ATHLETICS IN GERMANY.

Waikato Times, Volume 103, Issue 17410, 24 May 1928, Page 13

ATHLETICS IN GERMANY.

EXTRAORDINARY ADVANCE GREAT HOLD ON THE MASSES. One of the most remarkable movements in the world of sport in recenl years is the extraordinary advance in popularity of various games in Germany. Readers are reminded in a brochure just published by the North German Lloyd that a decade or so ago sport In that Empire was a “ private ’’ affair. To-day it has hold of the masses. There is scarcely an existing organisation, whether social, professional, religious or political, which does not include athletics in some form or other. Newspapers devote a largo amount of space to sporting events, and in every part of the country completely equipped stadiums and playgrounds have been, or are being, erected. Compulsory Gymnastics. So convinced are the authorities of the value of athletics for the nation that a programme has been published which embraces compulsory attendance at gymnastics by children who have left school, a daily hour of gymnastics In the schools, provision of the necessary facilities for reoreations of all kinds, including swimming pools. Instruction of the best possible kind Is provided in every centre, the object being to build up a virile athletic people. The view is taken by those who have deeply studied the matter that only If the German people are athletically fit will they be able successfully to take part In the great economic struggle between nations that looms on the horizon.

The Germans are training intensively for the Olympic Games at Amsterdam. The headquarters for athletics proper are at Munich, and 4000 clubs with over 300,000 members belong to tills organisation. Training Course®.

The country has been divided into seven sections. Each section has its own districts and departments. There is a sports teacher for each section, who is constantly travelling about his area conducting training courses which are attended by club sports instructors and training supervisors. Over alt these is the national sports Instructor, who co-ordinates the work and directs it in the proper channels. There have been wonderful results from this intensive training and teaching. Every yijuth who displays ability beyond the 'ordinary is taken in hand before he has contracted faults that it would be difficult to eradicate. The best oL the local lads are selected for special instruction by the section teacher, and the best of these in turn are chosen for preparation for the Olympic Games. We are told that the training for O'ympic Games is much more difficult than it is in the United States, where the universities, with their remarkable equipment and keen intercollege contests, are continuously turning out candidates ready for Olympic fray. In the course of the last two years German representatives have established four world's records, and in a number of other events they have only just failed to set up fresh figures. Germany has set herself an objective. She will not be content until she has so organised her athletic and other material, and so trained it, that it will compete successfully against all other nations. She is intent upon finishing at the head of the other competing countries at the Olympic Games, and although she may not succeed in achieving her ambition in 1928 at Amsterdam, she is confident that she will do so in the not distant future. •.