The Helena independent. [volume] (Helena, Mont.) 1875-1943, 1890-05-19
TRAINING FOR FOOT BALL
The Professional Goes Through
Much the Same Experience
As a Slugger.
The Princeton College Trainer
Tells the Secret of Success
With That Team.
Sprintins Plays the Leading Iart' h"'
Wrestling and Boxing Are Also
Necessary.

rSpecial Correspondence of THE INDEPENDENTLY
New YORK, May 14.--The training of
football player nowadays is very much after
the manner of getting pugilist into con-
dition. The most successful trainers
of football kickers are also very success
full in getting fstic champions into fine
form.
Take for example big Jim Robinson, the
noted trainer of Princeton college. I'll
wager he has had as many winners in the
twenty four-foot arena as he has had on the
ball field or cinder path. Last year his
Princeton boys captured the college foot
ball championship of this country by their
mastery and powerful playing, and the
greater part of the glory certainly belongs
to Robinson, for the splendid CONDITION ne
got his gallant team in.
"The secret of nv SUCCESS said the
Princeton trainer to me recently IN speak
ING about the champion football players,
sis that my boys worked Tor weeks ana
weeks in the field, hail. rain or snow; the
the sport. It got to be part of their every
day life, and l never had to rush them
along. OF course, once in while l would
catch fellow smoking Or drinking on the
slv. OFF he went from the team at once.
never took any excuse whatever. This was
the most severe punishment student could
possibly suffer, as the boys consider 1t quite
an honor to kick for the old college against
such big institutions as Harvard and Yale.
where there is some !, 400 students to pick
from, while Princeton only has 800"
Sprinting certainly plays the principal
part in footballing. II man be speedy
runner he can often make a goal quicker
than q stout kicker. For this reason par
ticular attention should be paid to running
especially if one wants to play on the rush
AZ a
practice lodging with quick sharp turns, MS
there is very little straight running on the
bah field. Wrestling also comes into play
lin football. A sort of cetch-as- catch-oan,
go-as- yoH-pleasa style. A. back-hee! or
japaneze buck often sends powerful OPP
.ponent to grass. So it is we'll to have
considerable knowledge in the art of
wrestling. TO know how to give man
the shoulder with q little bit of the
elbow-iust enough to knock the wind out
OF him for the time being will be found very
handy in stiff scrimmage. The Princeton
boys understand some good points and
grips in wrestling, as many OF the Yale
players discovered before the end of the
games last fall.
noticed that several amateur boxers
PLAYED very prominent parts in most of the
games last year, and I understand more fis-
tic artists are booked to perform on some
of the big college teams this year. Ihls
hint is quite enough to ambitious foot
baAists. There IS hardly a nTst-class piaye,
in any of the great colleges or universitie
in this country who does not practice box
ing under the instructions of competen
master. He studies the knockout blow a
we'll as the classics. But like the Roman patri
clan youth who fought under the banner Q
Pompey at Pharsalia, the majority of CO.
lege athletes fear the blow that dishRure
the visage. Caesar knew the weakness Q
these Young aristocrats and ordered his sol
diers to plant their lances in their faces in
stead of their bodies. The sight of bloo
and chastity facial wounds is an ugly one
but the foot-ballist that it dismays neve
sucked in courage with his mothers milk
Good kicking is not acquired in day o
week; it takes many menths of hard, earn
est work to get anywhere near perfection
Most of the college teams start out yer
early in the spring and kick themselve
into condition all through the summe
under the watchful eye of their trainer an
fellow students. They sprint, wrestle
slug, jump and dodge until the fall, whe
all the big games are contested for.