Great Falls tribune. [volume] (Great Falls, Mont.) 1921-current, 1922-03-19
PENN RELAY TEAM
LEAVES TUESDAY
FOR BRITISH MEET
Camp Doubtful of Benefits
From Long Indoor Training
for Athletes.
BY WALTER CAMP

| Copyright. 1922. by The Great Falls Tribune
New York, March 1S-Pennsylvania' s
four mile relay team will sail Tuesday
for England to compete against OK
ford and Cambridge athletes. The team
which IS under the management OF
that able trainer, Lawson Robertson
consists of Captain Brown. j. Kerr
$. Kerr and McLane. It is a good
team and should acquit itself creditably
| Meanwhile PENIS track development
Will not come to standstill by any
means, for George Orion, who has It
| in charge, has bunch of able assist
| ants to help him in bringing the "red
and blue" athletes along for later
! events this year. Among them are Alvin
Crantzleen, the former star hurdler
and broad jumper, and Landers and
Bob Maxam.
ALI this makes us realize how close
the real opening of the track season is.
It is good thing that this is so for
not only is the public bit surfeited
with indoor meets, but there is ques-
ton whether too much indoor work is
not detrimental to the development of
STAYING qualities in the athletes.
Perhaps the late lamented Johnny
Overton was a good example of this.
There is no question but that he took
too much out of himself in indoor
meets to be able to last through the
later outdoor season. Moreover, our
training seasons are getting to be too
long for really good physical effort.
There used to be closed season in
athletic sports in mid winter so that
the athlete had something of shift
in interest and in viewpoint That
period of relaxation was really an ex-
cellent thing.
Now the rowing man gets into an
indoor tank or on rowing machine
in January and sees nothing in front
of him but the broad back of another
| track athlete gets through fall games
until he plunges into indoor contests
which last until March when he begins
| to prepare himself for the outdoor
season. The baseball man bats, fields
grounders and throws in the heavy
close air of the cage from the first of
January until the middle of March.
All this is too much of grind
No athlete improves his general physical
condition very materially except purely
| from the muscular side, by indoor work.
! The old timer in football is prone to
| despise the modern player because he
cannot stand long scrimmag;ng such as
was common in the old days. Perhaps
j
there is, We ought to know it for most
football men engage in other sports and
do indoor winter work. All this should
give food for thought on the part of the
athletic authorities.
All work and no play makes Jack
a dull boy. But when preparation for
play is continued through so many
long months and particularly with
methods which are not interesting. then
preparation for play becomes work and
we get similar results. There are plenty
of trainers today who believe there
should be certain breaks in the tedium
| and monotony of training and this be-
lief seems to be growing.
The disciplinary effect of athletics
on the other hand comes directly from
willingness to do hard work and boring
work in order to acquire skill and
technique. This is necessary basis
| and foundation for any achievement
but the indoor methodical work of the
,, athlete. like the playing of scales by
Il pianist. may be carried to such a
point as to take all life and energy out
of the system. Then relaxation is es-
sential before the true touch and spirit
can return.