INTRODUCTION

Hand dominance plays an important role in how effectively people can function with their hands and arms. Free throw shooting in basketball is affected by hand dominance. A question to consider is: How does hand dominance affect the motion of the arm while shooting freethrows? According to Bonci et all (1986), hand dominance is a major factor in overarm vs. non-overarm activities. Dominant hands tend to be stronger and provide more motor control than non-dominant hands. Another point to note is that hand dominance is more prevalent in complex movements as opposed to simple movements (Watson and Kimura, 1989).

The purpose of the experiment is to determine how hand dominance affects the motion of the arm during a freethrow shot. To accomplish this goal, we analyzed the upper body motions of the subject while she shot the basketball with both her dominant and non-dominant hands.