Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1917-12-17
TRACK ATHLETICS
MAY Be eURTA|LED
Lack Of Place to Hold Meets
May Hit Indoor Running
in Vital Spot.
By q. c. BYRD.

By n. C. BYRD.
Indoor track and field sports in
Washington this winter may be mainly
noticeable by their absence. For sew
eral years. barring one period of inter-.
ruption for one OF the meets. two sets ,
Of games have been held at Conven-
ton Hall. one under the auspices OF
George Washington University and tho
other Georgetown. Convention Hail
has been taken over for government
use, and it appears that there is no
suitable place in the District for hold
ing such competition.
Without a place to hold the meets
at is not probable that either George
Washington or Georgetown will under
take to finance their usual events 1t
lis said that Georgetown has been max
ing an effort to ascertain II it could
use the building constructed for Billy
Sunday. but no announcement OF Its
success or failure along that line has
as yet been made Georgetown mas
gone on record as intending to carry
out its plans for the meet provided
there is possibility of success.
II no meets are held here this winter
it undoubtedly will mean considera-
BILE curtailment of track sports. In fact,
practically no track sports viii exist,
except in the high schools: and it is
questionable if the high schools Will
! carry out a very broad Plan the main
object of work in the scholastic insti-
| tutions will be to ge- ready for the
1 spring events. Neither the schools nor
the colleges in and around Washing
ton are sufficiently strong financially to
| send teams north for competition.
| Once in awhile that can be done, but
| then only small squads of the best
men make the trips.
| Sure way to become a noted ath-
| lete"-eniist in the Army. go to France
and do something out of the ordinary.
| If one accepts some newspaper reports
] in their entirety there have gone to
| France from this country more men of
| the NOTED athlete" type than have
| been produced. That Is a distinction
1 that should not be applied to a man IL
| 1T is not deserved. It may be the idea
| that man who can nght we'll and who
has lot of endurance must have been
| a NOTED athlete" and that to be an
athlete Is one of the necessary requi
sites. Nothing ever was further from
| the truth. Athletics will develop a man
| wonderfully in moral and physical
| courage and stimina. but it must not
| be thought for even an idle moment
| that there are not splendid fighting
\ qualities in those that are not athletes.
/, Many a man who never saw an athletic
| field from standpoint of an actual
| competitor will rise to heroic heights
and probably many who have had all
| the advantages of the best athletic
training Will fail to do what is expected
| of them.
Changes in the basket ball rules for
this year are of q minor character.
Practically all the alterations are
nothing more than notifications or
| Qualifications Of certain sections. The
annual Guide" which Is just out,
prints the following explanations Of
changes az an article by hr yoseDh r
jRaycroft of Princeton University:
The one important modification Of
the haying code has to do with the
court itself. 1t has been the expert
Quently has been deprived Of a well
earned field goal by what might prop
| erly be termed the technica1ity of being
score: his team, has worked the BALTIC
its goal by. skill; he shoots for goal.
but his foot has touched the line and
the goal is not allowed. Often. too,
| there Is a serious question of doubt in
the referees mind as to whether. a
| player is in or out of bounds on a close
play under the basket Accordingly
the rules committee has provided a new
end boundary line.
"A diagram shows the marking Of the
court as prescribed by the revised sec
ton 2 of rule 1. The plane Of the
blackboard no longer marks the boun-
dairy line. The entire blackboard is
within bounds. and on the floor the
player has additional leeway of two
feet under the basket.
This change is frankly an expert
ment. 1t is one which seems well
worth taking. however. and it is of
fered in the spirit OF opening up the
play still further. OF course, where
the end boundary line is Wall this
section cannot apply, and the end line
must be the straight line. as hereto
fore tsee note to rule z. section %.
Rule 5. Sec "A substitute to enter
| the game first reports to the scorer.
! Rule 6. Note to Sec. THE referee
and the umpire are advised to wear
separate and distinct costumes from the
players These officials have no author
ity to agree to changes in the rules ex-
Rule s, Sec. Sin the case of stimuli
Itaneously called fouls on the same play
by both referee and umpire. the de-
cision awarding the graver penalty
shall prevail.
Rule s, Sec. 10-The note reminds US
| that the scorers horn does not stop the
game. 1t is merely signal to the
ireferee.
Rule I, Sec. 2-The definition of the
term out of bounds is affected by the
change in the end boundary line.
Rule {, Sec. 6-For the sake of clear
| understanding the note to this section.
Irelating to dead ball. has been rein
stated. 1t tells clearly the conditions
under which goal counts or is not al
lowed by the referee.
rule I, Sec. This is one of the
most important rules in the game, be-
cause if a player travels with the ball
J illegally he gains distinct and unfair
advantage over his opponent who is
trying to guard him. The following
statement is made as an effort to make
clear the legal methods of playing the
ball under different conditions;
"A player who is standing still when
The receives the ball may step one foot
lin any direction in making a pass or in
starting a dribble. but the remaining
foot must be kept in position until the
ball has left his hands. A player who
is standing still when he receives the
i hill r,ar in thrnuriner for yna1 stem or