by Sahana Mantha
Providence Day School, Charlotte, NC
Second place
Today, every sport leverages many technologies to benefit both the athletes and the audience. Engineering has played an amazing role in the development of my favorite sport, basketball. I play basketball in the 3rd-Grade team at PDS.
basketball is called “The Shooting Gun.” I asked Coach Springer, Girls Varsity Coach at PDS about "The Shooting Gun". Coach Springer explained "It allows our players to shoot the ball, which is then caught by a large net and also fires passes to the shooter. It is a passer and rebounder for the shooter. Also, players can punch their computer code into the "Gun" which then keeps track of their makes/misses over a period. It also allows us to pre-program drills into the "Gun" for practice to be efficient in aiding our players getting up as many shots as possible." The Shooting Gun is a machine that helps basketball players improve their passing and shooting skills. It shoots as many as many as 1800 shots per hour. The shooting gun 8000 is a more improved version of the 6000. According to my Coach Springer, "this training tool is very helpful in increasing shooting accuracy".
I think that a computer engineer, a software engineer, an electrical engineer and a mechanical engineer helped design and build “The Shooting Gun”. First thing is one has to pick how many shots you want at a place on the court. You can shoot as many as 999 shots per place. Second thing is one has to choose the number of seconds between the passes. You just tap where you want on the machine's control panel, and it will pass the ball to the players’ location on the court. Single or multiple players can work with the shooting gun.
Without "The Shooting Gun" one would need at least three people to practice but it still won't give the best training for shooting accuracy. This training tool works for individual or group training. One can have the machine shoot the balls when one needs and how one wants without getting tired. It can be used continuously as and when the players practice. The details such as shots per minute and time delay between the shots are precisely programmable.
As for the design of the Shooting gun, I think a mechanical engineer first sketches out the design. The material selection is critical because it needs to hold the balls, and it should be very strong. You need a spring mechanism to shoot the balls. You also need a placeholder for the balls with the help of a large net. The machine requires power, and the decision was to use AC (plug in the wall) versus DC because AC is cheaper and available in every gym. Then the shape of the machine is discussed with expert coaches and players. We then need a microprocessor designed by an electrical and computer engineer. Then we need a software engineer to write the software. There is also a remote control using the radio frequency technology from an electrical engineer.
For improving the basketball training tool, “The Shooting Gun,” I have a few suggestions and ideas. Nanotechnology can be used to make a better “Gun” with new advanced materials. Through computer programming, we can turn it into a robot, and it can do a lot more. We can program different game like situations with many combinations of players. I would like it to have voice-activated technology for commands with speaking. I would also like the machine to have a digital camera to capture the video for playback. The "Gun" can also record and analyze statistics during training. I would like it to connect to an iPhone for live feedback. I cannot wait to start practicing with the advanced “Shooting Gun” with all integrated features.
Engineering not only improves sports but enhances our lives and our world. It fascinates me how engineering has benefitted my favorite sport, basketball. Engineering advancements make our world a better place.
References:
http://basketballstem.weebly.com/general.html
http://www.shootaway.com/
http://blog.lib.uiowa.edu/eng/how-sweet-it-is/
Discussion with PDS Girls Basketball Varsity Coach, Josh Springer