Coaching and Care of Athletes

COACHING AND CARE OF ATHLETES than that, a muscle which has been stretched repeatedly in limber– ing up becomes more responsive and gains in contractile power. Another point in connection with stretching exercises as part of the limbering-up process is that the movement of joints to their extreme limits produces a sense of freedom which the athlete will find very valuable both in training and competition. Finally, I think that it is very necessary for athletes when limbering up to practise some of the formal exercises associated with the technique of their event for the purpose of increasing co-ordination. Formal exercises should follow as closely as possible the nature of the actions involved in the event for which the athlete is training or in which he is to compete. By practising these exercises during the process of limbering up the athlete will stabilize the technique in his own mind, while at the same time co-ordinating his muscles for the purpose for which he is going to use them. The culmination of the formal exercises at the termina– tion of the limbering-up process should find the athlete, and par– ticularly the field-events man, going through his event in slow time, preparatory to making a few actual trials before the com– petition commences. To summarize the limbering-up process, we find that the athlete runs and makes his formal movements for the purpose of warming his muscles, does the stretching exercises to increase the elasticity of the tendons and muscles, and finally undergoes a short series of formal exercises for the purpose of stabilizing technique in his mind and rehearsing the muscles in the movements they will have to make more strenuously either during the training p~riod or in a competition. . During a field-events competition which is of a protracted nature a further limbering-up pt:riod, as I have already hinted in the case of pole-vaulters, is sometimes necessary. While a man is waiting to compete he should certainly wear his sweat suit, and on occasion may find it beneficial to wrap himself in a blanket and to lie down with his eyes closed upon a groundsheet. It is wise also, upon certain occasions, to get massage between attempts, if a masseur is available; otherwise the athlete may manipulate his own muscles. This procedure will prevent stiffness, and will also prepare the athlete for a further limbering-up process should that be necessary. Finally, we come to the all-important matter of cooling down after training and after competition. I 56 ; .