Basketball is a game of skill and focus, requiring mental alertness and precision eyesight. When fatigue sets in, these attributes become distorted, causing problems with your ability to shoot the ball and determine distance. Fatigue has many effects on mental alertness and eyesight, leaving you off game without any advanced warning.
Eyesight
When your body experiences fatigue, your eyes are one of the first organs to become affected. Focusing on an object far away becomes more difficult as well as judging the distance between you and the object. In basketball, players must be able to focus on the goal, which looms 10 feet in the air. When lining up your shot, fatigue will cause you to incorrectly judge the distance between yourself and the goal, increasing your risk of missing the basket and backboard entirely. Focusing on the goal is difficult, as your eyes cannot adjust on it, causing it to become blurred and unrecognizable.
Mental Alertness
Basketball also requires quick reflexes and the ability to problem solve efficiently. Fatigue clouds these advantages rendering decision-making processes to lag. When you are tired, you are not as fast as you normally are when well rested, leaving you with ball in hand and delayed shot time. In the mere seconds your body hesitates, the other team has the ball and is going for their goal. By the time you realize that you hesitated and allowed them to steal the ball, it is too late.
Muscular Reaction
When shooting a basketball, curve is important. Curve is what allows the basketball to defy gravity for a few seconds and hurdle towards the basketball net. Your muscles are responsible for this, as the movement of your wrist determines curve. Muscles become fatigued when lack of sleep or overexertion take over, causing you to throw from the wrist later than you would if making the perfect shot. This delay can cause your ball to rebound or fall short of the basketball goal's rim.
Considerations
Not only is your shot accuracy affected by fatigue, but your safety as well. You increase your risk of tripping, sliding and being hit by a flying basketball due to decreased reflexes. Always get a good night's sleep of at least eight hours before practice or game. This not only refreshes your body but also your mind, keeping it sharp and alert. Some athletes train harder than they rest, leading to a decline in performance.
