Acquiring basketball plays through varied speeds of video demonstration: Effect of time of day.

The present study aimed to elucidate the effects of real-time versus slow-motion videos, as a function of time of day, on the acquisition of basketball plays. Fifty first-year sports science students (M age  = 18.82 y, SD = 0.49) were quasi-randomly allocated to either into 0.5 or 1.0 times normal video speed, attending morning (08:00-09:00 h) and late-afternoon (16:00-17:00 h) sessions. After measuring oral temperature (OT) and mood states (MS), participants observed a basketball system's evolution twice and completed two recall tests [game comprehension (GC) and game performance (GP) tests]. Afternoon sessions exacerbated higher OT, higher negative MS (e.g. anxiety and fatigue), and lower positive MS (i.e. vigor) compared to mornings (regardless of video speed). GC and GP were higher in the morning than in the afternoon, with real-time ( p < 0.001, both) and slow-motion videos ( p  < 0.01 and p  < 0.001, respectively). GC and GP were higher with slow-motion videos compared to real-time videos in morning and afternoon sessions ( p  < 0.01, both). The findings highlight the morning's superiority in the acquisition of motor knowledge from videos, due to mood disturbances and lower arousal levels. Additionally, the findings encourage teachers/coaches to communicate basketball plays through slow-motion videos, particularly in the morning.