WHY HOT SPORTS ANALYST?

Evening Star, Issue 21934, 22 January 1935, Page 1

WHY HOT SPORTS ANALYST?

HELPING PLAYERS TO CHOOSE THEIR GAMES An English writer on social subjects recently expressed the opinion that 50 per cent, of men were incorrectly placed in occupations; Mr John Masefield, in a speech at the Centenary Art Exhibition, dwelt on the subject (says a writer in the Melbourne 1 Argus ’). He mentioned the man with a particular gift of designing in silverware who was found pushing a barrow round a lamdon suburb selling cats’ meat, and who, incidentally, was living on one shilling a week, ninepence of which went on gin. If there is 'this large percentage of people “ gone wrong ” commercially, despite the services of observant teachers and even phrenologists and psychoanalysts to help parents determine suitable avenues of employment for hoys, in sport there must be innumerable square pegs in round holes. Why not a sports analyst f With perfected machines progressively displacing labour the world over the hours for sport—or mischief —are certain to be increased, and games will play a still more important part in the community. Doubtless there have been several Trumpers and Bradmans who have persisted in trying to be champion oarsmen; many Bobby Pearces who have played nothing but football; a few Lindrums who have failed to rise above mediocre suburban tennis; a Percy Pavey or two who have never chanced to glance along a rifle barrel; a Claire Dennis who has lived at Bourke or Broken Hill; or a Leo Diegel who has blushed unseen as an ordinary track athlete. A sports analyst might have led all of them from mediocrity to fame. "FAST” EYESIGHT IN TENNIS. For instance, if you inspect a wellused racket of a front-rank tennis player, such as Pat O’Hara Wood, it will be ifound to he Veil worn in the centre. Being able consistently to volley the ball in the centre of the racket hallmarks a player; whereas inferior players, in inverse ratio to their handicaps, have their rackets worn evenly all over, denoting inaccurate striking and defective return shots. Any number of people have superior eyesight and good court activity, but are still far from playing grade tennis, which demands “ fast ” eyesight, differing altogether from what billiards or rifle shooting calls for. There should be some test devisable to detect this ability which enables, say, Adrian Quist to play volley after volley at high speed without getting one hall 011 the edge of his racket. Without tins particular quality of eyesight it is useless for any young fellow to set but to scale the heights at tennis, lie may well lie a star at somehting else, but he will never bow to the Boval enclosure at Wimbledon.

In the hard athletic sports such as swimming, cycling, running, and rowing, the facts, to be determined stand out rainy clearly. Has the prospective athlete a suitable physical equipment to withstand the racket of tense struggle and fierce competition? The circulatory system and the lungs under test could readily be observed and reported on, the long-distance man marked out from the spripter, and. the man indicated who is unsuited to any hard finishes. Blood pressure would be an important guide to suitability to the.se competitive sports. Hubert Opperman, when examined closely after his epic ride from end to end of England, possessed an excellent blood pressure that much impressed the doctor who examined him. Undoubtedly his remarkable capacity to ride long distances at high sustained speeds is due to the possession of certain attributes that are detectable. Prospective flyers are tested to see how long it takes them to recover from dizziness induced by a short spell in a rapidly whirling chair; and other tests determine their degree of accuracy in saying at what angle they are iij when tilted in a movable chair in which they sit lashed and blindfolded. x

The inclination and enthusiasm of people to preserve to the champion stage is a subject apart from this article, but this desire is undoubtedly present in very many Australian athletes. One has only to consider the huge fields that compete every Saturday in the summer at Olympic Park, the equally large fields that contest all cycle races, and the number that enters for events at Henley. Also beyond this article is the assessing of that indefinable thing “ ball sense,” that can be ascertained only by actual play and in no other way. It is a complementary study to finding out those physically equipped. Victor Trumper abounded in ability but lacked physical equipment, and could never make the mammoth scores that Bradman has made; Archie Jackson, of Sydney, was even worse equipped physically.

ARE YOU A GOLFER?

So many people are eager to excel at golf these days that any determining tests would be. interesting. A sports analyst who- was set the job of running his eye over a number of boys to pick out the Jack M'Leaus and the Paul Runyans of 1940 —how would he go about it? Probably the first thing he would investigate would be the degree of ambidexterity. It seems to be an unquestionable fact that associated with most good golfers is the facility to use both hands. That is, if you are a one-handed player your chances of getting down to scratch are very small, for the game is played best by those who are two-handed and who learn to use both as evenly as possible. . The front hand, or the hand nearer the ball, must be an eevn partner with the stronger rear hand; if it is not, then yon are destined to spend much time looking for lost balls, and ultimately to come to telling everyone that you play “ just for the fun of the game.” Numbers of men who take up golf in middle age, and particularly city men, are one-handed to a marked degree. All their life they have been using usually their, right hand to do 90 per cent, of their manual work—carrying bags, writing, catching and throwing a ball, cranking a car, playing tennis or cricket, and shaving, until the right hand becomes' not only the stronger but the more skilful hand as well. It dominates physical action; and a golf ball does not like being hit by onehanded people—its behaviour soon shows that.

The Victorian amateur champion, Harry Williams, is distinctly twohanded, and the winner of the Findlay cup last month for professionals, W. J. Clifford, is in the same category. There are many others. So the sports analyst would probably stand his boy against a wall and begin throwing a ball to him. If he caught.it with whichever hand it came to and threw it hack accurately with that hand there would be hope for him as a golfer. But if .he transferred it for the return throw to the right hand, then- ".his ‘jirospetds would be hot so good. Let- not the right hand know what thy left hand doeth ” is a'fineadmonition for the practising almoner, hut that part, at any rate, of the Scriptures was not written for golfers.