Coaching and Care of Athletes

COACHING AND CARE OF ATHLETES , A. J. Fitzgerald, of Lancing; and among high jumpers Harry Sim– mons, who still retains the honour of having been Great Britain's youngest Olympic athlete, Gerald Moll, whose Public Schools record of 5 ft. rr! ins. has not yet been eclipsed, and his brothers Tom and Jack. These were all charming boys, who were willing to do exactly as they were told, and who would work for their coach to the point of exhaustion if called upon to do so. In each and every case they had their rewards in due season, and so did I, in the delight I felt in their successes. Not unnaturally, perhaps, my greatest pleasure has been found in the coaching ofmy own son, F. R. Webster. By our association in athletics I like to think that we have become far more like brothers than most fathers and sons. Again, we have both had our reward. In the case of all the boys whose names I have mentioned there has never been a cross word, nor, indeed, the need for one. Both training and competition throughout have been thoroughly pleasant affairs, and that, after all, is what track and field athletics should be. In handling the individual athlete the first thing for the coach to do is to study his man and to get to know him thoroughly. He must be, for the time of their association, something in the nature of a big brother. From personal assoCiation mutual liking is almost bound to eventuate, except in very rare cases. The coach must realize from the very beginning; I think, that he is handling an individuat who, by the very nature of his training and the com– petition for which he is preparing, will be as highly strung as a racehorse and possibly as difficult as a lady in a delicate state of health! Even the heaviest and apparently most phlegmatic of heavy– weight field-events meh suffer from nerves, although tbey some– times contrive to hide their condition from every one except their coach. Athletes are apt to fret in training, and need much en– couragement and careful handling by the man who is preparing them for an important contest. Jack Lovelock swears by Thomas, the Oxford University professional coach, and has told me some illuminating stories of the strength he has drawn fro,m him. Lovelock suffers a good deal from insomnia, and many a time when he could not sleep on some journey abroad has gone into his trainer's cabin or bedmom and awakened him, just for the sake of that little chat which would steady his own nerves sufficiently to allow him to get to sleep again. 86