In the game of basketball, a player who is fouled often has the chance to shoot a free throw worth one point. It should be one of the easiest plays in sports. It's a direct, unguarded shot at the basket and the conditions are exactly the same every single time.

Yet for decades, elite players have only averaged between 70 and 75 percent from the foul line. For the past 20 years, Larry Silverberg, an engineer at North Carolina State University, has studied the physics of the free throw. His findings show that a successful free throw has four parameters: the speed at which you release the ball, how straight you shoot it, the angle, and the amount of backspin.

Surprisingly, Silverberg says there's very little separating the best from the average free throw shooters. Average shooters are often plenty consistent—they're just consistent at the wrong things. That's actually good news because it suggests that sharpshooters are made, not born. Making free throws has little to do with inborn talent or athleticism, and almost everything to do with hard work.

That might explain why the best free throw shooter on earth (at least in practice settings) isn't a pro basketball player, but Bob Fisher, a 62-year-old soil-conservation technician from Kansas. By his own admission, Fisher is no standout athlete. "I'm like a million guys," he says. "I played high school basketball, and I played recreationally till I was 44." A few years later, in his early 50s, he started practicing free throws every day at his local gym. Within a couple of months he was consistently sinking more than 100 shots in a row. Fisher says it’s all about preparation and practice.

Possible Preaching Angles: Spiritual Disciplines; Growth; Spiritual Growth – In the same way, growing as a Christian is not just available for the super-saints. It’s a matter of consistent engagement with and practice of spiritual disciplines.

Robbie Gonzalez, “Free Throws Should Be Easy. Why Do Basketball Players Miss?” Wired (3-28-19)