Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1905-09-17
Making of a Foot Ball Team
NEUTRALITY-SUSPICIOUS. aSS*fs

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| Foot bail Is once more in season. once
more has come the day when the ambitious
youth losses aside his ball glove and bath
ing suit, and disdainful of the entreaties OF
| his anxious parents. hastens OFF to his alma
mater with surprising alacrity. During the
past week hundreds of little groups OF men
| and boys from every state in the Union
| have gathered in every corner of the coun-
| try to begin to fall on the ball and on each
| other Some energetic statistician has esti-
| mated that there will be hundred thou
| sand players during the coming season. He
| might well have added that there will be
| fully 81 5000 spent upon them by the va
| rious institutions for whose glory they pro-
! pose to battle.
| Not that any of this money Will go direct
| ly to the players-aithough rival managers
| do let slip inSinuations of the sort-but
| every cent of 1t will be spent to make them
| more efficient units in some foot ball ma
| chine. For foot ball, in the larger colleges
| at least, can no longer be termed primarily
| a sport; nowadays everything is subordi-
| mated to systematic attempt to turn out
| a combination of men so drilled and con-
ditioned that they can defeat similar COM
| binations from neighboring institutions OF
learning. Such a team is good business
| proposition, too; Yale seldom fails to clear
| 10000 each on her Harvard and Princeton
| games. This the case, it follows that a
| wide-awake manager will spare nc effort
| to secure the very best playing material
| available, and no expense to perfect it
| once in the fold.
He first sees to it that he has the best
| coach he can find disengaged. No self
| respecting team in these days attempts to
practice except under the eye of some vet
| eran skilled in the ms and outs of the
| game. There may be trainers and assistant
| coaches besides, but the head coach is abso-
| luie The manager Is guided by his advice
| and the captain is merely his mouthpiece.
| Each coach has his own theories of attack
! and defense, and drills his men to put them
| into practice. Very naturally successful
| coach commands enormous salary.
| Hurry Up Yost, who has recently buiit
up such phenomenal teams at the univer-
| sity of Michigan, Is said to receive S3,5o0
| for his three months work. But an IN
vestment of this sort brings results. ana
| every institution endeavors to secure the
| best man 1t can afford
| No sooner is the coach under contract
| than he begins to look over his material
! for the next season. With the captain he
| runs through the list of men in college,
| noting all those desirable because of OK
perience or of likely physique. "Bill' Reed.
| whom Harvard has chosen to renovate her
| foot ball. has begun by preparing a card
| catalogue bearing the name of every man
in the university that might be available
| for the game. Those men already on the
| squad are notified when to report for prac-
| tice, and pressure Is brought to bear upon
| the others to induce them to come out. The
| preparatory schools have already been care
! fully canvassed for promising new material
and the alert coach keeps his eye on the
| more desirable recruits that they may not
| waver in their intention to matriculate at
| his college.
| Somewhere about the middle of Septem-
Der, around the day set for the first practice,
| the men begin dropping into town. Senior
md hire Sby may q iC "
| the assistant manager, escorted to the
| training table. and later presented with his
| Jersey, khakis and bandages. jolly crowd
| sits around the quarters and discusses the
prospects for the coming season. The coach
| mingles with the fellows. chatting cheer
| fully, while his keen eyes are noting every
pound of superfiuous flesh on the veterans,
and studying the build and temperament of
| his new proteges. Somebody Is always
| pounding the piano; jokes fly back and
| forth. The sub-freshman begins to think
| that foot ball Is going TO be one glorious
round of sport.
| He is gradually undeceived: If there was
| ever a sorer or sitter man than he is after
| the second days practice he wants to
know Of It, This despite the fact that
| there has been only the lightest kind of
practice. All the men--except those whose
has sa them do p pnd
| short-winded. so the coach gives them
nothing to do but to kick and fall on the
| ball, with perhaps few sprint starts and
| some short dashes. After each practice
| the squad runs around the track a few
| times and makes for the dressing room.
| The shower bath over, each man sits
around on his towel awaiting his turn for
| a rub" When 1t comes he stretches out
! on a plank like corpse on dissecting
| table while the rubber annoints him with
| a biting linament. works out the sore
| muscles and replaces lost skin with cot
| ton and collodion.
| nv dinner time he is hungry enough to
| eat a horse-and. IL training table tradition
! may be believed, he does down large por-
| tions of that animal under the title or
| beef The old meat-gorge theory OF train
ing however Is a thing OF the past; near
| Nv anything a sensible person would eat Is
| allowed on the modern football bill of
fare. The lack OF pie. cake. tea, coffee.
| hot bread, fried stun and fancy dishes is
naade up by an abundance OF meat, milk,
| toast eggs, and fruit
The rundown and the training table
| Continue about the same throughout the
season. but the practice gradually In
creases in severity. After the first two or
| three days the squad Is set to work on the
dummy" which is nothing more nor less
/ than stuffed figure swinging from
| s.ross-beam. On this the players are
| taught to leave their feet for tackle ana