The Washington times., 1937-10-13
VEXING PROBLEM

indeed, for pro team, too-Iong
has presented a veXing problem
for grid coaches to solve. In some
instances, mainly through sheer
luck, the problem has been solved.
In most instances, the problem
remains unsolved.
Men wise in the ways OF foot
ball tell us that the bodies OF
athletes are always working at
some set level of energy; that to-
Gay the energy may be high and
tomorrow it may be low; that to-
day the athlete is full Of pep"
and tomorrow down at the heel;
that today the body Of an ath-
lete will work with smoothness
and with lots Of available energy,
yet tomorrow will work with
rough spots showing and only a
small quantity Of quality" energy
available.
Psychologists call them tonic"
levels in describing the facts men
toned in the foregoing paragraph.
It is almost an tmpossibility for a
coach to detect among a group Of
football player under his COM
mand the various combinations Of
bodily condition which may exist
at any moment. When his body
is at a low level of "tonicity" the
athlete is wide open to injury, for
then he is performing, as the pSy-
biologists have it, with uncon-
trolled abandonment" while if he
is performing with his body at a
high level of 'tonicity," or with
controlled abandon" rarely, If
ever, is he injured.
REDUCES INJURY
Psychologists are convinced that
q certain kind Of skill and honesty
on the part Of athletes materially
reduces the risk of injury. The
skill, we are told, and by no less
an authority than Coleman r.
Griffith. director Of research in
athletics at the University Of Hi
nois, lies in learning to get knowl-
edge of the condition Of ones own
body just as accurately "as one
gets knowledge Of an object by
looking critically at it." The hon
eSty lies in making use Of this in
formation even where it makes
for the disadvantage Of the indi-
vidual-although to the advantage
Of the team.
Almost Immediately after an
athletes body is put to test, in
athletic competition, especially in
such q game as football, the ath-
Iete, himself, by utilization Of
somatic perception, realizes the
level Of "tonicity" at which his
body is working. It is a sort Of
sixth sense which brings home to
him the condition" Of his body
that is, the "tonus" or peppinesS"
Of his body. "Somatic" percep-
ton, Of course, is muscular per-
ception.
Football critics stated, after last
Sundays Washington Philadelphia
professional game, that the Red
skins performed badly. OF
certainty, they did, but why?
Well, the answer is quite simple,
but to understand it one must have
been exactly in the same position
which several, if not all, Of the
Redskins found themselves last
Sunday, once the game was under
way and the individual units Of
the team were called upon to use
their muscles.
HERE'S ANSWER
The answer to the three serious
injuries in yesterdays scrimmage
is just as simple.
When several of group of ath-
letes find themselves with bodies
performing at a low level OF
tonicity, there is nothing left to
them but to try, through use Of
what has been called cumulative
skill" to overcome low tonuS.
Rarely are they able entirely to
overcome low tonus, but when
they do, it is because some fac
tor not under their control en-
tiers the picture and renders I'M
expected aid to the individual and
to the group.
It is entirely likely that had
Georgetown been performing
against small college eleven in
yesterdays scrimmage, or against
. high school team, several of the
HoyaS would have received severe
bumps, If not severe injuries. For
the coaches and the squad, it is
what the golfers call, for lack of
a better name, "rub-o'-the-green";;
for the player it is "just one of