Grand Forks herald. [volume] (Grand Forks, N.D.) 1916-1955, 1918-05-27
UNCLE SAM IS
one OF BEST
SPORT TEACHERS
Thousands Of Men Syste.
matically Trained in
Athletics.

What the government ha done In
instituting athletics in the wal
camps, and the significance and i'm
portance that it attaches to this work.
is told-in keeping Our Fighters Fit
For Wal And After" Century COM
pany), written by Edward Frank AL
len in cooperation with Raymond B.
Fosdick, chairman Of the commissions
Oh training camp activities. The book
also contains a statement by President
Wilson on the value of the entire pro-
gram.
The chapter devoted to athletics
says:
There are over a. million men sys-
tematically engaged in athletic ac-
OF this country and the primary pur-
pose of 1t all is to educate the men to
be better fighting organisms. Incl
dentally. of course, there is recrea-
ttonal value to athletics. Indeed, it
might be generalized that the aim Of
athletics in the training camps here is
to make the men fit to fight while
'Over there" it is a matter Of keeping
them fit to fight. In France and on
the soldier and sailor is extremely
strenuous at times, and deadly mo-
notonous at others. the recreational
value Of sports naturally becomes the
more important. Men just out Of the
trenches after nerve-racking days
amid flying bullets and bursting shells,
turn instinctively to athletics for d.
version. But at first the problem Is
distinctly one Of educating body to-
gether with mind along lines Of Of
fensive fighting.
1t is a big work. this organizing and
directing the athletic activities OF
fnYfv fhnY19a nd MAN ASNA sAonIN ~ ktoa
divisional athletic oficers has a man
sized job. But the recreaEons are re-
markable. Football. baseball, soccer,
boxing, track and field athletics-in
fact nearly all the sports known to
Americans--are INDUCED in by all the
men. Never before in the history Of
the country has SO large a number Of
men engaged in athletics; w be-
fore has its physical welfare received
set bumped and not mind it. The
quality Of persistence is being de,
! veloped. The contribution of athletics
toward developing an aggressive fight
ing spirit is tremendous.
'"The sports included in the camp
curriculum, such as boxing and other
personal contact games" says DR..
Raycroft (the member of the wa de-
partment commission in charge of
l AA rS0AAp(p &c VIGIL SsfoO-
lected primarily to prepare the men
for the struggle to come. and the
value Of the athletic training they
have received will be fully realized
when they go over the top"
Boxing, as DR.. Raycroft has pointed
out, is intimately related to the bust
ness of bayonet lighting. I have seer
boxing lessons in camp given to one
thousand men all at nj the class
being directed by a man on q high
stand. One thousand boxing lessons
at the same time. I said to an officer
standing by:
How many Of these men do you
suppose nave ever struck another
since they were boys?"
mot ten per cent" he answered,
and I think he was right. The boxing
which these men did in friendly bouts
later taught them what personal con-
hict raj One of these days the quick
ness and aggressiveness so developed
will be the lei OF saving their
lives Detailed groups OF men who
have had previous knowledge of this
sport have been trained by the boxing
instructors to become their assistants
such as baseball. with its Is diamond.
in n field; football. 50 highly de-
veloped that g game between two
camps brings in gate receipts of $40:
900; basketball with 124 courts In
one camp, there are tennis. fencins
and in some northern camps a whole
outht Of winter sports. And there Il
one phase Of camp athletics hardly