Coaching and Care of Athletes

THE HALF-MILE AND Boo METRES ship half-mile, and won two Olympic titles-the 8oo metres in I min. 53'4 secs. and the I500 metres in 4 mins. I ·8 secs. Finally, in I92 I, he won the English mile title in the new British record time of 4 mins. I3·8 secs. It is interesting to note that Hill has been the trainer_of S. C. Wooderson, the present holder of the world's mile record. Reverting to our half-miler types, we find yet another category, which may: be represented by the American Melvin Sheppard, who won the Olympic 8oo metres in I908 in I min. 52·8 secs. and the I500 metres in the same year in 4 mins. 3'4 secs. Sheppard was definitely of the mile type, who had reduced his distance to half a mile because he found it easier to train for that particular race. He was a man with a rather small upper body, but very strong and powerful legs. He used a bounding stride, but his greatest asset was his spirit, which never was willing to acknow– ledge defeat. As Lawson Robertson has said, "Mel Sheppard never thought in terms of defeat." Despite the fact that we are coming more and more each year to look upon the 88o yds. as a sort of glorified sprint, the fact remains that no .athlete has yet succeeded in winning both the 400 and 8oo metres at the Olympic Games, whereas four athletes have won both the 8oo and I500 metres titles in the same year. The men in question are E. H. Flack, of Great Britain, in I896 (8oo metres in 2 mins. I I secs. and I500 metres in 4 mins. 33·2 secs.), J. D. Lightbody, U.S.A., in I904 (8oo metres in I min. 56 secs. and I500 metres in 4 mins. 5'4 secs.), M. W. Sheppard, U.S.A., in I9o8 (8oo metres in I min. 52·8 secs. and I500 metres in 4 mins. 3'4 secs.), and A. G. Hill, Great Britain, in I920 (8oo metres in I min. 53·4 secs. and I500 metres in 4 mins. r ·8 secs.). Types of half-mile runners and some outstanding champions have been described, and when we come to the discussion of permitted styles it will be seen from the preceding paragraphs that short, stocky runners with a choppy stride like Lloyd Hahn may do almost, if not quite, as well as the long, striding, gracefully sweeping-on runners lik"e Peltzer, Lowe, and Melvin Sheppard, to say nothing of the well-built but short sprinter-quarter-miler type, such as the famous Ted Meredith. We come, therefore, to the consideration of what the coach is to teach to the individual athlete committed to his care, or to the team of athletes that he is going to ha:ndle. There is no need for me to go into a further discussion of 229