Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1909-09-26

But here we had better leave him, for
after this he is not even ordinarily polite.
Start to run around the track. you
cows" concludes the coach, land see that
You travel at a fast trot. Well see
whether you are training for foot ball
team or a crocheting club Come on
move"
The band Of athletes starts to move
Rather slowly at first it lumbers heavily
around the track. gathering itself to-
gether in close formation. The coach
emphatically explains what he considers
as trotting and the saddened Warriors
puff. at the third they look positively
wearied. They pause. The coach forms
them into ring. He advances into the
center, holding foot ball in his right
whose outlines family suggest the adver-
tisement for certain brand of tobacco,
he throws the ball in the center of the
ring and yells, Fall on it,
The prospective guard does. One Won
ders that the ball survives the shock.
Trying to sit on it, were you?" inquired
the coach politely.
The candidate bushes, hangs his head
and asks to be given another try.
You understand, of course" continues
the coach in the same calm voice, that
1t has been found useless to try to win
games by using the ball as chair"
The coach passes on to another man,
thin, wiry fellow who looks to be built
OF steel springs. He repeats his direc-
tons, at the same time hurting the ball
into the center of the ring. The wiry
seconds that he is built of springs. and
apparently all springs. He dives at the
ball, goes entirely over II, lands on the
other side of it on the back of his neck
oa6 {y,tr stt%
sits up and grins foolishly at it.
Don't stare at it, urges the coach,
grab It,"
The thin wiry fellow, of whom all will
hear much when the season is progressed.
reaches out mechanically and follows di-
rectiOns.
IF you break your neck on one Of those
back handsprings. concludes the coach,
as he turns to the next man. lit will he
more or less impossible for you to be with
us on the team
Then follows a short and direct lecture
By the coach on just how to grapple with
rolling football. 1t is much more of an
art than one would suppose offhand. Any
thing more difficult to grasp. more elusive
than an oval foot ball bowling along on
end 1t would be difficult to find. The
coach with the consummate grace of a
descending angel fops on the ball two or
three times and then continues work with
the next man. This individual is unfortu-
nately very plump and not yet sufficiently
in condition to keep from showing the
effects of even slight exertion. The ball
bowls to the center of the ring with the
stout player after it. The player makes
an "I'll save you lady" sort of dive head
foremost after the pigskin. The coach
increases his speed by a shove. with the
result that when he and the ball begin
al intimate acquaintance he is exceeding
the speed limit by about 100 miles an
hour. The ball meets him jovially in the
thOrax and he rolls over with a gasp.
'.Hurt?" demands the coach, laconically.
NEUTRALITY-SUSPICIOUS.. grunts the pros
trate hero who in November will carry
some half dozen rival players on his neck
across the goal line.
TOO bad" says the coach sympathetic
ally, the ball ought to have got from
under when it saw you coming
So the coach goes round and round the
ring, encouraging, blaming. arguing, ex
planning and working up the players to
fine pitch of excitement. 1t is glorious
to behold those stout young men, the
lightest Of whom is 1J5 and the heaviest
apparently about 379 pounds. falling
iaboriously on the ground, picking them
selves up, falling, rising, falling, rising
with the regularity of clockwork
Failing on the ball is the first thing
which Is driven into the new candidate,
and even the older men are not exempt
from the hard exercise. The team which
can follow the ball and keep hold of 1t