Woodruff County news., 1908-03-26
POINTS FOR THE
 CHILD ATHLETE

until he breaks down and then goes to doctor to be temporarily patched up by medicine instead of turning to practical athletics for a more com plete, more lasting cure
 No one has deeper respect for a good physician than l, and no one bet ter realizes the grand, life-saving mis- sion that is his. But I think also that his work can be made easier by advis- ing children to take up normal hy- gienic athletics.
 Baby plays aimlessly, often harm fully. l merely ask his parents to make his natural play help on his best physical development What I pre- scribe cannot harm him. It is sure to help him. The child who literally be- gins life as an athlete runs practically no risk of the countless physical in- juries which await the average un- trained boy or man at every turn. Such boy learns to know his own body before he even knows his alpha bet. And the child Cor man) who has gained that knowledge is well armed for life's battle.
 Baby Out of Doors.
 The baby athlete should be kept out of doors whenever the weather will permit Fresh, clean, outdoor air is the greatest stimulator of muscle as well as of appetite that a future ath- lete can want.
 By fresh air exercise" do not re- fer to the staid walk at the side of mother or nurse along paved streets. The proper place to bring up child is the country. When he is condemned to city life he should be taken daily to play in the nearest park; not, as said, to promenade slowly, but to run, to fill his lungs with ozone, to play.
 Hoop rolling is splendid exercise for making the right arm strong, for train ing the eye to accuracy and for mak- ing the whole body dextrous The usual disadvantage in hoop rolling is that it develops the little athletes right side more than his left To avoid this, persuade him to hold the hoop stick in his left hand and thus guide the hoop as often as he guides it with the right. In every exercise encour- age the use of the left hand and arm equally with the right This may not make your boy absolutely ambidex- trous (though some doctors claim it wilD, but it will give him an equal development of both sides of the body, which not one athlete in twenty pos sesses.
 It has long been a fad with such parents as try to make gymnasts of very young children to try to make them ambidextrous. These parents wonder duly at their failure, forget ting that few years training is not likely to blot out the inherited pro- clivities gained from 5000 years of an- cestors, nearly all of whom were right-handed.
 Ball and Rope Skipping.
 Ball tossing is excellent for the chest muscles of the youngster It also strengthens the arms eff he be taught to toss with his left hand as often as with his right, and trains the eye to quickness and accuracy.
 One of the best exercises any child Cor boy or man, for that matter) can take, is rope skipping. It exercises the whole body, strengthening espe- cially the legs, back and thighs. Great care should be taken, however, that the skipping rope is used in modera- tion. There are several instances where children, challenged to skip 200 times, have followed the feat with an attack of hip disease.
 Let the child skip as long as he wants to, but not a moment longer. If not buoyed up by competition or desire to show off, he will stop as soon as he has had enough and before he can receive the slightest injury.
 Hoop and Wand Play.
 The old French game of tossing small hoops and catching them on the points of wands is splendid exercise for eye and wrist, and will, if two childish opponents be pitted against each other, often keep both amused or an hour at a time.
 Almost every outdoor game, from hide-and-seek to tag, is good in one way or another for the child athlete
 But skipping-rope, ball and hoop are the best, and the child should be in- duced to play with each of the three for certain length of time every day.
 Even in rainy weather the hall of