The Fargo forum and daily republican. [volume] (Fargo, N.D.) 1894-1957, 1911-02-03
COLLEGE COACH
No EASY JOB
WORK OF TRAINING A SQUAD
OF ATHLETES is VERY TEDIOUS
AND TRYING ~ MATERIAL is
RAW AND HAS TO BE MADE.
RAW AND HAS TO BE MADE
YALE SYSTEM POOR.

The making of an athlete, contrary
to the general consensus of opinion is
a long and tedious process, and cost
ly as we'll. Especially is this true of
the man who represents a college or
a university in an athletic contest.
1t is not simply case of getting
man out and running him around a
track for a few days or weeks previ-
GUS to a track meet, or coaching him.
up on a system of signals previous
to the opening of the football season.
There must be carefully planned
and consistently worked-out schedule
of training, which includes not only
actual practice for the particular set
of muscles used but careful diet
and clean living state, which as the
Jeffries Johnson fight would illustrate
is the most important feature of the
whole process.
There are very few athletes who
enter college who are born winners.
Once in a great while a coach will
pick up a dark horse" that is,
man who can go right out on the
field the first time he ever sees a
pair of trunks or a football suit, and
startle the whole community by tear
ing off a record.
Usually it is a case of taking a
man while he is a freshman and
secondrater and working him all of
one or two seasons, with nothing
whatever to show as a result, and fin
ally having him crawl up into win
ming form. The good coach is the
one who win look ahead and train
his second team men for the future.
YaIe's System Poor.
The poor showing of Yale last year
was attributed to the fact that the
system of coaching at that school in
cludes only careful preparation of
the varsity men, while at Harvard the
second and third teams are given
special attention. Thus at Harvard
they have two or three full teams
which can make nearly as good a
showing as the first squad, and this
has saved them many a game.
The training table is one of the
most important features for a contest.
Too much emphasis has sometimes
been laid on this part of the train
ing, however. The real benefit in
the training tables lies as much in
the result upon the mental condition
OF the player as upon the physical
condition. There they meet at a
common board, and there grows up
spirit of fellowship and friendli-
ness which means much on the track.
the gridiron or the diamond.
An athlete viii train about as con-
Eistently on the training board as he
will off, and the man who is really
conscientious about the process will
take good care of himself, whether
he eats at home or with his team.
The man who doesn't care will do
enough carousing and breaking Of
the training rules away from the
table to make up for the good effects
which it has
The coach usually uses the common
table to talk over the work Of the
team, and it is here that either high
regard or an intense spirit of dislike
will grow upon the part of the telrl
for the man who is directing their
work
Another essential detail in the
athlete-making process is the rubbing
and training. During track, or ~
ball season the college student body
is always called upon to supply a
number of men who are willing to
come out each afternoon and put in
an hour or two rubbing and working
the muscles of the contestants 1t
is thankless job. and only intense
college spirit, that thing which every
body can easily recognize, but none
can describe, will prompt one to do
HI