Self-Assessment Tools

Five weighted dimensions, each normalized to 0–100, then weighted-summed:

• Sleep (25%) — combines hours and quality
• Recovery (25%) — hydration, fueling, soreness, joints
• Mental (20%) — stress, motivation
• Training load (15%) — past 48h
• Personal baseline (15%) — long-term health/momentum (you set this once)

Why "play with caution" exists. A score in the 40–60 range doesn't mean you sit out — it means you adjust: shorter stints, lower minutes, more frequent sub patterns, hydration focus, and active recovery between sessions. The output suggests the specific adjustment based on which dimension is low.

What's NOT in the score. Recent game performance, opponent strength, season goals. Those are strategic, not physiological. A 90 readiness score in a "tank for the playoffs" scenario is still a coaching decision.

Should I check this every day or just game days? Game days minimum, ideally every day to track trends. If your readiness drops 3 days in a row, that's a signal to deload.

I scored 45 but feel fine. Is the tool wrong? Possible. Subjective wellness scores correlate ~0.6 with objective HRV. They're useful for trends, not single-day calls.

How honest should I be? Brutally. Inflated scores feel good in the moment but defeat the purpose. The number is for you, not your coach.

Free throw performance under pressure drops 8–12 percentage points on average for high-school and amateur players. The mechanism is largely autonomic: adrenaline spikes, motor control narrows, attentional focus shifts to outcome instead of process. The fix is exposure-based — practice under simulated pressure until the response is automated.

Why graded exposure. You wouldn't dunk on a 12-foot rim in your first session. Pressure training follows the same principle: scenario 1 is a calm baseline, scenario 6 is buzzer-beater. Each week, replace the lowest scenario with the next one up. Most players can absorb a new level every 1–2 weeks.

Why a pre-shot protocol. Once the whistle blows, the situation is set. The 2–3 minutes before the whistle are where pressure mitigation happens. A pre-shot protocol gives your nervous system a target: breathe, reset cue word, visualize. Without one, those minutes are open-loop anxiety.

What's NOT in the protocol. Game-day visualization of the entire game, pre-game speeches, locker-room routines. Those are separate and more variable.

Should I practice the highest scenario right away? No. Start at your comfort level + 1, not at buzzer-beater. The graded exposure ladder assumes you start where you're successful and progress upward.

How many reps per scenario per week? 10–15 is plenty. Quality of mental engagement matters more than volume. Doing 5 reps where you're truly under pressure is more useful than 50 calm reps.

Does crowd noise simulation help? Modestly. The bigger contributor to pressure is internal — the consequences of the shot. Crowd noise is a useful distractor but not the main training target.

Equipment you need. A phone with video + a free protractor app (or a printout of a protractor overlay). Most free protractor apps let you place the device over a still image.

Frame to use. For jump shots, use the frame at the release point (when the ball leaves the fingertips). For free throws, the same. For layups, the gather frame or the release frame, depending on what you want to analyze.

Release angle. The line from your wrist through the ball at release, measured against horizontal. Use the protractor app's "angle between two lines" function. Take 3 shots and average.

Elbow angle. Place one arm of the protractor along your upper arm (shoulder to elbow), the other along your forearm (elbow to wrist). The interior angle is your elbow angle.

Knee bend. Same technique on the hip-knee-ankle triangle. The interior angle is your knee bend. Use the frame at the bottom of the dip, not the gather.

Shoulder alignment. Stand in front of the basket, video from behind. The angle between your shoulder line and the basket line. If both shoulders are square, the angle is 0.

Common errors in self-measurement.

• Using a 2D still instead of the actual frame at release (use video scrubbing)
• Measuring from a wide-angle lens that distorts angles (use 1× zoom or film from 5+ meters)
• Averaging good and bad reps — separate "good shots" vs "missed shots" data

My release angle is 60°. Is that bad? It's high. The optimal is 48–55° for a standard jump shot. A higher release is fine for shorter players (compensates for lack of height), and a slightly lower release works if you have good arc feel. The tool will flag and explain.

What if my elbow is 150°? That's a chicken-wing or flared elbow. Causes tend to be shoulder mobility or habit. Coaching cue: "elbow under the ball".

I have 30° of shoulder rotation. Why does that matter? Shoulder rotation away from the basket reduces power transfer. It's typically a sign of off-balance shooting. Drop the rotation first; everything else is downstream.

The matchup difficulty score is the difference between opponent offensive ability and your defensive ability, weighted by how much the dimension matters for the position.

Opponent offensive ability = 0.30 × size advantage + 0.30 × skill + 0.25 × athleticism + 0.15 × experience. Each input is normalized to 0–100 based on a 1–10 slider.

Matchup difficulty = opponent ability − your defense ability, with size advantage getting more weight when the position is post-oriented (forwards, bigs) and skill/athleticism getting more weight for perimeter positions.

What the difficulty score means.

• 0–30: advantage or even — stick to your principles
• 30–50: moderate — bring help, switch selectively
• 50–70: significant — shade, bring late help, pick spots to dig
• 70+: major mismatch — triangle-and-2, junk defense, or hide

Fouls to give. Adjusts the recommendation: 0–1 fouls means conservative approach (no reaching); 4+ fouls means you can be more aggressive.

Why isn't this a stat-based model? Because at the amateur level, the stats are too noisy. A subjective 1–10 assessment by a coach who has watched the player is more accurate than box-score-derived metrics at lower levels. At the pro level, this would be replaced by an on/off model.

Should I always play the toughest matchup? Not always. Matchup assignments consider team defense, foul trouble, and game plan. The score helps prioritize, but the assignment is a coaching decision.

What if I'm a 6'2" guard vs a 6'8" wing? That's a size disadvantage. The tool captures it in the size slider. Most effective response: shade ball-side, use help, and avoid switches where possible.