The sun., 1905-09-13
LESSONS OF SEA GlRT MEET,
SHOOTERS DISPERSE TO THEM
HOMES WITH EXPERIENCE:

IL
General Order Of war Department ehanE.
Ing Progra Of Events Worked
Havoc Among RInemcn Professiotsa,
Coaches Needed u! Weaker feams.
The six hundred odd riGcmen who gathered
nt Sea Girt from all quarters oi IN" country
and from one of il. Pacific Sca colonies took
hack with then, practical lessons that Will
luye "A wide reaching influence upon the
uromo,ion of American skin with the inllitafE
weapon that is used III '0iumolpbF ih" res'-
lar services and the organized militia. sew
eral important changes that we're introduce"
into the national match this year were thor-
on ghIy tried pi.,. and there MAS - Ieherai
unaninty of opinion among the close lol-
lowers, of tho gnlm ns to their relstivr sue
cess or failure. ihe elimination OF coach.
ing. the development Of greater individual
skill tho su,riority of perfected team Work
over Individual prilllancy, the methods oi ION.
ductlng big match. changes IN the oroer oi
events and the question OF range lacn'"s
we're Ill thrashed out and are expected to bear
fruit in the councils OF the Natioha' I''''e
Association next winter,
The big meeting was Begin under handi-
can that threatened to reduce Its conduct to
choas and that He'd the edge OF the indi-
vidual competition BY the general oroer OF
the War Department under whose provisions
tho ina tches were conducted the natural oruer
OF events was arbitrarily reversed ana the
national individual preceded the national
team match. The Individual match promptly
degcneratcd into period OF preliminary
practice for the team match, I'M stead OF con-
t,st for Individual honors among the best
shots on the range. and the team match. Tor
which the far Western and Southern teams
had made eacrifices OF time. was delayed
three DAYS. With the exception of the Ne
bra aka team. every principal and alternate OF
the thirty-eight com peting teams was entered
BY the team captains, and In many instances
the opportunity was taken advapt tage OF to
choose the team from the showing made by
the individual men. A three day period OF
preliminary practise had already been pro-
vided. -.....,..
BY reason Of this bllnder the 'ofhcers Of
the matches were unable to handle the big
field. and the progress OF the match orasged
on leisurely time being wasted throughout
the slow and rapid FIVE stages with profitgacy
that gave the old shots chill and the mex
perienced riiemfn erroneous ideas about the
game With such big field the relay system
was adopted and with the varlabls weather
many contestants fired their entire strings
under good conditions. while others found
rain and high winds awaiting them at each
range The big entry list dwindled but
for the benefit of the last event. the skirmish.
even though they had fallen down hopelessly
at the other stages and were clearly out of
the running for the prizes; Next year the
individual match will un questionably take its
proper place on the program. followin sthe
team match. -. ... ..t
that was watched with the keenest interest.
and it developed some interesting phases.
While the role Of the. profession al coach
dropped into the BACKGROUND OF obscurty
and on the leading teams the knowledge OF
wind and light had been undoubtedly ad-
yanced, among the team members it is doubt
fnl II the change aimed at was attained. Last
year teams with expert coaches were enabled
to follow without error the changes OF con-
dtions, and the man actually firing had but
to follow instructions. hold Ike rock ana
run UP good scores. u r.. t1.gs.
The change was made with the ides that,
thrown on their own resources. the shooting
men would make a closer study Of conditions
and that the fine points would no longer be
confined to . few experts. 1t also was aimed
at teams that had obtained the services Of
efficient coaches and who we're getting re-
suits The change. however. worked" no
detriment to these teams. a. in the team
match their aggregate SCORE in practically
every instance topped the SCORES made by
them under the old coaching system This.
too, under conditions that were most difficult
and in great contrast to the uniformly good
conditions of the 1904 match. The change. how
ever, worked little good among the weaker
teams.
The case Of New York. the winner. and
Tennessee the last team, may well be cited.
Each man on the New York team. being a
skilled Judge OF atmospheric conditions. was
capable of coping with any change and with
the shooting in pairs the man firing took
the judgment of his mate without gu estion.
On the Tennessee team there was not man
with such knowledge and when a change of
light or wind was easily apparent shooting
pairs were unable 70 call the changes. At
tae 900 yard range. whore the leading teams
~ayerag ged $50 Under the wotst Of conditions.
Tennessees total for twelve men was forty
eight Miss after mise was recorded and the
In n the opinion Of many rifemen who are
keen to spread the knowledge among the
weaker ssfh Ia Tsanesses
aSH EnoHlease "f q long range arlps inersased
Is not only improbable. but the natural as
sumption is that interest in rifle practise
was sadly disSonraeed " a "a IaSnS them Ihe
!"f%'05 ssne Of e the ss tssns Many sess had
Sba'ir the importance port Of thoroughly knowa eie-
vations II is not surprising that one team
failed to score an average OF siX, hits per man.
That the weaker teams realized their lack
Of knowledge was evident in the way they
sought information of tho cracks. New
rendezvous and the sub:target gun with
which the Seventy-frst New York supple
ncnts the routine Of gallery and range prac-
It's" was popular object of interest with
them The good natured New Workers. were
kent busy showing its operation and N di-
VI ei interest with the alligators OF the Flor
! ] casual trip around the big camp would
have shown that the teams in Tennessee's
class even failed in the knowledge OF how
to clean a rife, the universal practise among
them being to clean from the muzze to the
portant point. Yet these teams had travelled
thousands of miles and made many individual
sacriccs to attend the meet without the
'lightest hope of winning place.
was -" a d vind,cation % Of her S system Of team team,
work. that has been developed with great
care. The most prominent Illustration Of
tho reverse of that system was that of the
army infantry team. While New York's
twelve shots rank high as brilliant individual
performers, team system as clean cut as
that of q varsity eleven won the match. OF
the regular service teams the marines and
critics who ,prophesed that these two teams.
robbed of their coaches, would drop into the
r,,ck saw them exceed the scores made by
them last year under coaching. The in
faptry team, however. forced to follow the
army system. had but hurrcdly built up
team work aud onl" her individual strength
won second place The infantry team is
the result of successive competitions and
an illustration of the survival Of the fittest
tta s mott nd n s,I