The sun., 1912-08-04
TOO MUCH CREDIT GOES
TO ATHLETES TRAINERS
The Man Himself Bigger Factor
Than Mentor Who Tries
to Develop Him.
VIEWS OF BRITISH CRITIC
English Teams Physician Has
Only SCOTS for CensOrs.
Sclf-AppOintcd.


Now that England has gone so far In
her efforts to rehab!itatc her athletic
system rs to propose to engage an Ameri-
can trainer, the question OF how far the
trainer is responsible for the success Of
| the American team is worth considering
| That the trainers have more power and
influence in this country than in Encland
is admitted everywhere, though II is by
| no means certain that they dominate the
| situation so completely as some Of the
| English papers would have their readers
believe. As Il matter of fact there are
many who think that the college sririt is
the incentive that leads the American
| youth to great deeds on the track rather
than the professional trainer who looks
after his physical condition while he 10
winning honors for his alma mater.
Cases are few indeed where IA college
trainer takes from the ranks Il man who
has nov previously indicated the possess
sion uf high athletic ability and develops
/ tnat man into an intercollegiate champion.
, Nearly every man who wins honors u. the
! h. meet for coleEe men may be traced
back 10 his schoo!hoy days and In tina,
trac.,E IL is generally found that. while
! comp. Ting for his school. he has shown
tn. speed OF agility which later makes him
! famous IN the athletic world. That the
trainer can put on the finishing touches
. which make the difference between victory
and d, feat f. generally acknowledged. but
the history OF track and field sport con-
tairs many Instances Of men who have
! beaten al CuIners and who have never
| taken advice or instruction from any man.
! one rotahlc figure In American athletics
! who looms M as big to-day as he did
/ thirty years ago. when he was beating the
hest runners in the world. Is the late
I Lon Myers, and Lon achieved his hur-
lreds OF victories without the aid of a
! professional trainer Of any kind. In his
day all the Ing athletic clubs had was
It grounds man. who kept the track III
! order and occasionally gave the men Il
| rundown after their work. Yet Myers
/ created a., big "A sensation in England In
! his dav ds Meredith. sheppard. Craig
| Reidpath and the other American f'iers
have caused In the olympic games OF tho
| present year
! In the volumes that have been writer
| on the subject there f. much that Is fool
| ish, and the statement credited to ont
! American tra,ncr that ne could take the
| team England sent to the Olymp!cs and
| in three months beat the American team
| Is probably the most foolish No amount
| OF training could develop ordinary or ever
| good men 10 the pitch where they could
| defeat such natural runners as Craig
Meredith and Reidpath-'nen who have
! been moulded into champions by their en-
| thuslasm for school and college contests
! No one of the leading trainers taught Cut;
| terson how to broad Jump. yet he out
| leaned every one AT thS olympic meet and
| II Matt McI;raths wonderful powcrs u
! throwing the hammer came from III" in
| strIctions received from any of tho grea
| developers, that man has been too modes
/ to proclaim II.
| Thcrc ,s at least one Engiishman wh'
I has not lost his head IN the frantic de-
sire TO Initiate American methods. ard h'
1 treats the subject of scientific training "
! reasonable fashion IN an article published
/ during the Olympic games. This Is Or
I Adoiphe Abrahanls, who was the consult
| ing medical officer to the British olympl,
/ team Dr. Abrahams says In part
! II is of course obvious that na.ur,
/ must have the first word. Tie sprnter
! the Marathon runner. the jumper, the
weight putter all are endowed prirnarl,
with the essential features which hdap
I them for their particular sphere. SO much
, would 'bo conceded by anybody. be h,
! scientific authority with Il more Or les.
! instructive objection to artificial aids. OF
! woulo-bc coach with an obvious axe I,
| grind,
But now we have 10 consider how fal
! these natural exCcllencics can be devei
| opcd. We have two schools Of argumen
| i'm this matter. on the one hand there
IL what might be called the natural selec
/ tiouists. those who hold that, natur,
| will find the best way to achieve the be-.
! results. she had better be let alone. or
! tho other hand, there Is what I would cal
, the school of trainers or coaches. who ain
! "a artificial Improvement. and who has'
! their system either on the most elabcrat,
| scientific principles or who 80 to the othei
extreme and claim equally good results b,