4 December, 1940
GELATING

The elimination of the center-jump after baskets has further so speeded
up basketball in the past few years that there will be few to dispute the claim
that this game taxes the endurance to a greater degree than any other sport,

Naturally, this has caused a number of new problems to arise for the bas-
ketball coach---since this increased pace has hastened fatigue on the part of the
players and led to many teams weakening in the final minutes of play to lose games
apparently well won, :

The first reaction to this development, of course, is the attempt of every
coach to build up competent reserve strength, so that he will have at least 2
teams of approximately equal ability which can be freely substituted for each oth-
er, allowing each player to go at "full speed" for the entire period he is in the
game, This will ultimately be to the benefit of the game, for it will mean that
more players will get a chance to participate,

Very few coaches, however, have been so fortunate as to find themselves
provided with ten players of first-string caliber, and, therefore it is only nat-
ural that basketball coaches throughout the country have shown great interest in
anything which would build up the endurance and energy of their men, to help them
meet the faster pace of current basketball,

Following in the footsteps of many football coaches who have been serving
plain, unflavored gelatine to their players since the first scientific disclosures
of the benefits of this regime, a number of basketball coaches have been includ-

ing plain, unflavored gelatine in their training diet, with very interesting re-

sults, One point which seemed definitely established was the fact that fatigue
was measurably diminished through the use of gelatine,

Presumably because basketball was not so fatiguing to players on the gel-
atine diet, there was a noticeable diminution in the number of colds and other mi-
nor ills with which the players were afflicted, It was also reported that the
scholastic standing of the players was improved over previous years -- apparently
because they had more energy to devote to their studies,

Weicht charts also indicated that there was less weight loss during com-
petition, and a quicker recovery of lost fluids, This has been explained as being
due to the improved capacity of the aes to hold fluids in individuals training
on gelatine,

Not all teams using gelatine proved to be champions, of course -=- but
coaches, trainers, and team physicians felt that it had improved the staying power
and capabilities of their players, and had helped to eliminate mid-season stale-
ness and last-half exhaustion,

In most cases, the plain, unflavored gelatine was given to the players be-
fore and after practice, served in water or fruit juices,

It is explained that gelatine is not a stimulant, but a protein food par-
ticularly rich as a tissue-builder and particularly easy and quick of assimilation

_ by the body, It is not to be confused with sugar in its various forms, which is a

concentrated form of carbohydrate, valuable as a source of immediate energy, but
not effective insofar as actual tissue-building or body-building is concerned,