Kansas High School Basketball Coach Hypnotized Team

A high school board in Kansas voted last month to ban hypnotism sessions after their Class 1A boys basketball coach employed the therapy to increase focus and concentration among members of his team.

St. John High School basketball coach Clint Kinnamon had sought the free help of Carl Feril, a Church of Christ minster who is also a clinical family and marriage therapist.

"It won't be going on anymore at school," said Superintendent James, who requested a transcript of the sessions. "If parents want their child to do that, they can contact the licensed therapist on their own."

St. John, a town with a population of 1,200 about 90 miles northwest of Wichita, is traditionally a basketball powerhouse in Kansas. The boys team had won the state basketball championship in 2007 and they finished second last year.

After struggling this season to a record of 7-6, Kinnamon had his players undergo two 45-minute sessions with hope that hypnotherapy would boost his squad's confidence.

"Had I known this would have turned into what it did, I would have re-thought doing it," said Kinnamon after he revealed his players attended the sessions with the notion of envisioning themselves in a game.

"There's the perfect release of the basketball as it leaves your fingertips," said Kinnamon. "It's the perfect shot. It's a shot you've made a million times in your driveway. You hear it swish."

Nevertheless, Superintendent Kenworthy was adamant that hypnotizing students was a practice that was unacceptable and one that Kinnamon would cease to utilize immediately.

"At the high school level, it's not appropriate," said Kenworthy. "The district believes that's not the kind of practice we want to encourage or endorse."

Personally, I think hypnotherapy could prove beneficial in athletics and I can't understand why Coach Kinnamon's experiment created such an uproar in the "Sunflower State."

In the classic movie Office Space, hypnotherapy infinitely enhanced the life of lead character Peter Gibbons.

In the films outset, Gibbons was a miserable sap who bowed to his boss from hell, Bill Lumbergh, and allowed his strumpet of a girlfriend, Anne, to whore around town with nary a repercussion for her cheating.

After attending one occupational hynotherapy session, Gibbons dumped Anne and began to dismiss Lumbergh like the pushover he was.

Moreso, Peter was able to muster the courage to ask out Jennifer Anniston's character, Joanna, and in due time he was giving "her a ride on the ol' bone roller coaster! AAAAAAAAH! Hah!"

Hypnotherapy helped Peter and I am confident the practice would have aided the St. John High School boys basketball team.

"Oh! Oh! Oh! You know what I'm talking about...Oh!"