"OF GREAT VALUE"

Evening Post, Volume CX, Issue 110, 5 November 1925, Page 9

"OF GREAT VALUE"

ATHLETICS FOR WOMEN

BUILDING UP A HEALTHY RACE

AN APPEAL TO NEW ZEALAND,

Some little time ago the Council of the Hew Zealand Amateur Athletic Association/acting upon advice which it had received from the British Medical Association, decided thatjt could iiot support amateur athletics for women. The decision mot with little approval in athletic circles, and au attempt is being made to alter it by placing a women's event on the New Zealand championship programme. This will be considered at tho annual meeting of the New Zealand Amateur Athletic Council. Meanwhile, lady athletes are still taking a keen interest in the' sport. To support them in their desire to carry ou aro opinions which have been forwarded to, the New Zealand Amateur Athktic Association by a vice-president of the Women's Amateur Athletic Association, England. A MEDICAL OPINION. "As a vice-president and founder of the Women's Amateur Athletic Association of Great Britain," writes Mrs. S. C. Elliott-Lynn, "I beg to approach you on the matter (tho report of the British Medical Association). I do not in any way wish to disparage the opinions of such a splendid body as the Medical Association, but there appears to be a great deal of diversity.even among its members on this matter. One of its most prominent members over here, Dr. Turner, is also a member of our association. Speaking at a dinner recently on this question he said of the championships that had preceded the^ dinner, and at which he was present, 'Not one single girl got the slightest harm, but rather a great deal of good. Athletics that, were shown to the public this afternoon are of the greatest benefit to the community, and of great value to the girls. History is being made by the Women's Amateur Athletic Association. It is going to give tho nation a race of healthy women.' Dr. Turner, I may add, is a member of the British Association's General Medical Council. GREAT BRITAIN v. DOMINIONS. "The opinions of the British Medical Association, as put forward to you, are purely hypothetical. The association has not had as great number of women athletes under observation as wo have had, for a number of years. "We find that women train just as carefully and deliberately as men, and are quite willing to work within Hie lines and limits.set by true experts. . . I wish New Zealand would form a Women's Association quickly, and come over and compete with us. Canada has just been over, and a healthier and happier lot of girls you never met. Their universities and physical education colleges take up athletics strongly. I havein mini a great competition between Great Britain and the Dominions, one day, perhaps next year/ perhaps the year after. Australia is going ahead, and 30 is South Africa. . . I love ath■.cties so dearly, that It is a great grief to mo when 1 some of the too itrenupus ideas attached to _ other g«mes arc laid at our door. Propeny conducted, and run under the supervision that even the youngest of athletes, if properly trained in schools, is glad to submit to, athletics is an entirely beneficial form of physical n-oiTation. One of my best friends is ;. womim who has been running for i ■.viMsty-three years; she is now 45, and ! he has four beautifully healthy chil(lri'ii, the eldest of whom is 16.'^ " IN MODEBATION. Mrs. Elliott-Lynn mentions that at Miv Olympic Congress at Prague she was the only woman on the congress, and was put upon a medical subcommission with ono • doctor from each European nation that had sent delegates. The question of athletics for women was gone i"tp in great detail by the commission, which eventually passed motions in favour of women's athletics, but barred tug-of-war, football, wrestling, and boxing. The sub-commission was made permanent, and Mrs. Elliott-Lynn states that she ha 3 persuaded her colleagues on it to go to the women's Olympic Games at Brussels next year to see for themselves all the debatable practices being performed. "I trusc if I have tho time to train that I ■will be performing myself," adds Mrs. Elliott-Lynn. In tho course" of a paper at the Prague Congress, Mrs. Elliott-Lynn tftated: "Confining oneself to pure athletics, I consider the running, in moderation, an ideal sport for women, if starting practice be not tor much indulged, in. It is there, and in the finish, that we have the' greatest strain. Woman's energy is slightly more available than a man's, in that her temperature is a fraction higher, and she recovers less rapidly from the expenditure of it. Excessive running • also tends to ossify ' certain ligaments. . . . To my mind, tho 300 yds race is the limit to ■which women should be allowed to go till timo has proved that damage is Jiot done, when the distance could be extended. The International Women's Federation has further reduced the events used by men. The standard weight for the shot is Sib, as against 161b for the men, which, as it will be seen, is only naif. The discus also is considerably reduced. The hurdles are only 2ft 6in in height. The federation has found no ill results whatever from 1000 metres races when the women have • been carefully and properly trained.