Quintet Tries Psychological Booster

Psychology may aid the Crimson basketball team in its post-exam period games if an experiment developed by forward Bob Bramhall is successful.

Bramhall, a senior concentrating in Social Relations, has obtained permission from Coach Norm Shepard and the Athletic Association to have motion pictures take during the first half of tomorrow's Army game. The pictures, which will be taken from the balcony, will show only Crimson players shooting at the Army basket.

After the game, the film will be edited until the only scenes left will show successful Harvard shots. "The camera-man has been instructed to follow the ball in its path through the air," says Bramhall. "It is very important that the ball be shown going into the basket."

The resulting movie will be viewed by the team before each game in the Blockhouse projection room. The purpose of the film is to "help Harvard basketball by inducing the state in which baskets can be made."

In other works, Bramhall hopes that the players, seeing themselves making baskets in the pictures, will take the floor with a feeling that they can make them in the game itself. They will play convinced that they can score, and consequently will be more relaxed. Bramhall, along with many coaches, believes that the more relaxed a man is, the better he shoots.

The efficiency of the experiment will be determined by examination of shot charts which are compiled by mangers after each game. If the players show a decided improvement in their accuracy after they have viewed the movies, Bramhall hopes to continue the experiment next year on a larger--perhaps Ivy League--scale.

No Cure-All

Not all players could benefit from the movies, Bramhall believes. Only those who are good natural shorts but who tighten up in the games have a chance to be helped.

Bramhall first started working on his plan when he noticed that if, in a short practice before the game, he made a large percentage of his shorts, he scored well in the actual game. Talks with other players convinced him this was a common experience.

However, if he were "off" in practice, he also had trouble getting the ball through the hoop in competition. He became convinced that his poor shooting in the game was due to a mental feeling that he was just doing to have a poor game.

Eliminates Risk

The movie will take the risk out of pre-game preparation, he believes. The players will not have a poor practice session to worry them, but will go into the game just having sen themselves scoring. Furthermore, the pictures will show them in actual game conditions, something which practice cannot do.

A Cambridge camera firm will do the picture-making. The cost of the first shooting, about $30, will be borne by a group of Bramhall's Dunster House friends. If not enough shots are made in the first half of the Army game, more pictures will be taken later in the season.