A Basketball Photo Essay

Garfield High School Boys Basketball Team, Seattle in the 2011 Washington Class 4A Tournament, Tacoma Dome, Tacoma, Washington...a basketball photo essay.

Glenn Brooks (1), Garfield H.S., Washington Class 4A Tournament, Tacoma Dome, Tacoma, Washington

Garfield H.S., Seattle played Puyallup H.S. , Puyallup, Gonzaga Prep, Spokane and Curtis H.S., University Place, in the Washington Class 4A Tournament, at the Tacoma Dome, Tacoma, Washington, March, 2011. I’ve woven together thoughts and images of the competitive experience.

Daeshon Hall, Garfield H.S., Washington Class 4A Tournament, Tacoma Dome, Tacoma, Washington

Basketball is a competitive sport that combines so many elements of mental and physical ability, weaving speed with abrupt changes in movement, precision and sometimes solitude on the free throw line. It embraces elements of strategy, as the game clock may determine forcing the pace of the game. The leading team may elect to slow the pace down, playing keep away. The losing team may commit deliberate fouls, forcing the leading team to make foul shots, trading for clock time and shot opportunity.

Glenn Brooks (1), Garfield H.S., Chris Sarbaugh (24), Parker Kelly (10), Gonzaga Prep, Washington Class 4A Tournament, Tacoma Dome, Tacoma, Washington

Does the guard bringing the ball down the court elect to take the jump shot at a distance, pass off the ball to another player closer in to the basket, or perhaps to a wing man in the corner? Or does he drive down the key, finding a route inside without committing a charging foul, and make a layup or even dunk the ball?

Tony Wroten (2), Garfield H.S., Washington Class 4A Tournament, Tacoma Dome, Tacoma, Washington

These are all decisions basketball players need to make and they often make these decisions very quickly, in an instant, as matters change very fast on the basketball court. They are not pulling up an Excel spreadsheet on their cell phones and calculating the odds, or mulling it over, sleeping on it overnight. The brain does this type of calculation very well and quickly.

Garfield Player and Parker Kelly (10) (Gonzaga Prep)., Washington Class 4A Tournament, Tacoma Dome, Tacoma, Washington

Competition sets up a sense of flow, a flow to a goal, victory in the game, or perhaps beyond when a season title or a championship are involved. This sense of flow, being “in the game” may mean that shots flow more accurately, hitting only mesh, that the rebounding opportunities are there for the taking and that free throws are made, early and often. At other times, it seems, that teams can’t buy a shot.

Tucker Haymond (23), Garfield H.S. and Parker Kelly (10) (Gonzaga Prep)., Washington Class 4A Tournament, Tacoma Dome, Tacoma, Washington

It is a game of drama and intensity. Of emotion carefully crafted to play with intensity yet avoid excessive fouling which would give the player a ticket out of the game. Sometimes things flare out of proportion. It is the essence of sportsmanship to keep them from doing so as it could hurt the team.

Garfield Players and Coach, Timeout, Washington Class 4A Tournament, Tacoma Dome, Tacoma, Washington

However, there is no doubt that emotion can be used as a tool to fuel the players’ motivation to win the game. This is one function of a coaches timeout....to retool strategy and reignite emotion.

Tony Wroten (2) Shoting Free Throw, Will Dorsey (3) Behind, Garfield H.S., Washington Class 4A Tournament, Tacoma Dome, Tacoma, Washington

It is at the foul line where the pace momentarily slows. The player fouled stands on the line without contention, object of attention, studying and then shooting the free throw. Is the object to make the free throw? Most of the time it is. However a missed free throw on the second shot could lead to a rebound, a successful basket and a three point play.

In the end, one team has to lose. It may be because the winner has a stronger team, it may be because the losing team had an off night, or peaked too soon. Whatever the reason, the game was played, the decision rendered.

Tony Wroten (2), Garfield H.S., Washington Class 4A Tournament, Tacoma Dome, Tacoma, Washington

Rebounding is an asset in a basketball game, and so it is also an asset in being able to come back from a tough loss and win the next game. This is true resilience. It helps the athlete not only in the game they just won, but in fostering resilience down the road in games against other opponents, whether in High School or beyond, playing under the lights.

Tony Wroten (2), Garfield H.S. Guard, will be attending the University of Washington where he will playing Washington Husky Basketball.

