Why? The Science of Athletics

!2 WHY?-THE SCIENCE OF ATHLETICS still strive too hard after immediate success. It is so nice to run just a little faster, to jump higher or to throw things farther than one has ever done before, and so, all too often, effect is sought and cause is forgotten. And this is just where the wise parent or games master should step in. This statement is as true where men are con– cerned. The endless striving to achieve better per– formances by sheer brute strength at every training session seems to be a peculiar attribute of British athletes, and must be held accountable for many of our field events failures in international contests. So much, then, for the natural inclinations of the adolescent athlete. Where par~nts are concerned, the case is different, and it is a fact that there was a time when the evil practice of fathers perambulating pro– mising sons all over the country on pot-hunting expedi– tions became so general that the A.A.A. passed a rule that "open races for boys shall be confined to boys who are over 10 and under 15 years of age at the date of the competition, and have for three calendar months imme– diately preceding the race resided within a radius of eight miles of the sports ' ground." The rule, of course, was not made applicable to school sports and inter-schools contests and the meetings of special organizations with which a boy might be concerned. Regarding games masters. Their sins, in the past, have been rather those of omission -than the reverse, and ignorance of athletic lore and fundamental principles has led to the boys being left largely to their own training devices, with the inevitable unsatisfactory results. On the other hand, the circumstance is still far from being' unknown of masters wilfully putting too great a strain upon immature athletes, both in training and competition, for the sake of gaining points in some wretched inter– house contest. Very frequently I am asked the questions, "How much training should be done by a growing lad, and how much competition should be allowed ?" Tliose questions