SPORTSMAN’S NOTEBOOK

Evening Star, Issue 20943, 6 November 1931, Page 6

SPORTSMAN’S NOTEBOOK

CLEANINGS FROM SPORT

[By H.P.S.]

The review of the New Zealand Cricket team’s tour by the captain, I. C. Lowry, on his return from England this week touched upon the fielding or the side, which, though it was better than on the previous occasion, was to some extent criticised by the skipper. He said that the catching was decidedly improved, but still not good and the ground fielding was poor. This should further bring home to the club and association coaches throughout the dominion the necessity for still further concentration on effecting an improvement in this department of the game, and also to the need for impressing schoolboys and other young players with the value of good fielding to any side. Some of the Dunedin clubs now include regular fielding practice m their activities, and the results will certainly be apparent in the competition matches, .Weak fielding is expensive to any side, and many runs made by good batsmen are often lost in the field. Encouragement should be given to players who show to advantage in the field, and all that is possible should be done to encourage young players to improve their fielding. Now that New Zealand has assumed recognised test match status it is' imperative that due attention should be paid in the selection of representative teams, to ability in the field, and it that is done then the experiences of the New Zealand team in England will not have been in vam. , * ». .* e

One reason to winch the Americans •access in track and field athletics has been attributed has been the stress that has been laid by coaches on the need for specialisation on one particular branch of the sport. That same lesson has now been applied in England, snd the time is coining when it must be taken to heart in the dominion if INew Zealand’s athletes are to hold their own in international competition with any great measure of success. These remarks are prompted by the fact that at the Otago Boys’ High School sports on ■Wednesday of last week the school champion, a brilliant athlete, won no fewer than five four of them In the same day. It is a moat question whether these school championships do not, in the first place, ask too much from a hoy, and whether better results ■would not he achieved if the competitors were encouraged to specialise. It a -youngster can ascertain early in Ins athletic career just to what branch ot track and field athletics he is best fitted, then by specialisation in that particular department improvement .might reasonably be Jfwked for. kven in championship competition too few are willing to specialise, and there are trequent instances of men competing in three or four events at the Zealand championships. How often is there an instance of a man deciding to confine himself to an event such as the long jump, iu which the INew Zealand standard is far from, being a high one i It was pointed out by the well-known Canterbury coach, Mr G. H. Tayloi, iun., in these colunms a year or two agoe that if an athlete was prepared to specialise on this event lie would find it one of the -easiest events to win at the New Zealand championships, but the trouble is that there are too lew who seem willing to give specialisation, a trial. It should be a point with all of the clubs and eyeh with the schools to encourage their competitors ,to specialise, and by providing a sufficiency of events to make specialisation worth while. -The results will be apparent with a noticeable improvement in the athletic standard and with an increase of interest and competition. •.* * * To controlling bodies in different branches of sport, there comes a time when they seem to he .faced withi an almost insurmountable obstacle to tne season’s progress, and that is the Position in which the Otago Amateur Athletic Centre apparently finds itselr at the present moment. The centre is in a fairly solid position financially, but finds itself with tho season right upon it, and no recognised ground on which its athletes and cyclists can tram. Both the Speedway Ground and lamina Park have been utilised for sports meetings to date, but tho former is not always available for training purposes, so it seems, and Tahuna Park, in the •tate it was in on Labour Day, would hardly he an asset. In the meantime, track and field athletes and cyclists are in the unenviable position of haying no ground on which regular training cam 'be carried out, ana it behoves the centre to get right on the job of looting for a ground. The 'University Oval would ho an ideal area, but there is some ; objection apparently to cyclists using this area, and difficulties also appear to be iu the way of Logan -Park being obtained. Athletics have flourished here during tho last few years, hut if a ground is not quickly secured the centre will be faced with the most serious setback it has had for years. •*' * • An English writer draws attention to the fact that nowhere in tho_ rules of professional boxing is there a single line to say that a referee is empowered to declare a fight a draw. The system of scoring should make it possible for a winner to be found even in the most desperate meck-to-neck struggle. Even many of the most important fights nowadays end in drawn decisions, and until a definite rule is introduced into boxing referees are likely to continue balancing their score cards when there is little to choose. This English writer contends that referees should bo compelled to decide a contest one way or another. He puts it down as a confession ot weakness on their part to decline tho responsibility of separating two boxers after nearly an hour of fighting, and, though that may bo stretching the point a little too far it does seem strange that in amateur contests, where two judges are utilised, as well as the referee, drawn decisions are very rare. Drawn contests are had for the sport, and undoubtedly disappoint tho people who pay to see the fights, bub until some definite rule is introduced, then so long will these drawn fights continue. * ». f. • I The annual report of the New Zealand Amateur Athletic Association expresses the strong approval of that hodv of the action of the -New Zealand Olympic Games Association in capitalising practically all of the £LLOOO that was raised during tho year, the intcicsfc on which should assist materially in enabling New Zealand to be well and worthily represented at each Olympiad in the future. The report, however, expresses the belief that each association nominating athletes to the Olympic Gaines Council for selection should bo prepared to back their candidature

with at least a portion of the funds required to send their nominees . away. The N.Z.A.A.A. lias made encouraging provision in this direction by developing its overseas representation fund, and will aim at the objective of being in a position to ask the Olympic Games Association for a subsidy only in the case of overseas funds for its athletes nominated for Olympic honours. That, too, should be the aim of other bodies interested, and, with the selection of the Now Zealand team less than six months away, it behoves the various bodies concerned to interest 'themselves in the matter of raising funds to assist in their representation at Los Angeles next year. The Olympic. Council should give a load, without delay, as to what amount it will be prepared to devote to the despatch of a team, and associations would be able to launch their arrangements accordingly. As was pointed out last week, nominations should ho kept within reasonable limits, and the money should ho put to the best possible use in providing adequate] facilities lor the team. It is imperative, however, that no time should bo lost by the affiliated bodies in deciding what they are prepared to do in the matter, for it will he a matter for regret if there is the old last-minute scurry in the campaign for funds, with selected athletes uncertain to the last as to whether or not they will ho railed upon to make the trip.