The Garfield Bulldogs won their quarterfinal game against the Puyallup Vikings 90-80. The Garfield Bulldogs lost their Semifinal game to Gonzaga Prep Bullpups 53-66, who went on to beat Curtis H.S Vikings, University Place in the Washington Class 4A Tournament Finals 61-41.

The Garfield Bulldogs came back to win against the A.C. Davis Pirates, Yakima, Washington 75-68 to capture third place in the Washington Class 4A Tournament. Garfield H.S., coached by Coach Ed Haskins and his staff has an outstanding basketball tradition and can look forward to many great seasons.

Discovery - The Will to Explore and Space Shuttle Discovery

The Moon

We look up into the night sky, especially in some spot far away from city lights, and see the moon and stars. The ancients found faces in the moon and named loose collections of stars for things they could identify with, and used them as symbolic tokens and for navigation. Thus we have constellations named “Capricorn” and “Virgo” and archers and bears gracing the night sky. For many the stars assemble themselves in easily fed advice, stating things such as “feed your mind today“ or “today is a good time to chill out”. For others, the moon and stars represent a dream of future exploration, an accumulation of human knowledge, and mapping out human destiny.

There are some that look at the cost of space exploration and turn aside, thinking it too expensive, not worthy of pursuit. To these individuals, all they see is the need that currently exists on earth, and thus the opportunity cost of space exploration is expressed in terms of what could otherwise be done with the money spent on space exploration. Understanding their concern is easy, considering the extent of earth’s problems, however such individuals don’t appreciate the considerable societal benefits that space exploration confers.

Many technological advances that have occurred in the framework of the space program went on to fuel major technological achievements in the public and private sectors These advances have brought forth new industries, and have fueled overall job creation via the multiplier effect in the general economy, generating a significant economic gain and better standard of living.

NASA’s Space Shuttle Discovery is currently flying on it’s last mission. Discovery has completed more than 30 successful missions since its first flight on August 30, 1984. It has performed both assembly missions for the International Space Station (ISS) and research missions.

Discovery takes its name from a long line of historical vessels that have ventured forth to explore and discover, including Henry Hudson’s Discovery, used to explore Hudson Bay in 1610-11 in an attempt to find the Northwest Passage. The Space Shuttle Discovery has been emblematic of the quest to explore and discover new territories and new meanings. NASA Television can be viewed to get an idea of activity on the Space Shuttle.

Discovery - Colonel (Dr.) John Paul Stapp

Colonel (Dr.) John Paul Stapp

1950's -- Colonel (Dr.) John Paul Stapp at The New Mexico Museum of Space History. He was a frequent and most welcomed visitor to the Center. Stapp was not only the "fastest human on earth;" he was the quickest to stop. In 1954, America's original Rocketman attained a then-world record land speed of 632 mph, going from a standstill to a speed faster than a .45 bullet in five seconds on an especially-designed rocket sled, and then screeched to a dead stop in 1.4 seconds, sustaining more than 40g's of thrust, all in the interest of safety. Image and Caption Source: U.S. Air Force www.af.mil

Colonel John Paul Stapp’s work (discussed in the last post) is yet another example of discovery which can both mitigate a risk and intuit a reward (Discovery - Part 4 post). His work with rocket sleds was able to determine human physiological limits in sustaining g-forces. This work, conducted at Edwards Air Force Base and later at Holloman Air Force Base used a rocket sled that accelerated to great speeds and was then decelerated using a water brake. While testing on the rocket sled, Colonel Stapp underwent g-forces of greater than 40 g’s.

Source: Wikipedia artice on Colonel Stapp (via U.S. Air Force www.af.mil)

Colonel Stapp’s work subjected him to a multitude of stresses and injuries as a test subject, including retinal damage, fractures and broken limbs and ribs.

Colonel Stapp’s work was instrumental in facilitating use of high speed aircraft and ventures into outer space. It was used to determine that pilots could operate aircraft under high performance conditions and eject at high speeds and survive. Thus this work was ground-breaking in forging the path of future discoveries, both directly, and indirectly as space and aeronautical efforts have fed technological advances in many areas.

