ShareForce & Motion - Play Ball!
Imagine you are outside. You feel the sunshine on your face, you smell the freshly cut grass, and you feel the wind blow through your hair. What better thing could you do than play ball! There are several choices you can make. Maybe you like the sound of the bat as it cracks the ball into the outfield like Sammy Sosa and Barry Bonds. Or you might like to see the ball as it drives down the green like Tiger Woods. Maybe you would like to be Shaquille O'Neal shooting hoops on the court. Mia Hamm is training with hopes of defeating the opposing team to win the gold medal during the Olympics. All of these athletes, and many more like them have something in common. They all participate in different specialty sports, but they must know how to control the ball. They control the ball by using the right speed, direction, force and motion while they compete.
Use different balls to determine how many of the following activities you can do:
Imagine you are up at bat. You need to help your team score a run. How are you going to hit the ball?
Let's ask a couple of experts.
Reporter: Mr. Bonds and Mr. Sosa. Your fans would like to know how you learned to hit the ball so well?
Bonds and Sosa: A lot of practice! We had to learn to hit hard and soft and know in which direction we wanted the ball to head in. The force we use when hitting has to be controlled in order to get the desired results. If we hit too soft, we have a better chance of getting out. If we lose control of the ball it could end up a foul ball, and as you know four foul balls and you're out! We want to be in control.
Reporter: What do you control?
Bonds and Sosa: Where on the bat the ball is hit, the direction we want it to go, and sometimes we try to determine the speed so that we know how best to hit the ball. If we swing too soft the ball won't have the momentum to get out of the infield. If we swing too hard the chances of missing the ball all together increases. Control really is the key.
Reporter: How do you do that?
Bonds and Sosa: A lot of practice! We have spent hours and hours batting to get the right feel of the bat and how we swing. You see, the bat has a weight that we need to adjust as we swing. The ball comes screaming in towards us at around 90 mph. When we make contact with the ball we need to be able to use more than one motion at a time. If we don't understand that we could lose control of the bat (too loose of a grip), we could hit a wild ball, or we could get hurt. We'd rather be safe than sorry.
Reporter: I never knew so much went into hitting.
Bonds and Sosa: Oh yeah! Let's have you try. We'll go easy on you at first.
You are now the reporter. You are going to try hitting different kinds of balls and see if you can use the right amount of force as you swing the bat, and try to place the ball where you want to hit it.
Activity: With a friend, take turns hitting the balls and gathering them up. Practice using various forces as you hit. Does it make a difference on how you hit, hold the bat, or follow through with your swing? Experiment with different techniques. Find what is comfortable for you.
Reporter: Wow! I never realized so much went into hitting. Let's see if other athletes have an easier time.
Reporter: Tiger Woods!
Tiger: Yes.
Reporter: You are one of the top golfers around. You seem to be under par, getting birdies, and continually advancing. What is your secret?
Tiger: Would you believe hard work, time, practice, and control?
Reporter: Control? Practice? Hard work? That's what Barry and Sammy talked about as well.
Tiger: Control really is the key.
Reporter: What do you need to control?
Tiger: My grip on my iron (golf club), the swing of my arms as I make contact with the ball, and planting my feet.
Reporter: Your feet?
Tiger: Yes, feet help keep me centered. This really helps with my balance and allows me to get a full swing with my iron (club) and increases my distance. If I am lucky enough to get a hole in one, then I don't have to worry about putting softly when I am on the green trying to sink my ball. I need to know if I need to use a lot of force or just a small amount to get the ball where I need it to go. The motion of my arms as I swing also affects the force. If I am using a chopping motion when I swing the ball could end up planted in the dirt. If I use a lax swing the ball will move, but not very far. I usually want distance so I use a full swing to hit with. My body also needs to be positioned. If I am facing the wrong direction the ball will not go where I need it to go. Since practice makes perfect, let's get you an iron, a tee, and a ball and see if you can get some distance with the force you use.
Activity:You will need a golf club, tee, and a ball. Make sure you are in an open area before swinging to prevent accidents and or injuries. Try a variety of ways to hit the ball and see which movements give you the best results.
Reporter: Boy, was that an experience! Now I will ask someone that uses a bigger ball to see if the same techniques are used.
