Evening star., 1932-12-07
HARDEST TO TEACH,
COACHES DECLARE
Ball Toters Usually Poor
BIockers--Timing Is Most
Difficult to Learn.
BY WALTER TRUMBULL

vi LOu AAIIIC' SA"A'"
Y coach, and John F. Nee
han, whose pupils at Man.
haitian College have done so we'll
this season, say that the hardest
thing in foot ball to teach play
er is blocking.
Bennie Friedman, whom Fielding
Yost and others describe as an all-tlme
quarterback and who has starred In
and taught professional foot ball since
he starred at Michigan, as well as
coaching at Yale, says that the hard
est thing to teach a foot ball player IS
what he terms "deliberatior,' WITH
blocking next. :, ;.
"Denberation. poise, timing, call 1t
what you WILL" says Friedman, is the
hardest thing to learn. You can teacn
a man the mechanics of passing or
kicking. but it is always problem TO
teach him to time his throw or con-
ce1trate on his kick so as to make II
good"
"There are a lot of men," asserted
Friedman, who can pass just as well
or better than / can in practice, but
then comes competition, with the men
rushing them. They develop ire
mendous anxiety to throw the ball. 1t
is hard to learn to keep in position and
not to hurry pass"
FRIEDMAN spoke of Jack Grossman
i of the Brooklyn professional team,
saving that he had the maklngs OF
a star, but that it had been hard 10
teach him to disregard charging OPP
ponentS and concentrate on the Dali
when he kicked. Once he learned that,
his kicking began to win games.
st picked Clark of Portsmouth as the
best quarterback in professional loot
ball. said Friedman, because OF his
deliberation, his sense OF timing. a
triple-threat man, Clark passes ac-
curately and unhurriedly, kicks surely,
runs with his head up and picks his
holes, and when tackled always man
ages to fall forward. The best line
man in professional foot ball is Mike
Michalske, once of Penn State and now
a guard on Green Bay. He has the
same faculty as Clark for keeping cool,
taking his time and using his brains.
It's a pleasure to watch him play"
Meehan and Little declared blocking
was by far the hardest thing to teach
and Friedman agreed that it was the
most difficult Of what generally are
termed the fundamentals.
sA LOT of fellows never acquire
"A blocking" said Little, notably
the star ball carriers. 1t is Just
as in base ball you find few great
hitters among the pitchers. good
runners whole mind is set on ohense,
and while blocking is used on offense, 1t
is in itself a defensive weapon. run
ner uses his hands. which is a human
instinct, but a blocker is forbidden the
use of his hands by the rules. :.
"Tacklers can use the arms ana
hands" continued Little, but not
hlockers. Yet good blocker is always
a good tackler. A man who oepenos
on his arms alone is 'reacher' ana
not a dependable tackler. but the
blocker, used to making contact, some
times tackles without use of his arms,
very effectively knocking a runner OH
his feet.
the most important of the funda-
mentals. A good blocking team is gen
orally a winning team. I had, this
season, pretty good blocking team at
Columbia, but would have spent more
time on it, except for the fact tnat !
had small squad and couldn't af1oro
to take too many chances of injury.
Blocking requires ruggedness. A blocker
must take punishment"
n TITLE said that next season he
IL expected to have a little larger
squad and would devote more at
tention to teaching blocking:
1.-THE smart COACH" says Chick Nee
han. "gets a good ball carrier ana tnen
surrounds him with blockers. Blocking
is the hardest thing to teach, because
it's the hardest thing to do. The new
= .1I Ill T1r0U10.
ing that a man must not leave MS 1eet
until he makes contact. That Is the
proper manner in which to block, any
how. The great trouble always has been
to teach the blocker not to leave his 1eet
too soon and, as we say, shine shoes
1'It is hard" asserted Meehan, ITO get
q great ball carrier to block, because
his instinct is Just the opposite-to get
away. Sometimes you can teach MN TO
be a blocker first and ball carrier
afterward. At New York University,
when Connors ran with the ball strong
cleaned up for him. The next year
Strong carried and Hill blocked. strong
was a far-better runner, because ne
knew blocking, knew what Hill would
do and could guess what the man 10 pc
taken out would try to do.
81 A BLOCKER" said Meehan. must
n depend upon his body and tim
ing, but the tackler can s1destep
the first time, crash the second time
use his hands, do a lot of different and
varied things to get away. You can get
any bov to tackle, but it takes long ef-
fort to teach him to block. If the block
ers do their jobs ball carrier can GAL
lop to a touchdown in an overcoat.
Friedman says the great secrets OF
blocking are to keep the feet spread,
the center of balance low, the back
straight and the head up.
He saws it took them five days to
teach him that at Michigan, and that,
in the meantime, he spent most Of his
time on the ground with somebody
walking on him. But, once he learned
it, he never forgot it and he has taught
it to many player since.
Copyright. 1892. by North American News
paper Alliance, 1nc.)