Coaching and Care of Athletes

BUILDING TRAINING SCHEDULES has- been aptly classified as 'motor-rnindedness.' By much physical training in his event the athlete builds up the technique of that particular event, but he will not attain perfection until he has reduc~d the various parts of the whole evolution to a per– manent reflex pattern. When this ability has been acquired by the athlete he will obviously go through the phases of his event automatically. Much practice will produce a sensory, subconscious memory for the production of the reflex pattern referred to above, and also that state of motor-mindedness which enables the athlete to concentrate his entire attention upon the type of stimulus which has been responsible normally for the production of the reflex event-pattern. This is one of the reasons why absolute silence must be main– tained at the start of a race. Sprinters and hurdlers are trained to react to a type, rather than to a different kind, of stimulus– i.e., the bang of the starter's gun- and therefore any sharp sound is usually sufficient to cause a man to 'break.' It is equally important for the coach to create in his athletes the habit of inhibition. The sprinter may be pardoned for 'breaking' at any sudden sound which has a marked resemblance to the stimulus he has been expecting, but he should be immune to cheering, advice shouted from the stands, or casual conversa– tion going on around him. Each and every athlete should be trained to inhibit response to any distraction. Weight men suffer most from the thoughtlessness of officials and photographers who crowd in on them, and jumpers even more from the carelessness of people who actually cross the run– way or wander about behind the pit and directly in the athlete's line of vision. The power of inhibition can, however, be developed to so great a degree that I have seen my son commencing his run to make a pole vault, missing by inches a stupid official who crossed the cinder path, and yet clearing r 2 ft. in perfect style, despite the disturbing circumstance that would have caused nine out of ten highly strung athletes, lacking his consciously developed power of inhibitiQn, to vault badly or to stop altogether. This power of inhibition can be acquired only by constant concentration in practice upon the particular task which the athlete is carrying out. By the time the athlete reaches the fourth and final stage of 127 I