The Brattleboro daily reformer. (Brattleboro, Vt.) 1913-1955, 1916-01-25
BRAINS AS CHIEF
SPORT REQUISITE
Successful Men In Athletic Pur-
suits Must Think Ahead.
NO PLACE FOR THE DUB.


Calculates at Least Two Moves In
Advance-Headwork Equal to Fists.
Strenuous Game of Water Polo Is
Growing In Popularity.
apply the principle of chess-think
q couple of moves ahead all the time
and you have the secret of success of
the big men in nearly every game i'll
the calendar of sport" is the concise
expression of opinion as given by
Charles A. Dean, ex-president of the
Central Association of the Amateur
Athletic union. That Charles knows
whereof he speaks there can be no rea-
sonable doubt, inasmuch as he has re-
fereed In nearly every sport extant.
Continuing, Mr.. Dean said:
The dub in basketball has to stop
and think what he is going to do with
it when the ball is passed TO him. The
expert, the man who stands out i'll the
game, is the one who knows what his
next two or three moves will be. He
does not hesitate when the play comes
to him. He is the quick thinker, the
analytical thinker, and as such he has
a great advantage over his fellows of
less nimble wits and less foresight.
Builds Advance Defenses.
'The chess master is not puzzling
over the present. He is building up an
attack and a defense, and to do this
his mind is far ahead of the men in
their positions on the board Your sue
cessful big league baseball manager is
| planning his battle all the time 1t is
not necessarily inside baseball that he
is using, and he is taking advantage of
! the breaks, just as the chess master is
| doing, but in the second inning he is
! projecting himself into the third and
| fourth and fifth innings. He is the
manager who wins baseball games.
'On the gridiron it is the captain or
coach who makes his plan of battle in
the first period for the third quarter
that has the edge. The boxer who
goes into the ring figuring ahead is the
one who keeps at his mode of attack
and wins with it. In golf the man
who can think only of the mistakes of
the present is the one who must suffer
in the future at the hands OF the man
who forgets his errors and builds for
the succeeding hole.
''Take the game of water polo as it
is played at present It is coming into
more popularity than the old slam
bang, drowning, neck breaking, Ro-
man holiday style of polo ever enjoy
ed, and it is all because this new game
brings out more mental effort than the
old one and just as much physical ex-
ertion.
I'm this game it is a pleasure to see
Hebner and McGillivray and others of
the national championship l. A. c.
team in action because of their SUI
preme coordination of mind and mus
Gle. They are planning ahead, playing
the game of chess in water all the
time. When Oats McGillivray OF
Harry Hebner gets the bali it does not
stay in his hands. He is thinking
all the time, working out forms of at
tack and defense, and his team play
shows it.
''This is just as true of one sport as
it is of another. No man in any game
! can rise to the top unless he uses hi:
head more than his hands and muscles
In the track and field game l have
seen many a superbly physical but I'm
intelligent runner beaten by the les
developed man because the latter use
his gray matter. He planned his race
his ego was a couple of jumps aheat
of his toes all the time In swimmin,
;, every muscle works, but with all th
muscles going the mere physical ma
chine is not a winner if its headquar
tiers is not doing the right sort of di
recting.
Headwork Equal to Fists.