Page Eight THE FIRST

AIDER

Gardner, Kansas

Care and Conditioning of the Basketball
Team in Early Season

By Blair Gullion, Basketball Co

ach, University of Tennessee

 

o

 

As for preventive measure it is well

Blair Gullion

for the coach to insist on good clean
equipment and laundry service to
keep it clean. This not only aids in
the promotion of morale of the squad
but is a splendid hygienic factor in
the elimination of boils. The same
is true of towel service.

Since the feet are the PHYSICAL
FOUNDATION of the game, proper
care should be given to them, and the
following procedure is recommended:

1. Equip each player with proper-
iy fitted, NEW basketball shoes. This
should be imperitive for the better
or key players.

2. In purchasing basketball sweat
socks, buy a heavy wool and cotton
sock that will offer a good cushion
for the feet.

3. Provide thin, cotton inner socks
to be worn under the heavy sock.

 

 

This is effective in the prevention of
blisters,

All coaches recognize the proper
value of conditioning of the athletic
team and realize that condition is
the factor that means winning or los-
ing the close games during the sea-
son. While this final effort is an im-
portant point it is well to go further
and study the immediate value of a
proper training or conditioning pro-
gram in early season. A player in
good physical condition will learn
faster and will retain his _ habits,
skills longer than the poorly condi-
tioned one; an injured player or a
stiff, sore athlete must lose valuable
practice time and retard the work of

 

Editor’s note:—Mr. Gullion has
written two excellent treatises on
basketball. They are “One Hundred
Drills for Teaching Basketball Fund-
amentals” and “Basketball Offensive

be obtained from your sporting goods
dealer. Either or both of them will
be of great assistance in preparing
your team for a successful season.

 

get so far behind other members of
the squad that he may fail to prove
of value to the team. Therefore, a
careful program of teaching in rela-
tion to cenditioning value is worth
while.

One of ‘the first problems of the
coach is the development of proper
attitudes toward minor injuries such
as bruises, sprains, blisters, and abra-
sions. Many players feel that they are
going “sissy” when they take these
small ailments to the trainer. The
coach should insist that all such tri-
vial things be reported at once.

 

4. Use a good skin hardener on the

feet prior to each practice session.

5. If at all possible furnish clean

socks for each practice session.

The practice work should start

slowly with emphasis on fundamentals
that do not involve much hardship
on the feet, ankles and knees. The
use of dribble-shooting relay races,
the pass and go-behind the receiver
drills, and other set-up of this type
are valuable in teaching fundament-
als as well as in conditioning. Work

the entire squad and in many cases the players hard while at work but

‘sprinkle’ the practices liberally

with rest periods of about five min-
utes duration.

Half-court and full-court keep-a-

way under regular rules are good con-
ditioners. Lots of half-court or “dum-

Fundamentals Analyzed.” These may |™Y’ Scrimmage is

effective and
‘wind sprints” are also of great val-

ue. In using “wind sprints” have the
players line up along one end of the
court; the coach blows the whistle
and the players
whistle blows again which is a signal
for them to walk. The next blast of
the whistle starts
again. It is well for the coach to vary
the length of the sprints and the
walks.

sprint until the

them sprinting

This early season work has the

physcological danger of staleness. The
coach should study the weight chart
carefully as it is one of the _ best
signs of this difficulty. The best way
to avoid this is through the careful
planning of the material to be taught
and through the medium of making
the practice sessions interesting to
the player. This is accomplished main-

Published by the Cramer Chemical Co.

ly through varying the practice work
by the use of a large number of drills
and stunts. If the same drills are
continually used the players lose in-
terest and the response is not as ef-
fective,

Since most of our players live in
fraternity houses or boarding houses
it is especially hard to control diet
to any extent. We merely ask the
boys not to eat the foods usually ban-
ned for athletic teams and to elim-
inate any other foods that do not
agree with them.

compen
An Olympic Coach

   

Alvin Ulbrickson, Crew Coach,
University of Washington

 

Born within the sight of the Uni-
versity shell house in Seattle, Alvin
Martin Ulbrickson rowed across Lake
Washington each morning and even-
ing to attend Franklin High School.

and a half years—an “A” student.

Al entered Washington in the fall
of 1922 and stroked the 1923 Fresh-
man crew, who finished second at
Poughkeepsie. In 1924, he began his
career as varsity stroke, and that
year the Huskies won from Californ-
ia and took the
Championship at Poughkeepsie. In
1925, Washington also beat the Bears
of California, but the Navy won on
the Hudson; the Huskies placed sec-
ond. In 1926, Ulbrickson’s third and
last year, Washington again defeated
California, defeated Princeton in a
dual regetta, and won again at Pough-
keepsie, Navy being second. UlI-
brickson was captain of the crew
during his last year, and rowed the
last mile of the Poughkeepsie with
the muscles of his back wrenched
but stroked his fellow crewmen
through even the final sprint.

Al was hired as freshman crew
coach in 1927, and then succeeded
Rusty Callow as varsity coach in the
fall of 1927. As coach he hit his stride
in 1930 and since then has only lost
one Pacific coast championship (1932
to California). At Poughkeepsie, Al’s

 

He completed high school in three

Intercollegiate —