Coaching and Care of Athletes

COACHING AND CARE OF ATHLETES so, as Ben Eastman, W. Carr, of America, G. L. Rampling, of Great Britain, and now the American negro A. Williams, with his new world's record of 46· r secs., must have done in their greatest races. Before going on to describe the technique of quarter-miling may I remind coaches again that they must study the men in accord– ance with whether they come under the sprinter type of quarter– miler or the middle-distance type? It may be necessary also to frame special schedules for the man who is concentrating on the quarter-mile and on nothing else. It will not be necessary for me again to describe starting, as this matter has been dealt with fully in Chapters XIV and XV. The advice already given for the training ofsprinters in starting ap– plies equally to thequarter-milers. Thequarter-milermust be agooa starter, and, for the purpose of gaining proficiency in this part of his work, should do a good deal of starting practice with the sprinters. It is essential that the quarter-miler should be trained to get away fast at the start. ., In teaching his athletes the technique of quarter-miling the coach should try to develop_a long and elastic stride, with the proviso that he must watch each man individually, to- see that he does not develop a stride which is too long for his personal strength. As I have suggested already, the arm action should be partly relaxed, with the arms swinging backward and forward freely. The body should be kept steady, and should neither rise nor fall during the running action. The coach, having studied his men, should decide which of them are lacking in speed, and these men he should train to carry as nearly as possible an even pace throughout the race. I think he should train all his men to cultivate a long, easy, swinging stride on the back stretch, as this will enable them to keep the pace even and to conserve their energy for the finish. ' In speaking of speed at the start of the race I made a mental reservation to say something more about this later. It must be remembered that a man cannot, according to accepted principles, run even the whole of a furlong without some coast being intro– duced. It is equally an accepted fact that 300 yds. is believed ~ to be the maximum distance that can be run by most genuine sprinters at top speed. This circumstance gives the coach the choice of training his men, according to their individual ability, either to run the entire race with sHght relaxation, so that some- 214