Colonel Stapp’s work in deceleration was instrumental in mitigating risk on terra firma, bringing about seat belts which we (we hope) use every day in our motor vehicle trips. The Air Force suffered losses from auto accidents. Colonel Stapp was able to use his work on deceleration to argue for safety restraints for the motor vehicles. His work in this area was done at Holloman Air Force Base, using crash test dummies. This application was an exercise in creativity, taking one application and using it in another area to additional benefit.

Colonel Stapp’s research in auto safety was continued in the context of the Stapp Car Crash Conference which provided a broader context in which to support continued research into auto safety.

Colonel Stapp’s work in the military carries on to this day with Flight Surgeons who are always seeking to use their expertise to extend the boundaries of knowledge and performance for our nation’s pilots as they fly more and more powerful, higher performance aircraft and play deeper forays into Outer Space.

Colonel Stapp and I share a common ancestor going way back to around 1700, which is one element adding to my interest in his work. Genealogy is another interesting topic which I hope to include as a blog topic sometime down the road.

Discovery - Part 5

USAF Thunderbirds F-16, McChord Air Force Base, Tacoma, Washington

Discovery within the mental sphere results from consolidating information, arriving at creative solutions for complex problems. Once a discovery is made, an idea formulated, it may be engineered and put to the test. Discoveries in the complex realm of ideas require well engineered solutions, exquisite execution in construction prototypes and rigorous testing. The experimental phase allows for testing of the construct developed in the conceptual phase and seeking to affirm the success of the initial discovery in the end result.

Thus prototypes allow for ensuring that all aspects of the discovery, the idea, are explored in a range of scenarios in a well conceived test pattern to shake out all the bugs before going into mass production.

This testing process is necessary not only for the physical device being engineered but also for the human beings that will be using them. Human engineering may reflect the psychological bonding with the new technology or physiological constraints and reactions.

Today we seek to defy gravity in powerful machines such as the USAF Thunderbirds Jet (F-16) shown above. The F-16 is in the middle of a maneuver in which the jet becomes inverted. The tensile strength of the jet’s materials must satisfy certain requirements to allow it to perform high-performance maneuvers. On the human side, pilots are subject to considerable g-forces in doing their maneuvers that involve important physiological issues. Colonel John Stapp was a career United States Air Force officer and flight surgeon who did ground breaking work as a researcher and test subject in determining the impact of acceleration and deceleration on the human body, subjecting his body to record-breaking g-forces.

My next blog posting will discuss Colonel Stapp’s work..

Discovery - Part 4

Apples and Apple Tree in the Garden with Bird Houses

In previous postings I discussed discussed discovery, discussing Lewis and Clark’s arduous journey to the Pacific Coast, and seafaring explorers who encountered great hardships and made great discoveries. I discussed how discovery is often shared, representing the entirety of the experience, not just the beginning, end or one individual. I discussed how the small things in life can be discoveries too, so that scale is not necessary to define a discovery. Moreover, I’ll reiterate that many small discoveries together can make as big an impact just as one big one.

Discoveries encompass the mental as well as the physical sphere.

Three Spokane, Washington city convention workers walking down the street discover a knapsack placed on a bench. There is a parade honoring Martin Luther King, Jr shortly. Their situational awareness leads them to recognize that wires sticking out of a backpack has the signature of a potential bomb. They report this discovery to authorities and a potential terrorist act is stopped. This MSNBC video describes the incident. This discovery brings a number of facets of understanding together to recognize one risk.

Discovery dots the stream of time with significant milestones in fields of science as we learn more about everything from the cellular level to the far reaches of outer space, with disciplines ranging from molecular biology to astrophysics.

Sir Isaac Newton’s discovery of gravity is case of consolidating information from disparate sources. From Stukeley’s Memoirs of Sir Isaac Newton's Life (Wikipedia article) comes the following excerpt:

“....the notion of gravitation came into his mind. It was occasioned by the fall of an apple, as he sat in contemplative mood. Why should that apple always descend perpendicularly to the ground, thought he to himself.”

This is the creative process at work, associating a tree, an apple, and the apple’s actions (falling to the ground) in an inquisitive, thought-directed process that results in a discovery. It is the essence of consolidating disparate information and coming up with that “ah-ha moment”.

Thus discovery can involve using the mind to uncover a risk or to intuit a reward, a breakthrough in knowledge that opens new frontiers or rescues others.