Why? The Science of Athletics

• SUCCESS OR FAILURE entity, studying his character as a person, and building him up individually. _ Few people, I imagine, and least of all the athletes themselves, realize how much goes on behind the scenes when a team is being trained, or ever dream of all the hours ,. the · coach puts in away from track and training ground, working things out, solving problems and trying to evolve new m~thods that will produce yet better results. To begin with, when the track and field squad is first formed, the coach has to consider the mental, moral and physical characteristics of the people who wish to go into training. The youngster who is quick-witted, · trustworthy in all respects, and in every way mentally and physically fitted tq be an athlete, is what the old gentleman of a certain story termed a "much rarer rara avis". No two athletes, of course, can possess exactly the same physical gifts, but whatever he may not be .an athlete must be sound morally. The term "morals", in athletics, covers a good deal more than the major sins. The youth who is a surreptitious smoker, who is intolerant of discipline, who will not punish himself in training when required, who is a · confirmed grouser, or a bad loser, invariably constitutes an inharmonious .element, whose presence in a training squad will very quickly throw the whole team out of gear. On the physical side, one has to be very sure that each athlete is going to train for the event to which he is best suited by nature. In this connection the coach must have a fair knowledge ofanatomy and mechanics. If a man has what are sometimes termed "Scottish kgs", that is to say lower limbs with short heels and big calves, he can be marked for a try-out FIG. 37 at sprinting, almost without hesitation. Figs. 36 and 37 for example show two-distinct types of legs. 0