GERMAN CAPTURE ENGLISH COACH

King Country Chronicle, Volume VII, Issue 584, 12 July 1913, Page 2

GERMAN CAPTURE ENGLISH COACH

FAMOUS OARSMAN ENGAGED TO TRAIN FOREIGN CREWS. While the British Olympic authorities are losing valuable time in discussing various plana arid methods for regaining lost British prestige at the Olympic Games in Berlin in 1916, foreign rivals are determined to act without delay and to leave no stone unturned to go ahead of Great Britain three years hence. In one branch of sport, says a Home paper, we have I been able to repel all attacks, for, aa ruleis of the seas, it is but natural that no nation has yet been able to successfully attack our supremacy on the water. We have, however, held these honours so long and so well that the spirit of jealousy has crept into the hearts of our foreign competitors, and they have now directed their onslaughts against us in rowing. The consequence is that whilst our authorities have been thinking the Germans have been acting. They know where oarsmen are best trained, and they have come to England for a man who will bring their crews up to concert pitch. They approached Tom Sullivan, tha British oarsman, whose fame is world-wide, and he has entered into a contract with the Berliner Ruder Club to train and develop their own and all German crows who will compete in the Olympic Regatta at Berlin. Sullivan will leave for Berlin to take up his new duties about April 9th. The Berliner Ruder Club has its headquarters at the Wannsee, near Berlin, and there Sullivan will make his home for the next few years, arrangement having been made for his family to shortly follow him thither. Such an acquisition for the German erew« is of the highest value. Ever since he came to England from New Zealand, twenty years ago, the ex-champion oarsman has been a conspicuous figure in rowing circles. Oarsmanship he knows from A to Z. He has been the professional coach to Oxford crewa for four yeara, and has gained! a tremendous popularity. That the Germans will have the valuable services of such an experienced man threatens a new danger to British superiority, for Sullivan, given- the material, is just the man to lick into shape a winning crew.