Background: The integration of advanced technology into athletic training regimens represents a frontier in sports science. Virtual reality (VR), offering immersive, controlled, and reproducible environments, presents a paradigm shift for cognitive and skill-based athletic training. While its potential is widely acknowledged, rigorous empirical evidence quantifying its efficacy in enhancing specific, measurable basketball skills against traditional methods remains limited and often inconclusive, necessitating further controlled investigation.

Objective: This study aimed to quantitatively evaluate the impact of a structured, supplemental VR basketball training module on the shooting accuracy and defensive reaction time of amateur basketball players, comparing its efficacy to a regimen of traditional practice alone.

Methods: A randomized controlled trial was conducted with a cohort of 40 amateur athletes. Participants were assigned to either an experimental group (EG, n=20) that underwent a standardized 6-week VR training regimen using the STRIVR platform alongside their normal practice, or a control group (CG, n=20) that continued with standard, on-court practice only. Pre- and post-intervention assessments objectively measured free-throw percentage (FT%), three-point shooting percentage (3P%), and reaction time in a lateral defensive slide drill using infrared timing gates.

Findings: A mixed-design analysis of variance (ANOVA) revealed a statistically significant interaction between group and time for all primary outcome measures. The EG demonstrated significantly greater improvement in FT% (EG: +18.2%, CG: +5.1%, p < 0.001), 3P% (EG: +15.7%, CG: +4.3%, p < 0.001), and a greater reduction in defensive reaction time (EG: -0.21s, CG: -0.07s, p = 0.02) compared to the CG.