Evening star., 1943-02-17
There Will Be Sports,
But Of What Glass,
Is Big Question
Army, Navy, Colleges
All in q Muddle Over
Wartime Program
BY the Associated Press.

There's a major muddle in the
Nations sports program-and blame
it all on the Axis.
without exception, Army and
Navy men agree that competitive
sports are desirable. in fact. neces-
sary. to train a young man to Go
good JOB in his more important task
Of fighting the war
There's the muddle-shall COM
petitiyr sports include playing on
varsity teams under college color, or
merely playing principally for ex-
ercise? There's no ruling.
Boiled down. the whole matter of
armed service participation in sports
stands at the moment like this:
Army-Officials directing the spe-
cialized training which
will put soldiers into most colleges
as students-say there won't be any
time left for varsity sports after the
so hours weekly required for scho-
laStic matters. Col Theodore P.
Bank. chief of the athletics and
recreation branch, has said com
petitive games have been a powerful
weapon in the Armys training pro-
gram to date and it would be un-
reasonable to surmise that they will
be thrown out of the window now"
He explained his reference was to
competitive sports in camps and not
intercollegiate athletics.
Navy Was On Its Own.
n.,N ;~t@ y
we'll into front ranks of collegiate
football last year. But they didn't
play under college colors; they
played as pre-f1ight squads against
some mighty good opposition.
Colleges-with most athletes in, or
about to go into, the armed services,
coaches would welcome stars in
uniform-without them they face
lhe prospect of building teams
around the students under the 18-
year-old selective service age or
unfit for Army and Navy
services.
1t. Comdr. T. J. Hamilton, director
of the physical training program for
naval aviation, joined with Bank
in urging continuance of comeptitive
sports on a radio program Monday
night, saying competition is tradi-
tional with the Navy, and pointing
out that competitive methods are
used in reaching high perfection.
Like Bank. however he didn't define
competitive sports"
Among sports fans themselves,
there are two schools of thought on
what should be described as COM
petitive sports"
One group points out that group
OF youngsters racing to the nearest
swimming pool-or skating pond
are engaging in competition. their
race is minor sports event. and
they're taking part in competitive
sports
There Will Be Sports.
Under such definition the COM
petltive sports of members of the
armed forces conceivably could be
carried out satisfactorily with all the
benefits Of personal and team COM
bat through what almost might be a
"sandlot" league of pickup" teams.
But there's another side to the
picture. There isn't much com
petitive sport" in a foot race be-
tween a f1eet-footed youngster and
his fat chum. The speedy young
ster is in a class by himself and
doesn't have the combat" feeling
when he can easily outdistance his
competitor.
That's the part of the whole mud
die that is dismaying to sports ad-
vocates. Under the sandlot pickup
system there wouldn't be much
strong competition; probably a few
good teams meeting no worthwhile
opposition.
Just one thing apparently is
will continue to be
competitive sports; possibly the big
colleges won't have the teams of
previous years; the big spectacles
may be just that; chances are that
service teams will take the lime
light-but there still will be sports
of a sort.