Why? The Science of Athletics

16 WHY?-THE SCIENCE OF ATHLETICS by giVmg him an entirely different sort of play-period later on to balance the real hard work which charac– terizes the training of the matured contestant. So far the work and play problem has been com– paratively easy to handle, because we have stuck to the theory that children should only play at athletics in the years when they are, almost unconsciously, building up certain requisite physical skills. Where the fully grown athlete is concerned, the situation assumes an entirely different aspect. To succeed in modern athletics a man must train hard and sensibly ; to reach the very top of the tree he has got to give pretty well everything there is in him to the game ; he must be prepared to punish himself in training when his coach calls upon him to do so, or else he will never face the punishment that comes sooner or later in competition. In addition, he must learn to use his brains as well as his body. All of which postulates a fairly prolonged and a fairly severe mental and physical strain. Physical Debits and Credits Neither of these strains need be, or ' should be, harmful. One can, in fact, point out certain definite physical debits and credits. In the first place, the practice of athletics improves growth. That can be proved by taking any two groups of men at a uni– versity, the one group definitely following athletics and the other group not doing so, and it will be found that in a period of three years the men in the athletic group will gain more pounds and inches in development than do the others. They will show, also, improvement in appetite and an increase in the circulatory reserve, and, as Dr. Dean Smiley, the American authority, , has pointed out, "an athlete can better withstand an attack of pneumonia, where the pulse is going at roo to 120 beats a minute for five days, than a non-athlete". Other benefits to be derived from athletics are the correction of postural deformities, the improvement of muscle-tone