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Within-subject analysis shows that attentional focus influences shooting accuracy in basketball players with varying fatigue levels.
Objectives This study examined the moderating effect of attentional focus on basketball shooting performance under varying fatigue levels. Methods A 2 (Attentional Focus: External vs. Internal) × 3 (Fatigue Level: No Fatigue, Moderate Fatigue, Severe Fatigue) within-subject design was employed. Thirty male basketball players (mean age: 20.1 ± 0.3 years) completed 20 standardized free-throw attempts under each condition. Shooting accuracy was recorded, and repeated measures ANOVA was performed to analyze main and interaction effects. Results Significant main effects were observed for attentional focus [F (1,29) = 8.15, p = 0.008] and fatigue level [F (2,58) = 26.32, p < 0.001] along with a significant interaction effect between attentional focus and fatigue level [F (2,58) = 4.27, p = 0.018]. Shooting accuracy under external focus (75.0%) was significantly higher than under internal focus (65.0%). Under severe fatigue, external focus resulted in a 15% higher shooting accuracy than internal focus, with this advantage increasing as fatigue levels intensified. Conclusion Fatigue impairs basketball shooting performance; however, adopting an external attentional focus can mitigate its negative impact, particularly under severe fatigue conditions.
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Luo et al. (2025) studied this question.
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