A study of the junior high basketball program of the class AA schools in Texas

It was the purpose of this study (1) to compare the procedures and practices of the different junior high schools of class AA in the state of Texas in regard to the coaching phase and to the participation in the sport of basketball; (2) to present the findings in such a manner that the reader will have a better understanding of the fundamental methods and proceedings that go to make up the coaching of basketball in the junior high school. Methods: Questionnaire’s relating to the junior high school basketball program were mailed to forty-eight junior high schools. Of these forty-eight, forty were answered for a return of 82.5 percent. The other sources of material used in this study were the publications, which were found that related to the subject. The writers included Everett Dean, H. C. Carlson, S. E. Bilik, and others. Findings: The number of coaches employed by the different junior high schools varied from one to three and there salary ranged from 2,800 to 6,500 annually. The average number of basketball games played per week was 1.875. The total number of games played during the 1954-55 season ranged from ten to thirty, with an average of 16.125. The number of basketball tournaments entered ranged from none to four, with an average of 2.75. Ten schools did not charge admission to their junior high school basketball games. The average price charged was 9 cents for schoolchildren and 20 cents for adults. The average daily practice period was eighty-one minutes. The average amount of the daily practice period spent on fundamentals was three-fifths or 60 percent. The number of balls used during daily basketball practice varied from two to fourteen, with an average of 6.2 Twenty-nine schools did not require a health certificate of boys who participated in basketball. This study showed the great variation in the policies in Junior high school basketball. There is a need for some form of regulation in the schools to help govern the number of games played by the schools, health examinations for participants in the basketball program, and the financing of the equipment, especially shoes. One of the important problems that has been raises as a result of this study is the advisability of a program in the Junior high schools of class AA in Texas. In order to determine whether or not this would be desirable would require research beyond the limits of this investigation.