Page 2.

So we hav; then four arguments relating to officials and officiating, and three re-
Lating to speed and higher scores, No thought is expressed that the players, who
bring in the money, have any rights in this game, except for the pushed aside
objections of some coaches that the change might be more fatiguing,

The foregoing was a prediction, What actually has happened?

The modifications of the rules affecting the speed, effort, and fatigue of ths
players have been threes

“he inclusion of the ten second rule.

The elimination cf the center jump after scoring a field goal,

The remcval of the end line two more feet to the rear of the beck stcp, so
there is now four feet of in-bounds territory behind the back stop.

Soon after the changes regarding the ten second rule and the center jump rule, it
decane apparent that perhaps the "speeders-up" had been tco successful, and had
brought into the game a set of circumstances that were definitely detrimental to
players, especially those of secondary school age.

A study (2) of these effects is reported by Fay and Messersmith in the Research
Quarterly of May, 1938, The study has to do mostly with distances traveled by
players, The report summarizes the conclusions of its authors as follows:

1. Distances traveled by players in college basketball games are consistently
greater than they were in 1931, before the inclusion of the ten-second rule
and the ruie eliminating the center jump after scoring cf field goals.

It is not possible to draw definite conclusions, from this study. regarding
the relative effects of the two rales upon the increase in distance. as no
stucy was made following. the inclusion of the ten-second rule,

3. Distances were found to range from 3,87 miles to 3.97 miles per game in the
present study, as against a range of 2.25 to 2,50 miles per game in 1931,

This is an increase in distance traveled of 60 or 72% depending on the set of
figures used. Even taking 60% as the increase, it is apparent that this fatigue
element is enormously increased, |

More than two years ago complaints from physicians regarding this rule change be-
gan to appear in various medical Journals,. One of the earliest of these follows:

"To the Editor: * Basketball, as it is being played today, due to the present High
School rules (College as well) is a game which is played by thousands of our boys,
end under the present rules has been speeded up to such an extent that, in my
Opinion, it is actually dangerous.

Recently a boy in a nearby town collapsed at the close of a game and died an hour
later, I witnessed a yame between Rock Island and Kewanee lest Friday night,
which was extremely fast, and at least six of the men played the entire game.

 

(2) "The Effect of Rule Changes upon the Distance Traversed by Baskettall Players",
Paul J. Fay and Lloyd L. Messersmith. The Research Quarterly of the American
Ass'n, for Health and Phys. Ed., Vol. IX, No. 2, May, 1938, p.137.

Illinois Medical Journal, January, 1938, p. 10,