Evening star., 1926-12-07

through several minutes with broken
shoulder. piece Of stark heroism
which | would hardly belieVe my sen
II l had not seen it. Fine as his
courage and Stocism were, he would
have been much more useful on the
side. lines, and he cost his team sew
cral yards before his condition was
noticed This incident serves to show
how many things one man would
have to watch If he tried to rely on
his own unaided powers of observa-
ton.
If, the coaching force is not large
enough, | advise getting assistance
from old players who know the game
or even substitutes themselves. in
keeping a close individual watch on
every man on the field-not only to
be Informed of his physical condition
but to iudce, as far as may be. of his
play and it's possibilities of improve
ment. hree or four good men can
easily watch the individual play of
the. eleven. but no one man ever
should attempt it.
During the first half I believe that
the ,coachS job Is chiefly to observe,
through his own eyes and others. and
not TO NEEDLE more than he must with
the leadership of the elevenS on the
field. If you have not managed to
teach your quarterback and captain
to think for themselves, your team
will be very apt to be beaten before
you can wig-wag orders to them from
the side lines. and will deserve 1t, too.
Strategy Often Neglected.
Such instructions as may properly
fall to the part OF the coach concerns
rather the relief Of wearying players
and the choice of men to replace
them, especially since the adoption Of
rules allowing a player to leave the
game and then return to It, which in
themselves open up very consider
able field for side-line strategy which
often Is wholly neglected. A substi-
TUT going out on the field always
must be warned about reporting to
the officials and avoiding speech until
after play has been made. Even so.
there will be enough instances Of for
getfuinesS to satisfy anybody.
never have believed in coaching
from the side lines even if the rules
did not expressly forbid it. The more
a coach can teach his players to do
their own thinking the better the team
will behave. One of the best features
Of foot ball is that 1t develops initia-
tive. A we'll coached eleven goes on
the field prepared for every emer-
gency.
There is one and only one way Of
stopping a coach from trying to cap
tain his team during games. and that
is one, beautifully effective, which re-
ouires no officials and no rules. 1t is:
The team which is run from the side
lines will lose every time against
fairly even opposition trained to do
1ts own thinking. The quarterback
has. too many things to watch on the
field to keep his eye on the side lines,
and no coach can get the close view
of the playing positions which is es-
sential to sound field tactics. Getting
consistently beaten will cure any bad
habits coach may acquire.
7 Rest Interval Invaluable.
I.also learned In those first years
at Princeton that the 15-minute In
tervAl between halves is pure gold for
the coach who knows how to use 1t
and a time of trouble and defeat for
the man who has failed to realize its
possibilities In zach direction. All the
trials Of the preliminary suspense are
multiplied here. Fer every intruder