THE SUCCESS or failure of any basketball team is often determined before the first game of the season is ever played. The first month, and more specifically, the first two weeks of team practice, set the tone for the entire season. During this time, the important process of team conditioning takes place.

Conditioning consists of two equally important aspects the physical and psychological. A winning team must be prepared accordingly. Further, every player, if he is to contribute 100 per cent to the team's efforts, must be similarly conditioned.

Physical Conditioning

Physical fitness is a prime requisite for success in basketball. A team's fitness often makes the difference between a mediocre season and a good one, and is often the determining factor in games between closely matched rivals.

The team capable of keeping both offensive and defensive pressure on its opponent continuously throughout the game is frequently the team that wins. This concept is even more valid when considered in the light of modern basketball wherein many teams employ the full court and half court presses, and the fast break.

Endurance Required. A basketball player must have good endurance and recuperative powers, strong legs, shoulders, and arms-in short, over-all fitness. There are many exercises and drills-individual and group that will aid a player in achieving these ends. Conditioning drills performed by the entire squad help engender a feeling of unity absolutely necessary to every winning team.

Rope skipping is one of the best conditioning exercises for basketball players. This activity not only affords an opportunity for the players to develop leg, arm, and shoulder strength, but also his body co-ordination. Many coaches believe there is a direct relationship between skipping rope and the ability to jump for rebounds and jump-shooting. Rope skipping, by improving lightness afoot, helps develop a player's agility.

Another point in favor of this conditioning activity is its adaptability for individual or group use. A player may practice alone at any time; as a group activity, intra-team competition may be held, often resulting in humorous situations while accomplishing fitness. Resistive type exercises are also excellent conditioners. Finger-tip push-ups executed to an eight count, four up and four down, will help improve the strength of fingers, arms, and shoulders. Jumping exercises entailing the use of half knee-bends and the whole body are helpful. A teaching aid that will assist in motivating better jumping is a blackboard, placed on the gymnasium wall, marked in inches from 8 feet to 12. Players should jump and mark the board at the height of their reach. Records noting improvement should be kept, and intra-team competition conducted. Controlled exercises with weights, if available, may also be used to strengthen and condition players. Half squats, arm curls, and arm presses are examples of excellent body conditioners.

A short period of calisthenics at the beginning of each practice may serve a double purpose, acting both as a warmup and conditioner for players. A warmup period tends to serve as a protection against muscle injuries. Further, beginning the daily practice with a calisthenics period helps get the session organized quickly and easily.

Running is important in developing basketball fitness. Cross-country running helps improve over-all muscle tone and endurance. If running cross country is not practical, running consecutive 440's will suffice. However, players should not be started too early nor too fast; muscle strains may develop. A carefully planned sequence of jogging, walking, and running will safely and sanely help condition the squad.

Sprints of from 10 to 80 feet, run both frontwards and backwards, are valuable exercises, and tend to develop skills that are absolutely necessary in game situations. Running backwards

with balance, short-sprinting, and stopping are extremely helpful during this early period, and are doubly important because these skills are used in games. Psychological Conditioning

Psychological conditioning is equally as important, if not more so, as physical fitness. During the first month, the squad should be oriented to the coach's philosophy and beliefs concerning the game of basketball. It is extremely important that every member of the squad is made aware of and understands these beliefs.

If a zone defense is to be employed, the coach must convince the squad that the zone is the best type of defense in basketball. Players must believe in the zone defense to play it well.

A similar situation holds true in relation to the man-to-man defense. In this defense, not only should every man be concerned with holding down his opponent, but also his position in relation to the total team defense. Since this type of defense is two-thirds desire and one-third skill, and since desire is based on belief in an idea, it follows that the coach has accomplished two-thirds of his job if he can sell his philosophy. Developing Belief. If a coach advocates the full-court or half-court press, he will have to develop the belief in each player that the press is unbeatable. Each player must have confidence in his own ability to fit into a press, as well as faith in the capability of his teammates to press as a unit. The front men in a press often must take calculated risks to execute this defense successfully. If these players believe in the ability of the team, they can make quick decisions which may result in ultimate team success. Offensive Discipline. Offensively, each member of the team must believe in the attack employed, whether it entails the principles of the fast break, the slow-set style, or the free-lance type. A well-disciplined team that holds to its offense is usually well conditioned and will be able to cope with most game situations.

