting in a softer landing.

HOW ELSE CAN WE USE THIS INFORMATION:
This skill cue/biomechanics look into a simple lay-up can provide teachers and coaches with a relevant guidelines used in teaching their students or team members an effective and safe lay-up technique. From here, teachers or coaches may be able to see not only see where students are struggling but also understand what biomechanically issues may be adhering to a students overall performance, such as force production, mass, stability, and ability to find a center of gravity to name a few. Further more having students understand each biomechanical principal related to a basketball lay-up will guide their own self-learning via the ability to understanding what is wrong and how to fix it.

REFERENCES:

Arias, L. J. (2012). Influence of Ball Weight on Shot Accuracy and Efficacy Among 9-11-Year-Old Male Basketball Players. Kinesiology , 1, 52-59.

Blazevich, A. (2010). Sports Biomechanics, The Basics: Optimising Humer Performance (2nd Edition ed.). London: A&C Black.

Bressel, E., & Cronin, J. (2005). The Landing Phase of a Jump: Stragtegies to Minimize Injuries. Journal of Physical Education, Recreation and Dance , 76 (2), 30-47.

Davids, K., Button, C., & Bennett, S. (2008). Dynamics of Skill Aquisition: A Constraints Led Approach. United States: Human Kinetics.

Miller, S., & Bartlett, R. (1996). The relationship between basketball shooting kinematics, distance and playing position. . Journal of Sports Sciences , 14 (3), 243-253.

Miura, K., Yamamoto, M., Tamaki, H., & Zushi, K. (2010). Determinants of the Abilities to Jump Higher and Shorten the Contact Time in a Running 1-Legged Vertical Jump in Basketball. Journal of Strength and Conditioning Research , 24 (1), 201-206.

Pettitt, R. W., & Bryson, E. R. (2002). Training of Women's Basketball: A Biomechanical Emphasis for Preventing Anterior Cruciate Ligament Injury. National Strength & Conditioning Association , 24 (5), 20-29.