AMERICAN COACH

Evening Star, Issue 22816, 26 November 1937, Page 10

AMERICAN COACH

ARRIVAL OF L. FITCH TRIBUTE TO LOVELOCK [Per United Press Association.] AUCKLAND, November 27. Tall, young. And. quietly spoken, Alfred L. Fitch, the American athlete engaged as coach hy the Wellington Centre of the New Zealand Amateur Athletic Association, arrived this morning by the Monterey, and was warmly welcomed. He is a New Yorker, but spent many of his 24 years in California, graduating last year at the University of California, where he studied business administration and coaching methods. He said that in many American universities physical education was recognised as a line of study, Football, basket ball, and baseball are sports in which Fitch has participated, in addition_ to specialising in track and fiejd athletics. He was for four years special assistant coach to Dean Cromwell, the American Olympic coach. Last year, as a member of the Olympic team, Fitch represented America in relay events. He said that among the promising new talent in the States was Louis Zamperini, a Southern Californian freshman. the first American to finish in the 5,000 metres event at Berlin. # Jesse Owens seemed to he engaged mainly in the entertainment world. “ I think j'our countryman, Jack Lovelock, is certainly the highest type of athlete one could, expect to find,” said Fitch. “He is a real gentleman and a real sportsman. His running seems effortless.” He _ said that in America a definite running • style was adopted for each different type of physique. It was accepted that the body should be held forward just beyond the centre of gravity, with the head up a little. Cinders and clay surface tracks were widely adopted in America, and because they allowed the water to drain away easily they were probably tbe most suitable tracks for any country where rain was frequent. He had seen very few good grass tracks. t While shy of commenting on women s participation in the more strenuous forms of sport, Fitch said that that depended on the individual. He agreed that women could not he expected to reach the prowess of men in competitive track events. The All Blacks, he said, were by no means unknown in American sporting circles. Rugby was gaining in popularity in California. He declared that there was no reason why New Zealand should not produce athletes equal to any in the world.