New Britain herald., 1926-02-25
ATHLETICS AIM ID
 FOLLOW ONE SPORT
Specializing in Certain Lines Cause Of Record Smashing Feats

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 New York, Feb e5 R-prrscn,- .day track and field athletes repre- sent no better material than those of generation ago. in spite of the modern wave of record smashing.
 This is inc opinion of Harry I. Ilillman, noted athletic coach at Dartmouth college, who attributes the sensational Improvement in cur rent performances To several causes , ---impr0vcd methods and equipment, Inc fruits of experience and Il ton. dcncy for athletes to specialize.
 IItllman. in outlining his views on the unusual development of track and field sports fo rthc Asso- l ciatcd PrcS5 speaks from back ground Of long experience. Himself star hurdlcr and runner of other days, nn Olympic champion in 1904 he has added 10 his fame IFS n coach.
 Specialization. Hillman believes, l has had most 10 do with such spec I tucuIar fcats as those of paavo Nurmi, Charley Hojf, Harold Os- born and Dehart Hubbard. Such mon as these have unusual ability i ir more than one event. Hillmnn ad- mits but he points out that each also has q specially in which he cHccs all rivals. "Osborr." he cx- i plains, "can do many things very WV" but his best event is the high jump. Ilof can run. jump and is an al-aronnd performer. but his hest event Is the pole vault. Finer son Norton Is good at many things and one of tho few athletes who has not specialized. hut he would make a better high jumper or pole vaucr if he concentrated on one or inc other. Hubbard is star sprintcr and good hurdler, but hia real event is the broad jump. Mar fin Sheridan. the old a'l-around champion, was good at many things, but no doubt his best effort was in discus throwing. Evcn Nurmi would be better man at Inc mile than he is if he spent his lime on preparing for that only"
 Dealing with other facts infuonc- ing improveme Hillman finds hct = ter athletic equipment an important hid. For instance. he points ont, pole vaultcrs now have a regulation vaulting box whero a few years ago the 'Hallo- off' hole would b" from four to fifteen inches in depth.
 "Coachcs have prontcd by their mistakes and those of others" Hill man asserts. Tn addition, colleges now engage two or three mon as in strurtors where ten years ago one coach did all the work. Athletes too. make study of the particular ly good mon in their speciality now iadayS" Here, for instance, are the examples Of faster running perform ancos resulting from the stimulation of Nurm'S record foats. liotf, in the same way. already is inspiring better polc-vaulting among th< lhomcbrcd talent.
 The development in athletics in the past twenty years has been par ticularly rapid among college men
 Hilman finds. "They really are tht nucleus of inc American Olympic
 teams" he says. "and will be iron
 now on. X college youth will tran
 harder and study harder trying tc
 perfect himself in bis particular
 stunt with more concentration thar
 the average club athlete"
 In the midst of the general nm movement however, Hillman not''
 the lack of good distance runners il
 America. It is due mainly. he think' n inc failure of clubs to stimulate , this sort of competition.
 "nistancc running needs ffl]oW more matured than the aIor2S' . college undergraduate, he says , bu+ clubs can encourage th"s ! coIIncc-trainrd men to continn" T ,ho game. Any runner who nj" : Spcnt four years in coN"g" tract af nlrtlCS WILL lh d bN'''l F' t'N''' 5 after graduation if he will con'lnu
 to work as hard and train as "'' q g he did in college"
 Criticism from tho medical pro fossion that distance running is in
 iurious also has been q deteren l factor. according 70 liillman, but Ii characterizes it as ridiculous. There need he no fears, H'lIma believes. In this connection for "
 vouth, fairly well maturcd, in goo phvsical shape, and with heart an jungs normal. who takes good car l of himself and is willing 10 make n U sacrifice necessary to his dcVfIol ] mont as n distance man"
 "Thc1e is absolutely no reason , .ho Dartmouth coach conclude "whv America can't have as gooa'
 moi hotter, distance runners ina
 ,rv nation in tho world"