GOOD SPORT.

Hawera Star, Volume XLVIII, 19 July 1924, Page 4

GOOD SPORT.

The holding of the Wellington Centre boxing championships and the first annual meeting of the- association at Hawera may be taken, as a compliment, toi those who have devoted their time to the encouragement of the good isport of boxing in. South Taranaki. The art of self-defence was one which was perhaps more generally taught to boys a decade or two ago than it is nowadays, and many a. man can look back to some unpleasant incident in his life when it has been to his, advantage to have a knowledge of boxing. The sport controlled by strict rules, as is the case with tournaments held under the auspices of the Hawera Boxing Association, is one which merits the support or the public. It is a. manly sport and gives those who participate in it opportunities to display the physical and mental powers which go to making of the person who, in popular language, is a “good sport.’’ A boxer, if he hopes to reach a high standard, must take care to observe strictly the rules of life that enable him to, be thoroughly fit. He finds that lie must exercise both mental and physical discipline, and he must abstain from anything that is likely to cause muscular flabbiness, or that may dull his mental activities. But abstention from what to others may be regarded as perfectly harmless luxuries is not all. A boxer must train carefully both muscle and brain and bring them into the closest co-operation. Speed has often gained the victory, and that can only be developed by careful and well thought out training. It can easily he seen that such training and discipline of the body and mind are of great value, teaching the young man self-reverence, self-knowledge and self-control, which, as Tennyson wrote, are alone able “to. lead life to sovereign power.” A sport which has for its purpose the improvement of the physique and temper of those who take part in it is well worth the time devoted to it, and in promoting tournaments and managing them along the best lines the Hawera Association and the parent body, the Wellington Centre, are to be congratulated, and we hope that the championships which are to be concluded to-night will prove in every way successful. That the centre’s activities are encouraging the amateur is shown by the figures contained in the annual report. Out of 294 contests. held during the year 270 were between amateurs and only nineteen were professional—a very satisfactory position indeed.