SCHOOL ATHLETES

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume 80, Issue 89, 16 April 1938, Page 4

SCHOOL ATHLETES

‘BURNED OUT” IDEA

REPLY TO CRITICISM

Based on investigations of recent years, a reply to the assertion of the New Zealand Amateur Athletic Association that schoolboy athletes are being “burned out” has been made by Mr. C. R. Bach, master in charge of physical education at Auckland Grammar School (says the Auckland Herald).

Many of the well-known athletes who represent their countries in the Olympic Games, said Mr. Bach, have a history as champions during their school year. Perhaps the most notable examples are J. Carlton, C. B. Holmes and A. D. K. Brown. Carlton held all the under age records at school and later represented Australia. Holmes was sprint champion of the public schools of England, while Brown won the 440yds. title three years years in. succession in the English public school championships. Both the last-named represented their country at the Olympic Games. The following reasons have been cited as evidence why champions appear to be “burned out” after they leave school:—(1) When a boy leaves school he seldom remains under the influence and helpful encouragement of his schoolmasters; (2) he ceases to live an outdoor and active life, but sits at a sedentary occupation; (3) hu daily employment is so severe on his physical health that to train after work in the evening is more than he can endure; (4) he finds that his friends and associates engage in other activities into which he is also drawn; (5) fathers who treat their sons as racehorses and train them as such do them definite harm through an excess of publicity and a sickening of routine in a serious atmosphere that is almost professional. “Boy athletes at Auckland Grammar School are taught to regard the whole affair as play, in which they indulge for the fun and not prize or public plaudit,” said Mr. Bach. “Utter exhaustion of an athlete al the end of violent exercise is due not to nervous fatigue, but rather to the lactic acid maximum having been reached in the muscles, so that they can no longer contract. Training naturally increases the endurance ol an athlete and enables him to accommodate himself to severe competition. Untrained youths are difficult to detect if they exceed their colleagues .n physical ability if the latter are weli trained. This is not the fault of the schoolmaster, but shows lack of supervision on the part of the parent.

“There is little medical evidence to show that a healthy, grown boy can be damaged by any branch of athletics, including rowing. Nearly every assertion that has been made from time to time has had medical investigation, and the profession has asserted quite definitely that focal infections, such as diseased teetth, tonsils, and the like produce inflammation in the tissues of the vital organs which is damaging in a more or less permanent way. Parents and not schoolmasters should be blamed for this. It is their responsibility to watch that the health of their children is first-class.”

Perhaps the most noteworthy forward move by the New Zealand Amateur Athletic Association was the adoption of junior events for the New Zealand championships, Mr. Bach concluded. Boys under 19 years of age would have an opportunity of competing in company of their own age and ability. Before this move was adopted boys leaving school had to compete in open events, and, although outstanding for their years, were often discouraged by lack of success against Dominion champions.