The Washington times., 1921-10-23
MUST MASTER
LESS Ell GRID
DETAILS FIRST
Perfection Comes Only by
Learning Game From Ground
Up, Says Sol Mst1ger.


u that perfection in funda-
"A mentals must first be ac-
complished before team play is
possible. Lacking either no team
can go far. But the job Of pol
ishing off the varsity football
candidates so they can be nodded
into a smoother running machine
is, in many instances, a task that
tests the ingenuity Of any coach.
Few realize that football is
probably the one great sport In
which the players are developed
from the raw in season OF two
and one-haf months. In conse-
quence, short cuts are necessary
in driving home a point. Some
odd, radical and amusing ideas
therefore come to light as a result
of the efforts Of tutors to skill
their men in fundamentals In a
jiffy.
Take line charging, one OF the great
factors In football. No coach but has
hls own pet hobby In teaching 1t. All
strive to drive home this hobby. Now
when there comes a change In coaches
and a change In system the new tutor
han a job few appreciate the serious
ness Of.
Two years ago a new coach with
hobby for a low charging line spent
six weeks in trying TO get his forwards
10 charge low and without result. Ills
predecessor had taught them to play
high. He was desperate. a brilliant
idea struck him squarely between the
eyes.
The bieachers surrounding this par
ticular athletic field were braced In
the rear with uprights yard apart.
Cross boards. starting from the bot
tom OF each upright ran TO the ad-
Joining one at angles of SO degrees.
Their intersections were little over
three feet from the ground.
BY backing his linemen into these
openings and having them charge out
OF them. he accomplished In two days
what all his coaching had failed to do.
AS nothing scrapes off the skin OF
ones back more thoroughly than the
sharp edge OF a board when a man is
running under. 1t did not take those
linemen more than one day TO in
stinctively shoot low on the Charge.
High Tackling and Its Cures.
Tackling is a difficult art to teach.
especially to players incorrectly taught
when in school. Once a bad habit Is
formed. in football. 1t Is as hard TO
wipe out as any other one formed In
life. Yet in football the coach has
to wipe them out.
Curing a team of high tackling is
no easy Job. But some short cuts
have been discovered. II 10 not only
ineffective, but the liability to injury
Is greater than when tackling low.
One coach cured the high tackllng
habit by the rough course OF having
his backs run at high tacklers and
then plunge into them as high as they
could With full steam up a high
leap OF this kind at a high tackler
usually smeared him to the ground
with such force as to cure him OF his
habit. 1t was a good deal like curing
children of the habit of trying to play
around a stove by letting them touch
the stove. But some of the players
became gun shy" as a result.
Other coaches depend upon the
tackling dummy for drilling their men.
Still others use runners and exhort
their tacklers to tackle low. Yet an
other class teach by example. The
ability OF the average boy TO grasp by
example Is most marked. To such an
extent is this so that the best football
Is usually played by those fellows who
were not only well coached as school
boys but who also have had the ad-
vantage of witnessing leading college
teams in action.
In teaching tackling by example the
coach gathers his charges about him
in a wide circle and then has some
OF his veterans, finished in this art,
make a good many tackles, the coach
explaining each one as IT Is made.
Passing to the Right Spot.
One Of the most important funda.
mentals OF football is to have the ron.
ters feed the ball correctly to the
backs. All sorts of IDEAS nave 49,"
employed from the bulls eye contriV'
ance once used at Harvard to the plan
OF one coach who has a backstop with
three holes in It, each slightly larger
than the ball. Centers work daily
passing the ball at these holes. One
Is so placed as 10 represent the spot
a kicker wishes the ball passed TO him.
On either side the holes are at the
spots where runners wish II.
Getting backs to lift their feet In
running 80 they will not stumble over
fallen players was accomplished
rather quickly by one tutor who
placed a number OF boxes with sides
about six inches high along one side
of the field. BY making his backs
run at full speed down this line they
quickly discovered that high steppers
came no croppers and that low ones
were prone to meet with disaster.
This was but another short cut TO
success. In fact, coaches are always
looking for ideas Of the kind set down
In this article. They help them speed
up their work like sixty.
Copyright. 1921, by Sol Metrger)