An early start in learning offensive discipline will tend to condition every player thoroughly to the team's strategy. Success or failure depends not only on individual physical ability but, to a great extent, on good attitude and the acceptance of team strategy. During the conditioning period, a planned approach to selling the players on offensive and defensive strategies is a necessity. Related to Success

There is a direct relationship between the time spent in the physical and psychological preparation of a team, and each member of that team, and the degree of team success. An organized plan for the development of physical and psychological fitness will help to insure this success. Although conditioning in the first month of turnouts is important, for lasting success a conditioning program must continue throughout the season. A coach who plans accordingly will garner many dividends in victories. *

NOVEMBER 13, 1956, Mary Wigman celebrates her 70th birthday. Congratulations and good wishes are pouring into her West Berlin Studio from all parts of the globe, especially from the Americans who are going in increasing numbers to Germany to study with her, stimulated by reports of her powerful, warm personality, the richness of her knowledge and experience, and her extraordinary faculty for drawing out the best in each individual student. Now as never before, American pupils are returning home to channel the influence of the great teacher in numerous ways into the modern dance of this country.

Since her work is of particular interest to dance educators, it seems appropriate at this time to describe the operation of the Wigman Studio where students from many countries find an atmosphere so conducive to serious work and inspiring artistic achievement. The Studio is located in one of the fine old houses of Dahlem, the most exclusive residential area of prewar Berlin; the building contains three studios, one opening onto a lovely garden at the

rear

of the house, dressing rooms, kitchen, office, and a large open hall which serves as a lounge for the students.

The Wigman School

The school receives financial support from the Berlin Senate, in keeping with the European custom of governmental subsidy for the arts. There are about 30 regular students preparing for careers as dancers and teachers, besides the "guests" who do not complete the entire curriculum leading to the diploma. The full course of study usually requires three years, ending with a series of examinations conducted by a committee appointed by the Senate.

Mary is the guiding spirit of the school, but the rest of the staff are also capable and dedicated-two highly trained assistant teachers, and Ulrich Kessler, the music director, as well os a special instructor for ballet technique

Photo by Orgel-Kohne, Berlin Mary Wigman watching a rehearsal.

and character dance. Ballet is required for the regular students, not at Mary's desire, but because it is included in the dancer's exam which must be passed by those preparing for jobs in theaters.

The student body is divided into two groups, of which the beginning group is the larger, and students are promoted into the advanced class whenever the faculty judges them ready. Both groups have the same general plan of study and meet jointly for some courses.

riod once or twice a week. Later afternoons and evenings, the studios are available for practice and "homework," and the students may present dances informally on occasional afternoon or evening programs.

The first hour of the non-ballet morning is devoted to Gymnastik as preparation for dancing. It includes warm-ups, exercises for limbering and strengthening muscles, general conditioning and stretching-usually strenuous and often quite acrobatic.

Then comes Technik. By careful exploration, analysis and practice attention is concentrated on movement of one specific part of the body, or on one specific technical problem, such as balance or turning.

Ubungstunde means literally practice hour, but the title in no way conveys the excitement and exhilaration of this dance experience. A kind of glorified lesson-when the movements taken apart in the Technik class are assembled together and expanded into fragments and phrases of dance-Ubungstunde is the climax of the morning's work.

Improvisation and Komposition are of course the same terms we use in English. The improvisation is always on a very definite theme, and the sketches are usually quite short, so that the problem is completed in the one-hour class. The composition class is actually an extension of the improvisation, so that by a number of repetitions the sketch becomes a dance pattern, and the pertinent aspects of space, time, and form are studied incidentally in relation to the sketches, which are based on a specific dance idea. The emphasis throughout is on feeling, not indulging in sentimental self-expression, but rather being true to the essential quality of emotional content which alone gives meaning to a movement, a phrase, or a dance.

