~ 564 ~  ISSN Print: 2394-7500 ISSN Online: 2394-5869 Impact Factor: 5.2 IJAR 2015; 1(7): 564-566 www.allresearchjournal.com Received: 14-04-2015 Accepted: 16-05-2015 Sukhdev Singh Principal, S.G.H.S. Khalsa College, Panjokhra Sahib, Ambala Nishan Singh Deol Professor & head of the Department of Physical Education, Punjabi University, Patiala Correspondence: Sukhdev Singh Principal, S.G.H.S. Khalsa College, Panjokhra Sahib, Ambala Effect of skill practice and mental training on free throw shooting in basketball Sukhdev Singh, Nishan Singh Deol Abstract The purpose of the study was to find out the effect of skill practice and mental training on free throw shooting performance in basketball. Total thirty male students from basketball match practice group of the Lakshmibai National College of Physical Education, Gwalior were selected randomly as subjects. The age of the subjects ranged between 18 to 21 years. The subjects were divided into three experimental groups randomly, each consisting of ten subjects. Free throw shooting as per AAHPER Basketball skill test was used as the criterion measure to find out the effect of skill practice and mental training. “Analysis of Covariance” was applied as the random group design was employed in this study. Keywords: Skill, Mental training, Randomly, Group 1. Introduction Man a psycho-physical organism is made up of body and mind. Today it is an established fact that mind and body are inseparable and they have an integral unity; one cannot function without the aid of other. Man’s life is a continuous flow of activity. Every moment he is doing something and his every activity is the result of the joint effort of his mind and body. Bryant (1975) [1] stated that Skill practice refers to the repeated performance of some skill/activity with a view to its improvement. Mental training is a rehearsal of a physical task in the absence of observable movement. Learning is intimately related to the perceptual process. Perception gives meaning to events, objects or situations; whereas learning involves a series of ongoing perceptions or perceptual change brought about through repeated exposure to the same or similar objects and situations. Thus, learning may be thought of as perception with an added temporal dimention Acc. To Robert (1975) [4, 5] “Numerous experiments support the contention that learning motor skills occurs with active overt (physical) practice and specific instruction. Evidence on ideal rations of overt practice to other means of learning is conspicuous by its absence. There are many people who feel the only way to learn a motor skill is through active physical participation. The results of studies on covert (mental) practice serve to question this belief and certainly the value of lecture, films, reading material and the like cannot be denied. Robert N. Singer (1975) [4, 5] Worthy of our attention is the current interest in mental practice, which is a form of passive learning in the sense that overt practice does not take place. Mental or image practice or conceptualizations refer to task rehearsal in which there are no observable movements. Researchers have compared the effectiveness of learning tasks through actual physical practice with mental practice or a combination of physical-mental practice. Weinberg et. (1991) [6] have conducted a study to examine the importance of the temporal location of mental preparation in relation to physical practice and to investigate the effects of varying the length of the mental preparation interval on subsequent performance. Subjects were 105 male university students who performed a 3-min. timed basketball shooting task in which they attempted to make as many shots as possible from outside a 15-feet perimeter. After a baseline performance assessment, subjects were randomly assigned to a 1-min., 5- min. and 10-min mental preparation condition. Subjects were instructed that they could use any mental preparation technique of their choice. In addition, they were randomly assigned to practice mentally either prior to or after a 3-min. physical practice period before International Journal of Applied Research 2015; 1(7): 564-566