Coaching and Care of Athletes

CARE AND CONDITIONING vided it is used only for the purpose of adding a little flavour to the water. I am of the opinion, however, that the use of tea and coffee in moderation is permissible. A long course of nothing but plain water is likely to be unacceptable to the athlete himself, and may reflect upon his mental attitude towards training. I think coffee for breakfast and tea at tea-time should certainly be permitted, but at bed-time I always give my own athletes a cup of Ovaltine and milk, sweetened with Glucose D. I think, too, that at various times throughout the day a certain amount ofmilk should be given to athletes in training. The question of smoking, together with many other scientific problems, l.s dealt with fully in my book Why?- The Science of Ath– letics. Here, therefore, I will content myself with saying that it is a proven fact that cigarette-smoking is totally bad for the athlete. It can, I think, be proved that, given two men of equal ability, on an average the cigarette-smoker will lose two yards in a furlong to the man who does not smoke. Smoking undoubtedly reduces physical efficiency. Apart from this, it is scientifically true to say that the man who inhales cigarette smoke irritates the membrane of the respiratory passages, thus rendering himself more liable to respiratory infection. In addition, since cigarette smoke contains certain gases which combine with the red corpuscles of the blood, it must follow that the corpuscles which carry gases other than oxygen cannot take to the blood-stream its full supply of an essential constituent. Thus where tobacco is concerned the athlete should be a total abstainer. It seems to me a senseless practice to abstain throughout the competitive season, and then smoke heavily during the winter months. After all, one will have to get back into condition for the next season, and it is only making that work much harder by indulging in what, for a young man, would be a foolish habit in the off-season. In thinking out his scheme for conditioning the team which he is going to handle the coach must give early attention to the question of the training table, or, in other words, the diet of the athletes who are coming into his care. The responsibility for conditioning the team must rest with the coach, and he must therefore be a person of some considerable education. He must know the scientific technique of all the events constituting a track and field programme; he must know how to get the team into Ill