AN ESSENTIAL OF SPORT

Press, Volume LXXII, Issue 21904, 3 October 1936, Page 19

AN ESSENTIAL OF SPORT

PRESENCE OP RHYTHM CLASSICAL STYLES OFTEN BROKEN PRE-EMINENCE OF NEGROES IN ATHLETICS . , i •- Investigation into the swings of three of the greatest golfers of all time —Joyce Wethered, Bobby Jones, and Harry Vardon —has led an American sports writer to the final conclusion that outstanding performers in all sports have a sense of rhythm developed to a higher degree than those who only nearly attain to world standard. These three golfers all hit the ball with the heels of both feet well clear of the ground. Yet Helen Hicks, who has reached a perfection almost as unassailable as Joyce Wethered, is on her left heel as she hits the ball. The three champions already named break many of the popular fetishes of style. No teacher of the game would countenance a pupil learning to hit the ball from both toes. Yet, by breaking this tenet all three seem to gain a perfection of harmony in rhythm which other golfers, relying on orthodox form, can never hope to achieve. However, if other goners were to try their method of hitting the ball the result would be disastrous in the extreme. This sense of rhythm applies to other sports and professions than golf, ana perhaps the first place to turn to is the stage of the classical dancer. Exponents, of these dances have a glorious flowing rhythm in their every movement, distinct from the .monotonous rhythm of the more primitive dancing, and very closely related to the meaning of the word as applied to sports. Pavlova, the incomparable, probably had a more highly-devel-oped sense of rhythm than any other being in the civilised world. Sonja Heine has it in much the same way, and it makes her skating a thing alive with its grace and beauty, irresistible in its fascination. Because they possessed this common talent they became the greatest exponents of their respective arts the world has ever known. Illustrations from Boxing From dancing and skating to the field of sport, and the first branch to be considered could well be boxing, because the boxer’s footwork is the nearest approach to dancing in the world of sport. Jim Corbett had a grace in all his movements, which came from a marvellous synchronisation of nervous and muscular energy, and critics of his day wrote that he moved, in the ring, like an expert dancer. Carpentier had this same grace of movement, and, lithe as a cat, could hit harder than many heavier men because he had an instinctive ability to time perfectly. Carpentier always maintained that dancing was one of the greatest known aids for the boxer. * , , _ Most people went to see Jack Dempsey fight because of that primitive instinct in man which makes him worship the cave-man type of fighter. Dempsey was called a ferocious slugger, the Manas - Mauler, a veritable brute beast with the killer instinct. However, to the watcher every movement and every blow was marked by a flowing grace. Every punch was an integral part of the one which followed, as if his arms worked like the counter-balanced wheels of a clock. When he hit the power was generated in his feet, to flow up through his legs, hips, back, and arms, culminating in a smashing blow on his adversary. When Dempsey was climbing to the peak of his prowess he used to whistle a tune while he danced round on his toes, and he weaved and hit in time with it. It is easv to trace the influence of music, dancing, and rhythm in the success of this outstanding figure. As long as he kept on his toes he maintained his rhythm, but when he had to hit from his feet, as his legs grew older, he lost his timing, and with it his championship. Great Tennis Players Tennis is another sport in which footwork i? a first essential. W. T. Tilden, probably the greatest gemus the courts have produced, breaks many rules of classical style, but has great speed of foot and unlimited power at his command. His powerful . drives start from his feet and ripple up through his back and shoulder muscles and through his arms to his wrists and the racket. He generates great power with very little apparent effort. F. J. Perry is a genius in a way, with a lightning quick eye, and anticipation which enables him to hit the ball sooner on the rise than anyone 'else has ever done. In this way be gains that fraction of time which is, the vital factor in almost every rally. He just lacks that fullness of rhythm in his stroke which marks Tilden’s game. Suzanne Lenglen is the female counterpart of Tilden. At her peak she had a 'superb grace of movement which caused people to come from miles round to watch her—a great many of whom had no knowledge of tennis as a game. Cricket has produced some outstanding players, such as F. R. Spofforth, the greatest’ bowler the game has ever known. In his action there was such marvellous rhythm that he ' was able to bowl a blinding ball with "very little apparent effort. This ease jOf action also made the speed of his ' deliveries very deceptive, and it was almost impossible to tell his slower ball until, it was halfway down the' pitch. Don Bradman, the greatest batsman of the present day, breaks many of the laws of classical style. However, he has the quickest eye and very'much faster footwork than anyone else in the game. He is sometimes labelled as a hard hitter, but all his power comes from a perfectly-timed rhythmical stroke rather than mere brute strength, as physically he is neither strong nor large. Negro Pre-eminence In atheltics the same thing is found. The negroes have a far greater capacity of rhythm than the white races, and in a comparison of the actions of such runners as Eddie Tolan and Jesse Owens, with the actions of their white contemporaries the difference is at once obvious. Their limbs work in much the same way, but they have a smoother, more harmonious co-ordination of muscula? effort than the latter, and this is what gives them that extra fraction of speed which accounts for world’s records. Owens runs like a well-oiled machine with ball bearings throughout. It is this perfect co-ordination of muscular effort which is born of absolute control of mind over muscle, that is known as rhythm in sport.