Athletes in Action

athletes of all the \vorld, not only in competition, but during long periods of inten ive preparation for the Olympic Games. Therefore I know that other nations succeed where we have failed ; firstly, becau e they ha,·e many fir t-clas , well-paid coaches, while we have hardly any ; econdl}, becau e the foreigner is more thoughtful and more pain taking in his pre- paration than is the average Engli hman, who does love to try to produce his be t ev ry time he turns out to train . Thi charac- teri tic of Briti h athlete i partly the outcome of de pair. They are not taught how to jump, throw or hurdle and are given n schedules to run to, wherefore they try to make up by h er strength or natural ability for their deficiencie in technical kill. It is with the object of meeting the Briti h athlete' ' demand for technical in truction that I have written Athletes iu Acti01~. This book make no attempt to deal with the hi tory of the port, or with actual training for c mpetition . Tho e matters are fully dealt with in .,.Jthlctics of 'To-day, which I " rote tv o year' ago . Athletes iu Actiou i intended purely and simply a a technica l instructor, for the u e of tho·e athlete who c. nnot secure the service of a coach and for those to whom the in truc tion f athlete is committed. The detail gi> n are such a my practical e perience ha taught m mu t be ma tered in their entirety by coach and athlete alike. The picture me of which fir t appeared in 'The 1lf auchcstcr uardian and 'The Firld, have been c llected fr m all over the world, and I ackn wlcd e my gratitude t the Dmtschc portbthordc for permi ion to reproduce from their excellent magazine tart und Zirl t le r . port and en ral, Me T. chimers and the Butcher Film en:ice . In the first pla e there are certain fundamcn t. 1 principle- involved in each athletic e\cnt, such a the ' lay-out, whi h bring everything d v n to the centre f gravity, in the hi h jump . T here arc al· feature which are ommon to roups of event , such a the houldcr-twi t and the turning in of the rear knee, whereby javelin and di ·cu thrower and hot putter start th delivery effort . uch matter· I have explained very fully . But the athlete can only derive the maximum amount of benefit from the book by u in it in a certain way.