Omaha daily bee., 1909-03-07
WITHTHE COLLEGE ATHLETES
DOings in the Field of Sport in East
and West.
ATHLETES LEARN sELF-DEN1AI
some Considerations on Athletic
Games. Their value and n
they Mean TO the Man I'm
College while = student,

AOAhe&e 0NAt = SNNuChhf
A tall, rosy checked lad was walking
through a restaurant the other evening
when one OF the men sitting at a table
leaned over and said to This companion;
See that big fellow? That is Bill So-snd-
so. who used to play football at Harvard.
The. other man replied by way OF com
ment: Got a fine color. hasn't he? He
looks a whole lot better than most of the
college athletes I have seen a few years
after they get through with athletics"
The other man merely answered.; well,
why shouldn't he? He never has done a
stroke of work since the day he was born
and he has been able TO exercise every
day in the open since he quit college. That
is why he looks as we'll as he does"
After the athlete got out OF the room
the two men fell to talking OF their own
college days and of athletics, in which
both were interested. One man brought
up the case of a noted Dartmouth football
player who after leaving college was forced
to do a large amount of violent exercise
every day in order to keep his physical
standing anywhere near the mark. This
recalled to one OF the men. who himself
was a Pennsylvania football player of no
small prominence. how badly he had felt
during a winter season OF enforced indoor
work in Philadelphia after he had left
I~college.
The other man, who was a Columbia
athlete OF much less prominence. was able
to instance the fact that after he quit
college and athletic exercise at the same
time his physical condition deterlorated
rapidly, so that before the end of four
years after he left college he really was a
sick man. with these instances as a basis
a discussion started between the two men
as to the worth OF college athletics.
In favor OF college athletics 1t may be
said that sports bring together men In
ways which almost no other college or
sanization can do. This is a better means
of becoming acquainted than Is the college
fraternity because men of all fraternities
and OF all grades compose the athletic
teams. Furthermore it has been said even
that college athletics tend to develop a
good spirit OF endeavor in the men, to
teach them team work and the Importance
Of careful training.
They learn habits OF self-denial for stated
periods and they get a great deal of open
air exercise, that is from the major sports.
Such competitions as gymnastics bring with
them a great reward in the way of muscu-
lar upbuilding. and some other indoor con-
tests. such as hand ball. basket ball and
fencing. tend to develop the auickness OF
eye and alertness OF body which are very
valuable in every day activities.
The Pleasure of Competition.
There is a great deal of pleasure in the
competition of athletics, and a great many
men who otherwise might have got every
little out of their college courses discover
new worlds when they enter athletic sports.
some men who never were particularly
apt at anything when they were in school
come out for athletics in college and de-
velop some OF the better traits of their
natures, and in many ways are benefited
by the keen contact with other men. The
fighine spirit which accompanies excellence
in athletic sports, often helps to bring a
man out for himself, so to speak.
A good many men when they enter col
lege are too self-centered and II takes
something like athletic sports 10 bring them
TO realize that, after all, there are Others
in the world. Outside OF the so-called dan
gerous games, in which may he included
base bail, foot ball, hockey and lacrosse
there is slight chance of physical hurt
, from without. That il TO say. a man who
Ii a track thlete At no time rum a greai
chance of breaking a les or OF beine
thrown to the ground and swapping his
collar bone.
Foot ball carries with it its percentage
of injuries and sometimes in college has,
ball games a man will meet with some
hurt. Lacrosse and hockey are vel
known rough sports, but the fact is thai
year after year a great many men go in
for these games. play season after season
without hurt and come out at the end f1nt
specimens. with their muscular beings de
veloped to as high a point as could be de-
sired. In fact, it may be said that any on'
college sport, followed nationally and sen
sibly. should bring good physical results
to sny one who takes his competition In
IL soberly and sensibly.
On a Quiet Scale.
There is a great deal to be said in favol
of college athletics on a quiet scale. Ir
some institutions sports have long since
passed by che point where they can bs
held to small dimensions. In some places
. sport on a quiet scale is an im~possibility
II is in such institutions as these thai
/ athletics has passed the useful stage and
may be said TO have reached actually
: harmful one.
Summing IN the beneficial sides Of ath
letics in colleges, the result seems to b.
! that sport develops traits OF hardihood
feariessness, self-restraint and charactei
t in the men who go into them In the RICH
, spirit. There are some men who nevei
! would get good out of anything, no matte
Z how Il was conducted. II is TO the un
! pleasant prominence Of some OF these mel
: that college sport owes much Of the abus'
. which It has received in recent years. .
! Exercise Must he Kept Up.
\ But there is another side 70 the eolieg'
athletic game, After four years OF har'
! physical work many a man quits colles'
4 athletics and goes directly into bushes
+ and plunges into his life career so dee
! that he has no time to come up for any
y thing but money. He neglects physica
= exercise and for a time feels we'll enough
D But this feeling does not last forever an
y he discovers after a time that he has pu
e his body into the habit OF exercise, q habt
= which Is no easier to shake than any other
~ ba continues 10 neRiact that feature 3