DEAF AND DUMB BUT GOOD HALF BACK

Northern Advocate, 12 August 1948, Page 2

DEAF AND DUMB BUT GOOD HALF BACK

NORTHLAND SPORTS DIARY . . .

Being deaf and dumb is no handicap to Dick Anderson, halfback to the Oneroa senior Rugby team which finished third in the Otamatea championship this season. In fact, anyone watching him play would never guess that lie could neither hear nor speak. The whistle sounds and he stops, just as his team-mates do. His ability in the circumstances is amazing.

He seems to sense happenings through instinct and through watching other players. His team-mates regard him as Otamatea’s No. 1 halfback, and it is felt by many Rugby fans that, but for his lack of weight, he would havegained representative honours.

Anderson is 23 and weighs 8.0 stone He is a Maori, as are all members ol Oneroa team, which has won great popularity in the sub-Union as n result of its bright football and magnificent hospitality to visiting teams.

Lack of keen competitive play against outside players may be oik; reason for the failures. In Auckland, inter-club games are played weekly among clubs of equal strength but this builder of match temperament is not available in Northland where there are comparatively few low markers.

Perhaps Whangarei golfers play too much in the holiday spirit, concentrating more on the enjoyment of the game than on the result. Desirable as this attitude may be, Ihe lack of serious match play is reflected when the strain of qualifying for a championship is on. Hardest test of a golfer’s abilty is medal play in which every stroke counts.

A bad start often causes a player to fret and he goes from bad to worse

as he loses rhythm endeavouring to pull back lost ground. Greatest asset in medal play is the ability to put' the bad shots out of one’s mind and concentrate on the stroke being played. Fear of what might happen also leads would-be qualifiers into trouble.

Players concentrating too much on not going out of bounds and not going into bunkers, rather than on the shot itself, are prone to s.teer the ball instead of swinging freely. *. * * *