Center of Mass: Basketball Techniques

This past weekend was the girls Iolani Classic. Teams from both coasts came to play, including the 1st, 2nd, and 4th nationally ranked teams in the nation. In the mechanics of playing basketball, the physics concept of the center of mass is used. While playing either on offense or defense, your center of mass is important. The center of mass (also the center of gravity) is our average location of your mass. At this point, it represents the mass of the entire object. Your center of mass can change and it does not have to be within the object. Playing on offense you want to stay lower than your defender so that you center of mass is lower, which results in quickness and speed. On the other hand, if you are on defense, you want to have a lower center of mass so that you can react faster to your opponent. The concept of center of mass is also very important in shooting the basketball. The proper mechanics in shooting includes feet pointing to the basket, shoulders square, and jump straight up, these all provide for a balanced body. If you follow these mechanics your shot should be good because your center of mass should be in the middle of you body (belly button area). As you can see in this picture, the player (school: Westlake) is trying to shoot the ball but her body is bent in like a "C". This is improper shooting technique. Her center of mass is outside of her body behind her torso becasue her arms and legs are behind her body. This creates a difficult shot becasue her body is unbalanced due to her change in center of mass.