Coaching and Care of Athletes

THE JAVELIN THROW 191 r, as being more due to luck than anything else, but not so that of 1923, for I had been put on retired pay two years earlier as a 75 per cent. disability, and it was only by sticking to a really strenuous schedule of exercises that I was able to regain a moderate degree of physical fitness and efficiency. Early in 1924 the late Sam Mussabini took me in hand. What old Sam did not know about getting athletes fit was not worth knowing. His actual knowledge of javelin-throwing would have been lost on a three– penny-bit when we started working together. He learned the event from me in theory in order that he might put me right in practice, and then we got right down to the job. What followed illustrates the wisdom of working up slowly and the utter folly of doing anything that may cause one to produce a peak perform– ance too soon. For two months after taking me in hand Mussabini allowed me one pipe after each meal, had me walking 5 to ro miles each day, breaking into a trot for roo yds. or so in each mile, besides doing track running. Suppling and strengthening exercises, especially for the shoulder girdle, were a matter of daily routine, together with special form exercises which he worked out. But his great delight was to make me chop vast quantities ofwood with a heavy– headed, long-hafted axe. In April I used to drive 50 or 6o miles three times a week to Berne Hill or the White City, where the track had not yet been remodelled or reopened, for the purpose of throwing under Sam's eagle eye. He took ;also thousands of feet ofcinematograph film for the purpose of ana~ysing and correct– ing my action. Prior to 1924 my best performance had been r58 ft. 3 ins. at Nottingham in July rl923. By April 1924 Sam had me throwing considerably farther in practice. Then I was asked to tour the British universities for the purpose of giving amateur coaching in field events. Sam begged me not to do it; but, like a fool, I accepte_d the invitation, thrived for a time on the exceedingly hard work, and at Llandaff in May threw r 76 ft. 5 ins. That was the peak performance which should have come in June, by which time r8o ft. or more would not have been difficult. Throwing day after day on tour just about ruined my arm, and when the A.A.A. Championships, serving also as Olympic trials, were held on June 20 and 21 I finished well behind E. G. Suther– land, South Mrica, 173 ft. r r ins., H . Dauban, Seychelles, r65 ft. 7 ins., and J. Dalrymple, Scotland, 153 ft. 4t ins. 397