“ATHLETIC NURSERIES”

Sun (Auckland), Volume III, Issue 841, 9 December 1929, Page 7

“ATHLETIC NURSERIES”

SECONDARY SCHOOLS IN SPORT NEW ZEALAND’S PROGRESS Special to THE SUE WELLINGTON, Saturday. School sports are today a feature of the curriculum, especially in the secondary schools, and these are the training ground, the nursery, from which issue forth the champ ans of the playing fields of the Dominion. Each of the secondary schools of New Zealand, no matter where it may be situated, whether in the country or the town, has its annual sports day. on which day pupils seek to emulate and beat those scholars of the past who have placed their names on the lists of “the best ever,” and have become known as record-holders. These sports days are a notable development of modern life, and are serving a very useful purpose, while they help to keep the lads of the school in good fettle. Possibly some of the boys dream of the day when they will appear in the arena at an Olympiad, or the centre court at Wimbledon, or on the historic trying-out ground of Twickenham, but in the meantime they are content to exhibit their prowess on the local playing field, leaving to the future the greater things. An increasing number of students is each year taking part in these sports, and this year the record of young athletes has been exceptional, both in the number taking part and in the standard of their performances. Already each of the four centres holds inter-collegiate sports, at which the best boys in each of the colleges take part as the representatives of their school. Christchurch and Wellington led the way in this respect, holding their first inter-collegiate sports in 1922. Dunedin followed suit in 1926, but Auckland did not come into line until last year, but the latter city has gone further, as it now holds such meetings for boys and girls, whereas the other centres confine their intercollegiate sports to boys alone. COMING CHAMPIONS These meetings very naturally draw attention to the best performances of the lads in various parts of the Dominion, and a comparison of the times and distances recorded this year shows that the standard is being well maintained, and in some instances there are indications that before long new champions will be taking their places on the adult sports fields of New Zealand. In most of the leading colleges, the sprinters are more than holding their own, the standard in this branch of athletic sport being excellent. C. H. Jenkins, along with A. C. Harrington and R. C. Morgan (the latter two of the Southland Boys’ High School) holds the secondary schools record for the 100 yards. 10 l-ss, which he registered in 1923. This year two other lads have equalled his record. F. H. Stephenson, also of Wellington College, equalled it at the recent sports, and P. C. Ensor, of St. Andrew’s College. Christchurch, did the same. Most of the secondary school sprinters this year broke 11s, A. Devonport, of St. Bede’s, Christchurch, Gallacher, of Christchurch Technical College, and A. Newman, of Lincoln College, are recorded with doing the distance in 10 3-ss, and G. M. Martin, Christchurch Boys’ High, with taking 10 4-ss. In the case of Newman it is probably unfair to class him as a secondary school boy. but the other names mentioned indicate that New Zealand is still prepared to place on the track sprinters who will not bring discredit upon the Dominion. JENKINS’S RECORD Jenkins’s record for the 220yds (22 2-ss) stands as secure today as when it was registered in 1923, the nearest to it being F. H. Stephenson, who took four-fifths of a second longer. Ensor, St. Andrew’s, and Newman, Lincoln Gollege, registered 23 3-5 s and 23 4-5 s respectively, and probably with a little special attention each of these lads would be able to lower their times.

In 1901 F. L. Scott, of Otago Boys* High School, achieved the distinction of registering 51 2-5 s for the quarter, and no one this year has been able to seriously challenge his right to the title. The nearest was D .F. Anderson, of Christ’s College, who at the Christchurch inter-collegiate sports ran the distance in 52 4-ss, knocking a second off the time he had registered at his own college sports. No other secondary school runner has been able to seriously imperil Scott’s record, most of them taking 55s or more.

In the middle distance —880 yd B. Johnstone’s record for Christ’s College of 2m 3 4-ss, made in 1925 a* + r inter-collegiate sports at Christchurch, also stands unaltered, the nearest io it being that of A. Henderson, of Hutt Valley High School, who took only one-fifth of a second longer at this year’s Wellington inter-collegiate sports, but nearly all the other runners over this distance have been seconds out.

For 22 years G. N. Hill, of King’s College, Auckland, has held pride of place as record-holder for the mile, his time, 4m 39 4-ss, having stood as the principle achievement over this distance ever since,, and it is still good. The nearest to these figures was E. W. Kerr, of Lincoln College, but it is probably unfair to classify him as a secondary school runner. At any rate his time was nothing to write home about, being 4m 46 l-ss. The next was M. Rudkin, St. Andrew’s College. Christchurch, who registered 4m 47 2-5 sat the inter-collegiate sports. Hill’s time, however, is exceptional for a lad, and the times registered this year by Rudkin and one or two others may be considered as excellent for schoolboys. G. Williams, of Christ s College, is recorded as having run the 120yds. hurdles in 15 2-ssec at the 1924 intercollegiate meeting, but there appears to be an element of doubt about these figures, and they have never ceen very closely approached by a secondary school runner since. This year the performance of Meek and Walker, of Otago Boys’ High School, in clearing the 120yds. hurdles in 16 l-ssec, in which they dead-heated, is the best recorded. B. E. Oliver, of Christ’s College, and R. Adair, of St Andrew’s College, both Christchurch lads, registered 16 2-ssec for the distance, and Benham and H. Patience, of Wellington College, registered two-fifths of a second more.

This year’s figures for jumping almost indicate that this department of athletic sport in the schools has gone back. J. N. Millard, of Southland Boys’ High School, set a standard of 22ft 2in for the long jump as far back as 1908, and it has never been eclipsed. Millard is now a well-known figure in Wellington, by the way, where he is a schoolmaster at the Hutt Valley High School, and sole selector for the Wellington Rugby Union and the New Zealand Varsity Rugby Council. P. C. Ensor, of St. Andrew’s College, Christchurch, is the only one of this year’s jumpers to do anything like a record long jump, his figures being 21ft lin. In the high jump event, R. W. Stevens, of Nelson College, holds the record with a jump of sft 9 l-Bin. L. Taylor, of St. Andrew’s College, with sft 4?in, is his nearest attendant this year. Generally it must be conceded that the standard of jumping has been low, but this is probably the result of lack of draining facilities, as jumpers are very largely made by efficient coaches.

A study of Australian and world figures in a comparison of New Zealand efforts with those overseas indicate that while New Zealand is almost equal to Australia in school sports, we are a long way behind the world’s best. This is probably the result of the spe-

cialisation which takes place in other parts of the world, especially in America. In New Zealand we prefer the all-rounder, but this hardly helps to create records. The inter-collegiate sports which have now been founded in each of the centres have already been responsible for new records, and it is more than probable that as the years pass by they will place a higher standard of achievement before the lads and they will tend to specialise as they do elsewhere. The figures here referred to are by hoys and youths up to and including 20 years of age.