RELATION TO LIFE.

Ashburton Guardian, Volume 56, Issue 126, 10 March 1936, Page 6

RELATION TO LIFE.

THE BENEFITS OF SPORT. ARE THEY OVER-RATED ? Panegyrics are frequently delivered upon the inestimable benefit to be derived from participation in sport, how the virtues of courage, perseverance, and the sense of fair play are inculcated thereby. But these delightful notions are unfortunately not free from criticism. hTe idea that sport constitutes a panacea for all forms ot human defects is erroneous. In this respect it is interesting to note the opinions quoted in the repoit of the Carnegie Foundation which m vestigated the problem of the relationship of sport to health and study, k/pcu’j should be regarded somewhat in the nature of a powerful medicament to be prescribed .for one individual m one strength, for another individual in another strength, and for a third to be absolutely proscribed. Those who from scientific measurement and otnei data appear to he the best endowed physically and mentally, frequently tail to fulfil the promise of success in the struggle for existence, and often do not surpass as they should their less active fellows. Although, remarks the report, it is insisted that the attributes of courage and initiative are inculcated by sport the truth is probably that under proper conditions it may develop such traits as are present in a normal young man, hut does not inculcate them at all. . Not Unduly Severe.

This indictment may appear unduly severe, but there is little doubt that sport in many instances fails to perform the oracle so fondly supposed it does. Far from inculcating desirable social traits it often fails to utilise and strengthen those that may be present, as it were, in embryo. Yet, in spite of the fact that sport has been endowed with attributes which observation and experience do not support, there is no question that when properly harnessed and directed it contributes powerfully to the physical and mental welfare of its devotees. It is perhaps in its former aspect that it works its greatest influence. Given a person possessing the instincts of a sportsmen, and the spirit of fair play is probably inbred (it may be acquiied only as a veneer), experience of the vicissitudes of sport, its successes and its reverses, exercises upon such an individual an influence which is of no little consequence in a wider sphere of life. But it is an instinct which must be generated, or rather stirred, into activity at an early age if it is to fulfil the complete object of its creation. And it must naturally be guided int o its proper channels. It does not,. as so many who descent upon the spirit of the game would have us believe, immediately become the master of its own destiny. It requires encouragement and direction to permit it to grow to maturity in a manner best fitted to benefit both the individual and the com infinity. The sportsman may be born, but he is also partly made. Many traits, which would tye admirable were they exploited,' are too often permitted to dissipate themselves in avenues little calculated to develop the finer instincts.

Wield Great Influence. And it is in this connection that the value of having men of undoubted integrity acting in administrative and coaching positions cannot be overstressed. It is remarkable the influence a man of mature age and unblemished character can wield over immature minds. And by the same token men in whose characters the defects easily outweigh" the virtues can exercise an influence as pernicious as the other is valuable—a fact that indicates the necessity of distinguishing the good from the bad. Mere participation in sport will not in itself develop fully whatever inher ent qualities one may possess. Breeding of a nature which will consecrate all that is best is the corner cone in sport. Nor does the engaging, in sport, result in the formation of qualities not originally present. It may appear to graft on attributes which closely resemble the real thing, but under the stress of circumstance it is never difficult to distinguish between the orn and the wholly “made” sportsman. The latter inevitably offends, be it on the field of play or in the world of more material tilings, against the spirit or the game.