Player Application and Uses of the Fatigue Curve

Coaches of individual sports such as track and field, boxing,
golf, wrestling, or tennis, have little difficulty in selecting their
best performers or in predicting with relative accuracy what these
performers will do in competition. In these activities numerous
tests have been conducted and objective records are at hand
to show exactly who, for instance, is a track team’s best sprinter
or shot puttér, and to indicate with what degree of success he
may compete against another sprinter or shot putter whose record
is known. :

However, in team games such as basketball and football accu-
rate ratings of players are much more difficult since the factors
involved are so numerous and complex that they are not easily
measured. In fact, coaches of these sports usually admit their
inability to tell just how good a player is; how much he has im-
proved; or how well he will perform in a forthcoming contest.
Notoriously they often predict defeat while hoping for victory.
The track coach can make positive ratings because he has statistics
to back his statements; the basketball coach cannot be positive
because he is prone to rely upon judgment which, at best, is
sometimes inaccurate.

Probably every basketball coach has tinkered with methods by
which he may be certain that his judgment is sound. He has kept
charts and records dealing with goal shooting, freethrow accuracy,
passing and dribbling errors, and other elements of game per-
formance; then pored over this mass of material only to discard most
of it and guess that player “A” is better than player “B’. Often
he discovers that his judgment is disputed by the players them-
selves, by spectators, and by fellow coaches. Note, for instance,
the wide variety of opinions expressed by coaches who try to
select All-Star teams. Recognition of the need for objective grad-
ing of players has resulted in a number of tests claiming to supply
the coach with accurate ratings of ability and condition. With few
exceptions these tests are complicated, difficult to administer,
and consume so much time that little energy is left to practice
the skills of the game.

It is contended here, and not without considerable experimenta-
tion, that the compilation of production efforts, and the plotting
of fatigue curves will provide coaches with significant information

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