Work toward true fatigue and rest.
Don’t rest with false fatigue and fail to improve.

Physical Fitness a Division of Functional Fitness

Basketball, and other branches of athletics, is justified in the
school program not alone because it aids in the development of
Physical Fitness, but because it also contributes to the total educa-
tional effort. The purposes and aims of education have been out-
lined in numerous ways, but all of them stress that it is a process
which presents experiences to the individual with the view of
perfecting his skills and extending his capacities while at the same
time he learns to adapt himself to his social environment. In other
words, the coach of basketball uses the game as a tool to teach
his players to become better and more valuable citizens. He has
failed as a coach if, in concentrating on superior performance, he
neglects the behavior phases and does not emphasize approved
conduct. Whether the idea is pleasing to him or not, every coach
is teaching “‘character’”’ as well as basketball skills. Ultimately his
work will be judged as much on how well his players behave on
and off the court as on how many games his teams win.

Physical Fitness, thus, cannot stand alone. It must be combined
with mental poise, self control, and approved social conduct. The
term used here to denote this total of developed attributes is
“Functional Fitness”. Good coaching may be claimed when one
has utilized training, conditioning, and application to produce
skill, endurance, and maximum effort while at the same time he
has taught by precept and example the necessities of healthful
living and social adaptation.

The National Association of Basketball Coaches recognized
that their members must use the physical approach as a means to
social ends when that organization adopted “The Basketball
Coaches’ Creed” some years ago. The Creed states, in part:

“J BELIEVE that the proper administration of this sport offers
an effective laboratory method to develop in its adherents high
ideals of sportsmanship; qualities of co-operation, courage, un-
selfishness and self control; desires for clean, healthful living; and
respect for wise discipline and authority.

“J BELIEVE that these admirable characteristics, properly in-
stilled by me through teaching and demonstration, will have a long

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