Training physical education students to self-regulate during basketball free throw practice

The additive effects of self-regulation training in forethought, performance, and self-reflection phase processes on acquiring a novel motoric skill (i.e., basketball free throws) and self-reflective beliefs were studied with 50 college students. The results showed a positive linear trend between the number of self-regulatory phases, in which the participants were trained, and their free throw shooting performance and shooting adaptation. The two- and three-phase training groups displayed significantly more accurate free throws and were able to self-correct their shooting form more frequently following missed shots than all other groups. Participants who received three-phase training displayed the most adaptive motivational profile, characterized by making strategic attributions and adaptive inferences and by using self/process criteria during self-evaluations.