Coaching and Care of Athletes

THE ENGLISH SUMMER SCHOOL METHOD In my mind there is no doubt that no man has a wider experi– ence of athletics than Comstock, who in his early days took over the athletes of the then small University of Southern California and coached them into beating, for the first time in athletic history, the teams of the much larger institutions of Stanford University and the University of California. His success with the Italian team has been no less remarkable. During the Great War he held an important appointment in the American Department of Physical Education. The coming ofBoyd Comstock to England, however, somewhat altered our scheme of instruction at the English Summer School. He is undoubtedly a genius holding strong views of his own, but also a man who is willing to try everything once, and to alter his coaching and training methods immediately if he discovers some– thing better than what he has previously been teaching. The method of instruction preferred by Comstock involved the explanation to the assistant coaches and the students, assembled as a whole school, of all the various styles which might be employed effectively in each athletic event. He was especially keen on the need for warming up and the proper preparation for both training and competition. He was insistent also that the assistant coaches, in taking their squads, should allow the students to try the various events for themselves, and should determine the style which particularly suited individual students. The fundamental prin– ciples underlying all styles in each event were carefully explained, and recommendations were made as to the style most suited to various types of athlete. Among the assistant amateur coaches at the School were F. R. Webster (Plate XV, Fig. 47), the English native pole vault record– holder, R. L. Howland (Plate IV, Fig. 7), who holds the native shot-putting record, and K. S. Duncan, Oxford University Blue and holder in 1935 of the English indoor sprint and long jump titles. Webster and Du:hcan were due to compete at the World Students' Championships in Paris less than a fortnight later, while Howland, at the end of the three weeks, was to go with the British team for matches against Finland and Norway and to take part in the International Festival at Stockholm. None the less Comstock did not hesitate to make radical changes in the style these three athletes employed, but was careful to explain both to them and to the students at the Summer School his reasons for so doing. All three worked alarmingly hard during the time they were at the 47