Coaching and Care of Athletes

/ CARE OF THE ATHLETE IN TRAINING contributory causes reaching a climax. A man who has been in perfect condition and achieving good performances may go stale slowly, or, on the other hand, he may find himself suddenly quite unable to produce performances which previously have proved well within his compass. Symptoms of staleness, for which a coach must watch carefully, will' appear in the athlete's face, his eyes being dull and his features drawn. These facial symptoms may not, howeve·r, be apparent, and the approach of the unpleasant condition may show itself in a general lassitude, a lack of en– thusiasm ·for athletics, sleeplessness, general irritability, loss of appetite, and loss of weight. . When an athlete in training is in good condition he looks for– ward to his meals; and, if he is wise, always leaves the training table feeling that he could have done with just a little more than he has actually eaten. When a man experiences the conditions which bring about loss of appetite, that loss is usually accompanied by a falling off in the digestive process. It is, however, a normal phenomenon for an athlete to show some loss of appetite on the day of competition, but this is merely because of nervous excitement or his own decision not to overload his stomach. Insomnia may be due to a variety of causes, such as some private worry, an over-anxiety about the approaching com– petition, or.over-stimulation of the nervous system. I have already said that the athl~te must sleep in a quiet room, and this is so because the last stimulus to pass when the athlete goes to sleep is noise, and it is also the first stimulus of which he becomes aware upon awakening. If an athlete is compelled to sleep in a more or less noisy room he may create the habit of insomnia by worrying about the noises which he hears and being anxious for them to cease. If the insomnia, and hence staleness, is due to worry, then the only thing for the coach to do is to try his very best to gain the athlete's confidence, so that he can help him with friendly advice. Loss of sleep and subsequent staleness may also be due to excessive fatigue. If the coach diagnoses this as the cause, then he must revise the athlete's training schedule. Alternatively he must watch tpe athlete out of training hours, to make sure that he is not indulging in any form of amusement which is likely to cause excessive tiredness. The question of weight is all-important, and has already been referred to. Naturally enough an athlete's weight is liable to 1 43