Unusual Classes

Many of the technical problems which we generally include in the study of composition Mary covers in the course called Tanzlehre. It is hard to find an English equivalent for this word; probably the closest we can come is "dance fundamentals," if by fundamentals we understand such things as the spatial factors of direction, level, focus, etc., rhythmic factors of accent, tempo, phrasing, etc., and formal structure involving division into periods, use of repetition, etc. The basic effort qualities are also studied in Tanzlehre, as well as dramatic elements like suspense and elimax and the achievement of mood or style.

One of the most fascinating classes for Americans is the weekly Chorische Stunde, utterly unlike anything we have in this country. This is the time when Mary explores some of the possibilities of group movement, when each member of the group feels himself no

(Concluded on page 60)

Professional Preparation Conf.

A National Conference on Professional Preparation of Recreation Personnel is to be held at the New Colonial Hotel, Washington, D. C., Nov. 14-16. Approximately 100 college educators and recreation leaders have been selected to attend.

Discussion groups will consider these problems: (1) What courses, other than specialized courses in recreation, should be included in the undergraduate recreation major curriculum? (2) What specialized recreation courses and experiences should be included in the undergraduate recreation major curriculum? (3) What courses (including prerequisites), other than specialized courses in recreation, should be included in the graduate recreation major curriculum? (4) Should specialized recreation major curriculums (industrial, hospital, camping, etc.) be offered at the undergraduate and/or graduate level? If so, what courses and experiences should be included?

The Conference is co-sponsored by AAHPER, the Association for Higher Education, and the National Commission on Teacher Education and Professional Standards, with other national recreation organizations co-operating.

Members of the Steering Committee

The complete list of AAHPER Membership and Publications Directors appears in the October JOURNAL, page 89.

are John L. Hutchinson, chairman and conference director; Ellen E. Harvey; John H. Jenny; J. Bertram Kessel; Harlan G. Metcalf; Harry C. Thompson; and Jackson M. Anderson, AAHPER staff liaison.

City Directors Conference

Directors of health, physical education and recreation in cities with populations of from 50,000 to 100,000 will meet in Washington Dec. 10-13 at the NEA Education Center. The Conference has been convened by AAHPER to consider administrative aspects of health education, safety education, physical education, athletics, recreation and outdoor education.

This conference follows a highly successful conference for directors in cities of 100,000 or larger, held in December 1955. The report of the 1955 conference is now available at the National Office at $1.00 per copy.

Recreation Yearbook

John L. Hutchinson, AAHPER VicePresident for Recreation and Editor of the forthcoming AAHPER yearbook on Education for Leisure, has announced that the following persons have accepted an invitation to serve on the Yearbook Advisory Committee: Charles K. Brightbill, H. Dan Corbin, John H. Jenny,

Louis E. Means, Norman P. Miller, and
Maryhelen Vannier.

A tentative chapter outline has been drawn up and specific chapter assignments are being made.

Elem. Education Conference

The Ninth Conference on Elementary Education, sponsored by U. S. Office of Education, met in Washington last May.

Over 100 delegates representing 62 national organizations attended, as well as delegates representing ten government agencies with program activities involving elementary school children. Delia F. Hussey, supervisor of physical education, Detroit Public Schools, and James H. Humphrey, professor of physical education, University of Maryland, represented AAHPER.

The Conference considered the theme: "Working Together for Children in 1956" under these three topics: I. What do national organizations see as the major job of the school in the education of children today? II. How can good human relations contribute to the achievement of the goals of the schools? III. How can national organizations help build interest and support to provide better education for the children in our schools?

A full report of the Conference is now available from the U. S. Office of Education. ★

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Ann M. Mullan Eastern H. S. Baltimore, Md.

Helen Stuart Dept. of Educ. North Carolina

Katherine Margerum Senior H. S. Abington, Pa.