Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1929-05-20
SEEMS ESSENTIAL.
TO WINNING GAMES
70 Per Cent Now Have 1t and
Leading Elevens Come
From This Group.
BY III. C. BYRD.

PRING foot ball practice
seems to have become an
accepted part of the athletic
program in the colleges.
Originally attempts to carry the
Fall sport over into the Spring
months, in efforts to develop
greater efficiency for the follow
ing year, raised a howl from
coaches of Spring sports, but ad-
juStmentS seem to have been
worked out almost everywhere SO
that there is very little objection
from this source. In fact, very
little objection now is being raised
from any direction.
Probably one of the most interesting
bits of information that have been
given out recently about Spring foot
ball practice comes from Hugo Bezdek
at Penn State. Bezdek early last Win
ter began a general inquiry among all
colleges and universities to determine
what factors influenced most directly
success in foot ball and summation
of replies to the QUESTIONABLE he sent
out indicates very strongly that Spring
practice plays big part in the building
of an eleven for the following Fall.
of the country have Spring practice
and in this 10 per cent were found
the successful elevens.
Have Quoted Down.
General opposition, that is such OPP
position as arose from faculty members
who felt that foot ball was being over
emphasized, seems to have subsidized. 1t
seems to have been a case of students
using their recreation hours each day
for foot ball and after three or four
years of such workouts evidently no
harmful results were found. About the
only criticisms that followed that were
from coaches Of Spring sports who ma
turally wanted to get all the material
available for their squads and not have
some of the best material lost in foot
ball workouts which, from their point
Of view, counted for little.
However, these objections have been
met in many places by simply turning
varsity men as were desired and having
the other members of the gridiron
squad practice foot ball. At some
places, however, Spring foot ball is just
about the same as Fall foot ball, with
the same men taking part in it. In
some Of the big universities, as one
coach put it,, the foot ball players play
foot ball, the base ball players play
base ball, the basket ball players play
basket BAH and the track men are out
on the track. and it is definitely under
stood that If there are not enough star
athletes to go round 1t makes no
difference.
Another thing that is helping to meet
the situation is that In the South the
schools have their Spring foot ball in
February and March and usually quit
the first or second week in April, before
Spring sports get well under way. In
the North, where big cages with dirt
floors are available, Spring foot ball also
is held during the Winter and then ex-
tends somewhat into the outdoors as
soon as Spring opens sufficiently to al
low outdoor workouts.
Jones, Meehan Defend 1t.
Tad Jones of Yale and Chick Meehan
Of New York University, speaking at the
Georgetown banquet short while back,
were strong in defending Spring foot
ball. Both said that there was no rea-
son why the players should not use
their recreation hours in this kind of
physical exercise rs any other, and both
gave many seasons why they felt Spring
practice was valuable.
Bill Raftery Of Virginia Military In
Stitute thinks that, for the early sea-
son games, Spring foot ball makes lot
OF difference. In other words, that any
squad with six or eight weeks of prac-
tice in the previous Spring against a
squad that has not had such practice
has big advantage in october. Raftery
does not fesI that the difference is SO
noticeable in November.
1t is a fact, however, that the good
teams almost every Fall are teams that
have had lot of practice the previous
Spring. Georgetown has done a good
deal in the last two months to build its
october eleven. At least Coach Little
feels that way about it. It is Titles
policy to make Spring practice Just as
near what it is in the Fall as it can be,
and II anybody doubts that Little car
rles out that policy that person can get
ample testimony from members of the
Blue and Gray squad.
Naval Academy pursues policy some
what different to that of Little. Bill
Ingram kept his men out for about six
weeks this Spring and did so not so
much with the idea of having lot of
real foot ball, but more to develop men
In specialties. AS Ingram told the
writer: Spring foot ball for us this
year Is process of making four or five
men in certain particulars. We have
some vacant spots that have to be filled,
and some men must be developed in
special lines to enable them to fill those
vacancies"
South Has Advantage.
Down South Spring foot ball has
taken on a more serious aspect than
anywhere else. Take North Carolina, for
instance. There big squad was divided
into four squads, each squad labeled
name. and two games played each week.
Squad A would meet squad B on We'd
nesday and Squad c would play Squad
D on Saturday. Washington and Lee
had a regular game last week as a part
of its workouts, and 1t is said that the
University of Virginia has been doing a
lot more serious training this Spring
than any time in previous years.
Unless something unusual happens in
the collegiate world, Spring foot ball
will hold a regular and accepted place
In Spring activities. Adjustments to
meet local conditions in the several
universities and colleges seem to have
allayed opposition from coaches of other
sports, and there seems to have been
little foundation for any other oppose
ton. At any rate. the great majority
of gridiron squads are going through
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