New Zealand’s Young Athletes And Bi The Need For Coaching

Taranaki Daily News, 10 December 1934, Page 11

New Zealand’s Young Athletes And Bi The Need For Coaching

SiMPPRTANT FACTOR WHICH SHOULD ; ■?! ?BE CONSIDERED SERIOUSLY

TITHEN he was interviewed in Auck'recently, on -his return from Melbourne, Cipher t,. manager of 'of secondary .school athletes New Zealand intara-Empire pubhc schools , games at Melbourne, 7 drew attention to the lack of• systematic. coaching and development of technique in New Zealand athS.“ The SWary. of .the interview which was telegraphed by the Hr® 3 - Ws' >t it was. partly became' of this,lack, that the New Zea-larid.-team' was not more successful. The swijfp't’. Of insufficient expert coaching in-New Zealand athletics has been disoften in- these .columns; J. W. Olnhert’s'remarks ~are additional testiSecondary school athletes in New. Zealand, well, as athletes who h*ye4 : left school, do need more system? atic. texpert .coaching, than/ has, .been £vailable“'fbn them * hitherto. But there iff sahoth?r : factor, that of too much cbhapfitifibn, to he. taken ; into .account itrWsideniig whether or not- system - fleWt' coaching of boys -who are Still'; at secondary schools would do much-to raise the general .standard, of athletics- in the Dominion and produce of-athletes who would be. ranked ds .first-class by international standards. • '.Ahy observant person who takes notice of performances in . secondary school athletics' over -a fairly Iqng period sees that many boys, of great athletic promise at school fail to, -attain./distinction in the. sport in . later years—sbmeofthem drop out of it altogether— and that,. conversely, many voung men who have not been prom? ’ inept \ in school athletic? become distinguished 'on the track or in the field after they, have left school. The same thing is tb be noted in other. sports. Someof the boys who, after they leave school;'-drop out of . sports in which they -have shown much promise do so because they go to .parts .of the cpun-WW-vihich--there is little’ or no op-' portunity' for them to continue their athletic progress. But the number of those /who' drop out of a sport too soon because they-, .have., come .to the -stage which- is commonly described as “burned out’’, is much greater. rightly hesitate to

• classify'all such'cases, as those of . “burned-opt” • athletes. .It is probably r a- description more accurate when used > of/ for example, certain. Rugby players » who have been playing _almost every t Saturday in. the football season for : many years, at primary and tpen at . secondary schools, and afterward in . chib’football /than it iff when, used of ' track arid .'field athletes; Dr Adolphe ! Abrahams, honorary, medical adviser to • the International Athletic Board, has • given considerable attention to. this • subject for’many years. He. says, in an ; article already; reprinted,- on this page, ■ that he; is' not'easijv:persuaded by the “burned-out -athlete” explanation tvitn • regard to track athletics. “In nearly .. all examples,” he points'out, “there is > a period of stagnation and even- of deteripfatiQri,, a period Which frequently i coincides withxa-critjcal stage in adoi- ■ escerice between public school and uni? i versity? ' A-fatalistic acceptance of t what - is called ‘strain’ frequently ■ leads to athletics being entirely s abandoned—and yet/with perseyer- > ance. or encouragement the ordm- ’ ary course of development may quite 1 Well be maintained.” Dr Abrahams also 1 says that if he had the capability to re- [ cognise in a child a really great natural runner.,he wpuld discourage. all track activities- beyond the/most trivial until ' the age of 18 for a sprinter and until an I older age in the . case of a distance run- ■ ner. '■. ■ ' ' ’ The opinions of Dr Abrahams square • with the-general experience with re-, t gard to athletes prominept. at school—- ’ especially in the pernicious “Victor ■ Cudorum”. system—who fail to attain ■ athletic distinction afterward, and witn I regard to those' who are not prominent : at school, but-who develop into great . runners , later. -The conclusion to which • one is driven, therefore, is that any i scheme to. make systematic . expert > coaching more widely arid readily ■ available, for schoolboys should be ac- •’ ebnipanied'by a‘substantial reduction of ■ the amount of coiripetition provided for ! them.' While they are at school they i should be taught the mechanics of ath- ; letics, but discouraged- from indulging > in much competition until the critical stage in adolescence is past. > ' A. L. C.