Why? The Science of Athletics

ATHLETIC PSYCHOLOGY champion got second, Beatty third. He did that in the rain. "It is the confidence that counts. If the boys will work with you and will train, and they believe in the coach, and they will take care of themselves, and do every– thing they have to do and avoid what they should not do, they will get somewhere." Getting the confidence of the boys is about ninety per cent good humour and patience. You've got to show them that you know your job, of course; but it's whether they like you that counts, for liking breeds confidence, and if you have the ability you can carry them a long way on your shoulders. Bullying and sarcasm never pay, especially with a man who is apt to get wind up-of the wrong kind. I only know of two concrete cases to serve as exceptions to prove the rule. One was an incident when Joie Ray was going for the two miles indoor record and not running too well at that. His coach leaned over the barrier as the men were _coming round, tore up J oie's time-card with the great~st imaginable air of contempt, and pitched the pieces disgustedly on to the track. That made Ray so mad that he cut loose, beat the field, and broke the record. The other time was the only occasion upon which I succeeded in beating my lifelong friend, W. E. B. Hen– derson, in a discus-throwing contest. I was actually in the circle and upon the point of starting my turn when another competitor, fooling about at the side of the circle, let a discus slip out of his hand and the edge caught me on the ankle-bone, which always hurts like sin. Some– how I got the notion into my head that the fellow had done it on purpose, and that made me so angry that I pulled out a throw, and a new Bedfordshire record, which was certainly far beyond my wildest expectations. I am not, however, suggesting that coaches should hurl javelins or discoi at their charges in the hope of making them sufficiently angry to perform phenomenal feats.