Why? The Science of Athletics

SKILL AND PHYSICAL CLEVERNESS 1 95 doing things as economically and with as little fuss as we can. Skill depends upon the co-operation of the muscles, nerves and nervous system, but its end result is to do things with as little waste of energy as possible." It is a good definition and it is based upon the funda– mental rock of the one word "efficiency" . By that I mean such efficiency as comes from the perfection of practice which gives athlete and spectator alike a thrill when a field events record is produced with that smooth– ness of action and easy grace which seems to have required no particularly great effort and so leaves one gasping at the realization of the magnitude of the performance. Building up Physical Skills · Reverting for a moment to Professor Hill's definition of "skill", it may be said that we have seen already in this book: how muscle responses are produced ; how the muscles gain greater amplitude through controlled and concerted action, and in what way the nerves and the nervous system are made more efficient by general training. . When we come, however, to the question of building up specialized physical skills we can use only general training as a fundamental basis upon which to found specialization. That is because all specialization must be based upon a broad pedestal of general knowledge, sup– ported by a background of muscular wisdom and ability, for the creation of outstanding skill. The pedestal is best supplied by the practice of such exercises as have been set out by John Heys and myself in our book Exercises for Athletes (John F. Shaw & Co. Ltd., London). The muscular wisdom and ability are contin– gent upon slow and painstaking practice at varying degrees of effort such as are represented in another of our books, Athletic Training for Men and Boys, which also is published by Messrs. Shaw & Co. Let us, since we have quoted Matti Jarvinen as an outstanding example of a man who has by patience and perseverance built up perfect skill, stick to the