An especial skill in elite wheelchair basketball players.

We aimed to investigate whether an especial skill is present in elite wheelchair basketball players when taking twenty shots with a regular basketball from five different distances (11 ft, 13 ft, 17 ft, & 19 ft) from the basket including the free throw line (15 ft). Twelve elite male basketball players participated. The results showed that as distance increased shot accuracy decreased in line with force by variability predictions for the 11 ft, 13 ft, 17 ft, & 19 ft distances. However, shot performance at the free throw line where players are more familiar with practicing free throw shots did not follow this trend. A linear regression line was drawn to predict performance at the free throw line based on nearer (11 ft & 13 ft) and farer (17 ft & 19 ft) distances to the basket, this was then compared to actual performance. A significant difference between actual and predicted scores was found (p<.05) supporting the presence of an especial skill. Significant positive correlations were found for the 11 ft and 17 ft distance, age, years of playing, and accumulated practice hours with performance at the 15 ft line (p<.05). These correlations imply the operation of generalization in the especial skill. This observation received support from applying a model in which shot accuracy as a function of distance was approximated by two regression lines.