The New York herald., 1922-04-10
SPAE7H TELLS HOWS>
TO REFORM SPORT
Insists His Candidates for VAR
sity Fights Stand Up Well
in the Classroom.
Is OPPOSED TO sCRAMMING'
Rowing Mentor Declares
Training for Football Causes
More Strain Than Crew.

Special Dispatch to THp New York HERALD.
PRINCETON, N. j., April ST believe
that what we ought to do Is to polerize
the athletes and athleticize the polers,
and not have highly specialized groups
OF mere polcrs and other highly special
ized groups OF mere athletes" declared
DR.. j. Duncan Spaeth. director of row.
ing at Princeton. when asked to-day
the best way to reform present day
athletics. "Athletics ought to interfere
with studies and studies ought to inter-
fcre with athletics" continued DIR.
Spaeth.
The arbiter OF Princeton's destinies on
the water thereby gave expression to
the system which he has always followed
for both himself and his crews. He not
only is director OF rowing at Old Nassau,
hut professor Of English as well. He has
always insisted that the candidates for
his varsity eights be well up in their
studies. and is never troubled by preb-
lens of ineligibility. Last years varsity
s. undefeated throughout its four races,
held an unusually high academic av-
crage. Heinie Leh. the stroke. and Jack
Brush, bow. were Phi Beta Kappa men.
DIR. Spaeth Is strongly opposed to
athletic contests. IF our ideal was to
prevent athletics from interfering with
studies" he says. I'VE ought to have all
Our baseball games in summer, football
during long Thanksgiving vacation
and rowing after commencement. But
chat is not our ideal. The value Of ath-
letcs is that they offer legitimate
change from studies, both for the play
ers and the spectators. just as studies
offer "a legitimate ri, from a tb1ptico
Should Go Hand In Hand.
Il don't believe in athletics without
studies, any more than / believe in
studies without athletics of some kind.
Men now go from an orgy Of cram
ming" for football to an orgy Of cram
ring" for examinations. / don't believe
in "cramming'' for either football tests
or academic tests. / believe in whole
some alienation every day between
strenuous intellectual work and strenu-
Gus physical work of some kind. Each
Is recreation after the other. and so you
approximate the normal idea in which
work Is pleasure and you may derive
pleasure from your work."
DR.. Spaeth firmly believes that extra
curriculum activities are good thing
In college. because, he says. "the pur-
pose OF education is to teach man to
sfad iiiiiSctl up. Ine InOTe VERSATILE d
man is. the more difficult will be the
task. He will have to learn better how
to organize himself and his time
IL Is also his opinion that studies
should have equal share with athletics
In college life. with the emphasis mainly
on the studies. My quarrel with ath-
lctics," continued DIR. Spaeth, ''is that
athletics as often conducted at present
dc not interfere with studies at all, be-
a InfA is nnt 1af,, ,.art,
studying to interfere with his athletic
pursuits, and then very often at the
close OF the season he goes to the op-
posite extreme and hasn't sufficient ath-
l.tics to interfere with his studies dur
ing the 'cramming period before exams"
The period OF special intensive train
ing for Princeton crews before the big
races in the spring Is short, because
of the fact that DIR. Spaeth keeps his
men in good physical condition all the
Year around. He makes a distinction
between the physical training of man
and the expert skill needed for the
special contest. and points out the diff
ference between crew and football In
the former sport the training Is slow and
regular throughout the year. so that the
men are not subjected to the severe
strain of a hard preparation for a big
race longer than a month in the spring.
Football Presents Problem.
In football the men are out of condi-
ton most OF the year. and then suddenly
are subjected to long hard. sudden
period of training in the fall. eff foot
ball men rowed In the spring they
wouldn't be SO soft In the fall they cam
rot with safety enter a scrimmage with
out two weeks previous hardening" de-
clared DIR. Spaeth.
D,.
football men should spend In preparation
for the big games. leaving that matter
To football coaches. He himself has
careful system worked out for his men,
MY duty as a faculty member and
varsity COACH" said he. rs TO see that
the men SO arrange their time that
athletics. while interfering with their
studies. do not absorb their whole time
and become their chief interest. Play
to win, but don't live to play is my
motto"
Dr. Spaeth is not In favor Of regattas
for which preparation Is made after coll
lege Is closed. when men devote all
their time exclusively TO sport, when
they live to play. then the amateur spirit
Is gone" he declared. 1T is sometimes
said that what is worth doing at all IL
worth doing as well as 1t can be done,
but college athletics are not worth being
done so well that the fever for efficiency
drives out the JOY OF the game.
II find that excessive efficiency often
acts as boomerang for men who have
lost their zest for the game are no
longer capable OF doing their best In
the game. Never play game that you
can't afford to lose. and then play as
though you couldn't afford TO lose, is a
good rule to follow. and II followed 1t
will take much of the sting out OF de-
feat and destroy much OF the zest OF
winning.
When you play game that you can't
afford to lose IL 10 war. not sport. TN
fortunately the spirit of intercollegiate
athletics is too often like that Of the
spirit of war. and then we get con-
dition that reminds us OF Gen. sherman's
definition OF war"