Mia Hamm is a world class soccer athlete. She probably has an easier time making contact with a soccer ball since she only has to use her feet. I see her practicing now. Hey, Mia, could you take a few minutes to answer a few questions about the skills you use to play soccer?
Mia: Sure. What would you like to know?
Reporter: I am doing an investigative report on the techniques used by athletes to make the most of their game. You make things look so easy, but I am learning that athletes really have to work hard to be as good as they are.
Mia: Time, practice, failures, and learning to take control of the ball. All of these things factor in to our abilities to compete.
Reporter: Failures? Control?
Mia: Oh, yeah! As much as I'd like to say that I'm perfect, I really did have to endure failures in order to succeed. I have learned that how I kick the ball, where on the ball I kick it, and how much force I use while kicking really affects my game.
Reporter: Could you please explain what you mean?
Mia: You bet. Watch me kick the ball around for awhile. As I dribble the ball with my feet, I need to control the force I use or I will lose the ball to an opposing team member. I want to have control so that I can help my team mates. If I kick high on the ball I have less control than if I would if I kick low on the ball. I kick softer on the ball when I am dribbling and trying to maneuver the ball around opposing team members. My goal is to get to the other team's goal and score. I can't score if I don't have a ball. When I kick low and hard and I use a fuller leg motion to get the ball to go higher and longer. During the game I also need to pass the ball to other team members. Here I will use short, power kicks in order to prevent an interception. I like winning, so I found that it was very important to learn how much force I need to use while passing. I also need to be able to know how to direct the ball while running on the field. If I am going in one direction and I kick in another, I will be in trouble yet again. I have learned that I need to control the speed of the ball, the direction I kick it, how much force I use while kicking, and what kind of motions will get the best results.
Reporter: Wow! Talk about force and control. Thanks for taking the time to talk to us Mia. We'll let you get back to work.
Activity: Try kicking a soccer ball around the field kicking on different areas of the ball, and using different forces and observing your results.
Reporter: I'm tired of looking at the ground. Let's see if we can find a different activity where a ball is used. I see a hoop up ahead.
Is that Shaquille O'Neal? Hey Shaq? Do you have time to talk to us? We have a few questions to ask you about your game.
Shaq: Sure, I think this is a good time to break. So what do you want to ask me?
Reporter: I'm doing interviews with different athletes about how force, direction, speed, motion, and distance can affect their game? Over your career you have learned how to integrate these things to your advantage. Could you please describe to or show our inquiring minds how you have learned to control these factors?
Shaq: I'd love to. When I was a child I saw basketball hoops as unreachable. They were far above my head and all I wanted to do was be able to sink the ball in the hoop. I tried different ways of throwing the ball up in hopes of making a basket. I tried jumping, running and jumping combos, alley ooping (tossing the ball underhand), and even chest passes up to the hoop. My dream of sinking the ball was flying away from me. So I started practicing different ways of attaining my goal. I found that any failure I had made me think of a different way of solving my problem. I began experimenting by trying to throw the balls from different directions at the hoop. Then I started shooting from different distances. Now the motions I used also affected my outcome like jumping, turning, speed, and the amount of force I used while shooting. I didn't become the basketball player I am today just by watch other people play! I did learn from them, but I also worked very hard.
I learned through my successes as well as my failures what worked for me and what didn't. I found that shooting softly while under the basket requires less force than from the three point range. When I pass the ball to my teammates I need to know how much force to use as well as what direction I need to pass the ball. If I throw too soft my teammate will not get it. The ball can then be intercepted. If I throw too hard, the ball can go out of bounds, and we'll lose the ball. I need to be able to use my speed to move up and down the court as the ball switches hands between the players. Things always seem to be happening on the court and they happen fast! If a player cannot control his force (in shooting), judge the distance across the court, or to another person, and doesn't know which direction to shoot, problems will arise on the floor. I have learned through trial and error.
Does what I said make any sense to you?
Reporter: Yes thank you for taking the time to talk to us. We'll let you get back to practice.
Shaq: Thanks
Reporter: You've heard from the expert, now go outside and try these pointers for yourself.
Activity: Try shooting a basketball using force, motion, speed, direction, and distance and observe the outcome of your efforts.
