How THE SwitchedOn APP Helped Improve Decision-Making & Ball Handling Agility by 9% in 6 Weeks

SITUATION

Basketball success hinges not only on physical skills but also on the athlete's ability to quickly pick up information and make split-second decisions on the court, yet effective ways to improve these cognitive skills remains a challenge. Recent research has demonstrated the potential for cognitive-motor training (CMT) to help fill this gap by simultaneously targeting cognitive and physical abilities with high-tech hardware devices to enhance decision-making and basketball performance better than physical or cognitive training separately. However, the lack of accessible and affordable CMT tools and protocols continues to be another challenge.

CHALLENGE

Mitchell Kirsch sought out an affordable, accessible, and effective CMT tool and training protocol that he could easily implement into his 6-week Elevate Academy training camp, which consisted of 30 competitive high school and college basketball players (mean age: 17.3 years, SD: 3.1). His goal was to provide a fun and engaging experience that would help further elevate his players' physical and cognitive abilities, specifically their agility, decision-making, and ball-handling skills.

SOLUTION

Mitch decided to integrate the SwitchedOn App’s 6-week Basketball Cognitive-Motor Training (SO CMT) program into his Elevate Academy training camp. The program was designed with the help of professional basketball coaches Tuck Taylor and Mitchell Kirsh and consulted with the researchers from the previously mentioned study in order to use a similar evidence-led framework while modifying it to require only a mobile device, 4 colored cones, and a tennis ball.

BASELINE TESTING

Before commencing the SO CMT program, participants underwent a ball-handling reactive agility test. Whereas previous studies focused on measuring physical (ball handling and agility) and cognitive (decision-making and reaction time) skills separately, our test evaluated them in conjunction to get a better representation of how quickly the athlete can make decisions based on a randomized visual stimulus and execute the appropriate dribbling agility response in a dynamic game-like environment.

TRAINING PROTOCOL

Participants engaged in two to three 30-minute SO CMT sessions each week for a duration of 6 weeks. The SO CMT was performed either during the warm-up to “prime the brain and body,” which is supported by research showing cognitive challenges during warm-ups can lead to increased motor readiness and improved in-game performance, or at the end of the session as a “finisher.” The app's drills were carefully curated to simultaneously challenge important cognitive functions underlying basketball decision-making (i.e. inhibition, processing speed, divided attention, etc.) and specific basketball skills (dribbling and agility).

RESULTS

At the conclusion of the 6-week SO CMT program, the participants' performance was reassessed using the same ball-handling reactive agility test as well as questionnaires to evaluate their enjoyment and perceived performance improvements.

1. 9% Faster Response Times: Across all participants, an average improvement of 9% was observed in their ball-handling reactive agility test scores compared to their baseline performance (shown in figure 1).

2. High Enjoyment: 90% of participants responded that the program was enjoyable with 63% considering it “Very Enjoyable.” (shown in figure 2).

3. Significant Perceived Performance Improvement: 100% of participants responded that the program contributed to performance improvements with 68% of them reporting “Dramatic or Significant Improvement” (shown in figure 3). Specific reported areas of improvement include ball handling, reaction speed, awareness, hand-eye coordination, and quickness (see testimonials below).

USER TESTIMONIALS

“My quickness and handles drastically got better when I had to make quick reads. I really enjoyed it from a player standpoint. The drills were great.”

Cooper Pettigrove, High-School

“I feel a lot more aware on the basketball court now. I really like the tennis ball drills. They help a lot with hand-eye coordination. Overall, I thought it was a great program.”

Cole McClure, High-School

“The switched on app has completely transformed the way I approach basketball training when I am by myself. I am no longer mindlessly repping our moves, I am finally able to bring reaction based training to my solo workouts and safe to say the results are speaking for themselves!”

Patrick Cronin, College - Wentworth University

“This program helped improve my reaction time when it comes to in-game situations and reads.”

Neruda Perdomo, College - Utica University

“It made improving my dribbling skills more enjoyable. Each drill was better than the next and I liked how they progressed in difficulty.”

Daniel Trainor, College

“My reaction time improved and allowed me to be able to do things quicker and more efficiently.”

Jecca Maina, High-School

“The program was fun, challenging, and helped me improve. I liked that it was a completely new way of training I’ve never tried before.”

Lucas Bazdar, High-School

CONCLUSION

The results of this case study indicate that incorporating the 6-week SwitchedOn app Basketball Cognitive-Motor Training program into one's current basketball training regimen can serve as an accessible, enjoyable, and effective way to improve a multitude of physical and cognitive abilities, including agility, decision-making, and ball-handling. For basketball players looking to gain a competitive edge, the SwitchedOn app can be a valuable addition to their training arsenal.

This 6-week Basketball Cognitive-Motor Training program is now available in the SwitchedOn app! Download it for free using the buttons below.