Coaching and Care of Athletes

COACHING AND CARE OF ATHLETES because the material retains the sweat, and again will give a false reading on the scale. Weight charts are particularly valuable to the coach because they enable him either to lessen or increase the athlete's work in training according to the information gained by studying them. Moreover, if one has a chart for a number of athletes it is a great help in planning training schedules for future years. Finally, it must be remembered that if weight charts are kept they give the coach an admirable opportunity of determining the rest period which should follow either severe training or com– p.etition, in order that the athlete may regain such weight as he loses by strenuous exercise. In addition to keeping a weight chart, in combination with a graph of training and competition (as shown on page 145), for comparison with the athlete's training schedule, it is possible to combine a schedule of the pulse-ratio test and the endurance test, made by the pulse-ratio method, and if this is done the coach should have at his disposal every possible sort of information he can desire for the efficient management of the training of the men who have been committed to his care. Having just mentioned the chart in connection with bathing it may be well to deal next with this question. Naturally enough the athletes coming in dirty and probably still sweating from training or competition will desire a bath, purely for the purpose of personal cleanliness. When the bath is used for this purpose the heat of the water should not be more than 95° Fahrenheit, nor should the athlete stay in the bath for more than two or three minutes. I know that some American coaches will not agree with me, but I am firmly of the opinion that a toning-up cold shower should always follow the warm bath. The bath may also be employed therapeutically. A cold bath, with the water at about 65° Fahrenheit, is said to be restful and invigo:r;ating if the athlete stays in the water anything up to ten minutes; but I prefer a quick immersi0n, or even a shower, as the athlete who stays in cold water for ten minutes or longer is bound to experience a feeling of depression, by reason of the decrease in his heart-rate. The whole point about a cold bath is that one must leave it with a glow of warmth, which must not be followed by a feeling of lassitude. As I have said, the condition known as goose– flesh is a sure indication that a cold bath must not be indulged in. If the athlete likes a hot bath and keeps the temperature of the water down to a:bout I00° to I I0° Fahrenheit he may lie in such a 146