GAMES FOR AIRMEN.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 12755, 26 September 1919, Page 2

GAMES FOR AIRMEN.

FOOTBALL NO GOOD. RIDING, TENNIS AND DIVING. Major Horace M. Hickman, Second Assistant to the Director of the United btatea Army Air Service, undertakes to answer the question % "What games are most useful in developing the qualities and aptitudes which make a successful airman i Major Hickman, himself a very skilful pilot, says: “One of the qualities essential to the aviator is ‘feel of the slup.’ The nearest apPitoach to this is the ‘feel of the mouth ’ developed in cross-country riding or riding to hounds. Indeed, riding to hounds presents many parallels to aviation. Here is to bis found the same necessity for quick and accurate judgment under conditions of danger, and the same need for ’ feci ’ in moments of excitement arid emergency, and loss of that ‘feel’ may he quite as disastrous in negotiating a tncky jump as landing in bad country with a ‘dead stick.’ A season of riding to hounds over trappy country will do much to develop the qualities mennot to speak of a certain measure of highly desirable discretion. A few good horses would be a valuable addition to any school.

“The game of tennis is another admirable one with which to condition the aviator; the exercise involved is sufficient, fully so. from the purely physical training point of view. There is in tennis the necessity for the same accurate sense of ‘ feed.’ And by the way c& rudimentary illustration recall if yon have 'ever played tennis, your thoughts in regard to the effect of the racquet on the ball when •-'on first watched the game played, and the tacts about this you later discover when actual play had developed that reuse of ‘ feel ’ essential to even measurably good playing. Tennis requires the same quick thinking combined with instantaneous execution so essential to the military aviator. “Perhaps no question, is uiore frequently asked in this connection tt an, £ Why is not football the ideal spor c for the aviator ?'

“ Football is not, and never will le. It is argued that a back -vondug lis way through a broken field lias the ideal training for an aviator, for ho rrust combine instant thonght with instant action; must receive training which perfects the co-ordination of the mental with his physical apparatus, and this argument is true as far as it goes. “ But football is essentially the game of the team; aviation is essentially the game of the individual—there is no getting away from the fact that basically it is solo work, and this is sam with' full ‘realisation of the importance of * team work ’ in squadron flying. Moreover, in football, success can only be attained through unceasing disregard to safety. Flying, perhaps the most desperate and reckless game in the world, is the game of all others which requires the most discretion; the good fiver is not the aviator who is willing to take all sorts of chances at all sorts of times; he is the man who, with, clear judgment and steady nerve, estimates the probabilities and takes chances only when the percentage is either in his favour, or when imperative necessity makes chance-taking well-balanced reasoning. . “ Pass to baseball, for it seems hardly worth while to enumerate more reasons why football cannot be the best gam© for conditioning the aviator ; my principal objection to baseball is that this is a gam© in which the players stand around unoccupied three-quarters of the time. Both football and baseball have their uses in conditioning aviation forces of course, but their chief value from the military viewpoint lies, not in the physical training of the proper sort they afford, but in their pre-emin-ent ability to take the minds of officers and men alike off their worries and troubles, to give them a new interest in the zest for life—automatically—work; in a word, the diversion they afford. “ Golf has its chief value from its recreational features; the enthusiasm it arouses in its devotees, and consequently its ability to banish care and worry from the mind. Another, and even more valuable one, is high and fanay diving This requires steady nerves and ability to judge distance as well as ability to retain control of the senses while in any position. In addition, there is no_ better for producing the required physical fitness than swimming. “ In this connection it is wise to consider the evils of over-training. These may be quite as disastrous as poor physical condition- The kind of training which prepares men for a rice or a prize-fight is manifestly improper. Training for the aviator should be the development of recuperative power rather than a capability of supreme ef- • forts. It must be with the object of keeping the flier in the best possible physical condition all the time and in normal mental condition.”