The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1917-10-06
(By Sol. Metzger Noted Washington
& Jefferson Coaoh.)

(By SOL Metzger Noted Washington
& Jefferson Coaoh.)
Football is a strange game to many.
The average enthusiast enjoys the
physical struggle shove all else and
Tor that reason the belief that weight
is supreme has long held with some.
I doubt If many people recognize the
finer points Of the ganae-morale and
skill, each the result of long and spe-
cial training. During the early sum-
mer when the now settled question
of whether ~or not we .weres.to have
football this fall was uppermost DIR.
Harry Williams. the old Y ale half
back now coaching Minnesota brought
out this point clearly when talking
about the outlook. He was Of the
opinion that the elevens playing this
fall would be made up for the most
part of new men but that the crowds
would still go to big games in spite of
this because the game played would
appear to them to be ON a par with
former days.
The ''beef' idea is uppermost in the
minds of football followers even this
fall. When we read about the OUT
look of various teams we see that, the
men of weight are headliners and that
lie PtOSPSClS are SOOo VI pOOI III QIO-
portion to the amount of avoirdupois
up of lot of big fellows certain
spirit Of optimism prevails.
On the contrary football is game
of skill and morale. Weight alone,
as desirable as it is, cannot win the
day. And this skill and morale are
what make the game So popular, un-
recognized as they are by it's follow
ers. Were it. not for them football
would long ago have died natural
death. With them-skill and spirit
as prime requisites the mislead aca-
demie cannot execute 1t, much as he
desires. America, sound and bal
anced, sees the need of such a game
in connection with its educational adj
vance.
To be sure there is no tone of US
in the coaching game who does not
prefer big men to small men, but
| everything else must be equal. OF two
teams of like skill and spirit the
heavier will win out Just as a dollar
has more purchasing value than sis
bits. But the more skilled and spir
tied elevens will defeat the heavier
ones just as easily as Rockefeller cal
1 get bigger results with less none.
than most of us. System skill and
spirit. the latter nothing more thai
self-conf1dence and the nerve to try
are valuable assets and have been a
the basis Of most success in any lin
/ Of endeavor.
Big men, as rule, are not a
| adaptable to the game as smaller men
Unless they have been trained from
boyhood in athletic exercises they ar
clumsy and often in their own way
Another point against them is tina
they have not had the uphill fgh
as boys that smaller ones have alway
had, a struggle which has resulted i
giving the smaller boy a finer spiri
and temper. In fact, the big, fellow
who enter college with great reputa
tons as preparatory school footbal
players sometimes lack the grit an
lighting spirit of the smaller boys.
They have had the advantage 1
physique In all athletic contests. No,
they find themselves fighting on eve
terms and sometimes, unfortunate a
it is, they lack the grit to give an
take. Then football either makes tf1eI
or shows them up what they are. In
stil1ing spirit and fight in boys of thi
type is one of the biggest problems c
) football coaching the solution c
) which has 50 much to do with tn
boys future. The gridiron. not tn
classroom. offers the only refinery fo
such types of boys in our preser
scheme of higher education.
Il Unless squad Of big football play
ers is carefully handled it is very like
1y to get the German military ide
, that it is supreme. This spirit {
4 -f><,r, <,nff n &C n Pr
the team as it has done for German,
1.-THE spirit Of fight and confidenc
t which is a nobler spirit by far, will,
/ the end, overcome the spirit of COZ
l ceit, and Humpty Dumpty will HAY
l a great afall from which all II
! | coaches cannot hope to rescue hir
: The big man is the big problem of Il
} coach. He is easily made a victi
5 of his own best asset, soon thinks tn;
: the newspaper articles and the Ia
4 about him is fact-that4h has arri'
ed at a state of football perfectio
Y needs no coaching and Is really Il
a inventor of the game. Bang! go
a 4 the season.
j The game of football is mostly
i game Of skill and morale. 1t r
8 quires nerve and grit to play ones be
d against either odds or an even bres
a and it requires more nerve and 81
4 to keep everlastingly at 1t during Il
entire game under just such cond
tons. If one player let's down
weakens or gets the thought that b
team cannot win then the other tea
finds it's opportunity and conquers.
q I like to think and do believe tn
4 the mental side of football, togeth
n with team and individual morale,
wi outrank the physical side. I pne
i that those coaches longest in servis
i and who have been successful, kns
b this to be fact While they 81
i every attention to the training a,
n development Of the physical tn
&c know that the big games are won
n the other fundamental factors. T
n selection of men for positions, t
y conception of systems of play to
the material, the development of q
IT Tense to meet the oppoAtion's alta
e are purely mental acts, as is the a
h plication of plays to given condito
lie in games
81 In fact a study of football hfstc
"a brings forth the Interesting proof til
se the game has developed in one respe
g only and that vs. along mental lin