Mineral Point tribune. (Mineral Point, Wis.) 1869-1938, 1895-01-24
HOW THE BOYS TRAIN
HARD WORK OF COLLEGE ATH-
I4ETES.
THEIR EXERCISE BY NO MEANS
rILAY.

THEIR EXERCISE BY NO MEANS
PLAY.
Practice and Obedience the First Re.
guis les for Team Candidates What
They Eat, What They Drink, aud
the results A Rigorous Course OF
Discipline.
No sooner does the college athlete OF
today finish with one course oil train.
ing than another begins for him
Hardly had the cheers that greeted
Nale's winning crew as they pulled
their boat over the finish to an easy
victory died away when we learn that
the Harvard football team have gone
into summer quarters TO begin their
training for the campaign of next fall
From now on all the college gossip
will be Of football except that aroused
by the unusual interest IN track athle-
tics prolonged beyond its proper pc
riod this year by the recent YalelOx.
ford contests After the final Thanks.
giving game has decided the champion
ship of the gridiqon field, baseball will
crop up as matter of interest. and the
candidates for the nine will begin
work In the cage, to continue there
until such weather as will permit OF
outdoor play, Winter championship
contests from time TO time will serve
10 keep UP interest In field and track
athletics, and while the rivers are
still icebound the college crews win
begin their preparations for the dis
tant fray. For the conscientious all
around athlete there is no such word
as vacation. Men who thin. 1t il a
heartrending hardship TO be compelled
to make up a delinquent examination
IN French or mathematics will cheer
fully spend the summer months In Il
ceaseless round Of exercise, denial, and
restraint, or I'M addition to their regul.
ar term work required in the college
course will spend hours in cage, tank
or gymnasium without Il murmur.
And the college authorities permit and
in many cases encourage 1t because
they believe that in this way the young
men are learning lessons and forming
habits of the greatest value for their
future.
In all training for athletics the first
requisites, according to the New York
Sun, are faithfulness and implicit
obedience to rules. Not many years
ago there was Il man In Princeton
who had In him the making of splen-
did athlete. lie was big, powerful,
active fellow, and was reckoned upon
as a iirst-class forward for the foot
ball team, but 1t was found that he
would not train or practice regularly,
and after Il short trial on the varsity
he was relegated to the scrub team,
on which he played at intervals, al
ways playing the mischief with the
opposing rnshers and putting np al
most invariably a hard and brilliant
game. After seeing him play one day
an alumn1ls who was much interested
in football went TO the varsity cap
tain and asked:
"How is 1t that you haven't got
Smith ON the team He is better than
most of your men,.
'iSmith is the best forward In col
lege today" assented the captain, "but
he won't train"
"What of that? If he can play with
out training, why lose a good MANI"
Because, while he would undoubted.
ly do more than his share, the general
effect on the others Of putting on the
eleven q man who absolutely declines
to train or practice regularly would
be 80 bad as to more than overmatch
his value. Even III this were not 80
the effect OH football In general would
be bad. Our best tradition Is that no
man who won't train can play on the
varsity"
In the following year the man in
question trained faithfully and became
one of the great names In Princeton
football annals. This principle holds
good in all big colleges. 1t Is rigidly
adhered to at Yale, and a Harvard
man who last year was a famous
player failed Of the football
team, although first-class player, be-
cause he shirked his work. OF late
years training has become less rigid
in one way. The same amount Of
work Is done, but more time Is taken
in doing 1t. lneessant, heart-breaklng
exercise is a thing Of the past. Men
now train men as they train horses.
Before the new system came In 1t
was no uncommon thing for fine
athlete TO come Oh the field and make
a miserable failure when apparently
In prime condition. His muscles would
be firm, his health perfect, to all APP
pearances, and himself as sound as
a dol ar, yet he would go to pieces
simply because the monotonous grind
of unremitted training had worn his
spirit and ambition away, and there
was no steam to propel the perfect
machine Those were the days when
an athlete was always hungry and
always thirsty. Haif-raw meat, bread
without butter and a little fruit made
up the bulk OF his diet, with little