ATTAINMENT OF PERFECTION.

Press, Volume LXVI, Issue 20086, 15 November 1930, Page 7

ATTAINMENT OF PERFECTION.

A WBLSH PLAYER'S VIEWS. f,PWU OTO ceRSSSSBSBEjjT.) .-' „ October 9. Ht Bewe Harding, s*tel#h inter-I wrtiwi*! hais an article in this weak'« "Athletie headed "Why Now Zealand Teams jDxcel." "As a nation," says the writer, "we are proud of the fa<it that we have taught the rest of the wqjld how to play games, Now»d»y» soiae of our erstwhile pupils play these g&mes a good den! better than ourselves, and this is eemetimes at evidence I of tfc? of British manhood. Others reply that, en the-, contrary, this merely proves that our rivals have wot learned "to piny the game'' in the right spirit, for they treat sport not as a recreation but as a business. Vnfoftuiriately, only a few people have suflielent. leisure torealise their potentialities as golfers or tennis players, feat there is ro reason why every amateur player should not set himself a stgfpdari of perfection and eventually attain, it, *f f iwo hours a week are sufficient to' master R«?by technique, if they are , profltably employed in the pr&etice of the things the player does badly rather than e£ those he 4oi# well, t© my miua f British »»oby If suffering from a spirit £©t of amateurism, put of amatemfishsesis. Some people thiak it smacks of professionalises to play the game really well, to eare overmuch about winßing. Qeieetifle thlsJtlng about the game has been left to a few theorists like Wakefleli aag W. J. a. Davies. British raw material is just as good as the raw material of 2i? w Zealand, fe»t whereas the average British Rugby player remains raw to the end of his playing days, the New Zealand player sets out to improve his game until he is the complete Rugby player. It is not that the New Zfialarider has more leisure, or is a better naiural player. He employs the time at his disposal mdre scientifically in the remedying of weaknesses.

"To kick with either foot, to pass quickly apd accurately to 16ft or right with equal facility, to gathqr a rolling ball surely, assiduous practice is necessary, and a than is none the less an amateur because he does these things w6ll. Nor it puffleient to be a Teaw werk aipjl a study, pf tactics are al£o necessary, for the success of a Biigby team depends 6iT three things: the ittechanjeal efficiency of its units, the harmonious working of thfiSe units, and the taetic&l skill with wMch.-they are manipulated. Perfection can only be attained by specialisation; but surely the efid jtiptififes th# itieiETfS-"