When properly played, it is also the most exhausting. It requires the
quickness and speed of the sprinter, the endurance of the cross-country
runner, the strength and power of a first-class wrestler; in fact, when
critically analyzed, football seems to be a sort of composite of many
sports. As to the proper style of training for an eleven, perhaps no two
persons have exactly the same ideas. But, in general, there may be said
to be two schools, the old and the new, or the old style and the new
system. The old school is one of Herculean labors and Spartan
discipline. The idea of the old school is physical development and
bodily discipline. The idea of the new school seems to be that sport is
simply a recreation. Work as little as possible seems to be the new
creed. Periods of rest are emphasized rather than periods of work. The
aim of the new system is to train the men for the final match, to bring
them to the highest physical condition by the end of the season, which
sounds rational enough. And if there is only a single important match to
be played, the system is without doubt best adapted to that end. But the
theory proceeds from the wrong premises altogether. Every one knows that
an eleven plays at least two important matches before the end of the
season, when the demands are just as great as in the final game. The two
systems may lie fairly well illustrated by the accompanying diagram, for
the idea of which the writer is indebted to Mr. W. C. Forbes.
[Illustration: CHART OF RELATIVE CONDITIONS IN TRAINING.]
Line A E represents the new school, which aims at the highest physical
condition at point E. Line A B represents the old school, which aims at
good physical condition at the end of the second or third week of
training, and to take the team to E in the same condition.
Take two elevens: No. 1 will use the old system, No. 2 the new system.
Let the two teams play a match. At the point marked October 1 the
physical condition will be decidedly in favor of No. 1, and, besides,
No. 1 will know more football, having played more. The difference in
physical condition will be the line C G. Let them play November 11: the
difference in physical condition will be D F. Suppose that No. 2 wins at
point E, November 21, which is extremely unlikely: No. 1 will have two
victories to No. 2's one. If the object be to win only the final match,
it seems that the old system will be far better, as the No. 1 eleven
must know more football, having played more, and will be in just as good
condition. It has been urged against the old system that it is
impossible to carry eleven men from A to E in good condition; that the
team, as a whole, will come to the final game overtrained. The
individual may go below the line occasionally, but the team as a whole
must be better, because the weaker individuals who are unfitted for the
game will be eliminated early, before the team is made up. The team
training on line A E, the new system, is just as likely to be
undertrained, and lose half of its best men before an important match is
finished.
A team trained under the new system will play with considerable life and
dash while it lasts, but the team trained under the old system stays,
and comes in the winner. Let us notice some fallacies of the new system.
As an argument for less work, the case of athletic teams is often cited,
where men train very little, and still play very good games. Any
reasoning by analogy from such cases is absolutely misleading. Men who
play on athletic teams are for the most part matured men, many of whom
have played on college teams for years. They would naturally have a
strength and endurance and knowledge of the game which the youngsters in
the schools must acquire by hard work and faithful, conscientious
training. The boys must acquire what the men already have; therefore a
different and more rigorous system of training is necessary.
The new system believes that an ignorant undertrained man is better than
an experienced overtrained one. Comparisons are often made with the
training of crews, prize-fighters, etc. But in such cases the training
is for only a single contest, while in football the training must be for
several important matches. Not every practice is a trial, as is urged,
but only the lesser matches once or twice a week are properly trials;
and surely in but few sports can any strong objection exist to such
trials.
Another objection to the old style urged by the new style is the
likelihood of injuries when men are played so much. That is true and not
true. In the long-run there must be fewer injuries. The amount and kind
of work a team should do will perhaps be best considered under mental
training. The problem in training is really how to do the work necessary
to learn the game without impairing the physical condition.
By mental training is simply meant the process of learning this game.
One broad rule may be laid down for learning the game, and that is to
play it. There may be different methods of teaching men how to play;
hardly any two coaches or captains will begin the season in just the
same way. But each captain should have some plan, schedule, or method of
teaching. The football season covers a period of about eight weeks. The
game must be taught within that time. Now football is divided, as has
been said in a preceding paper, into the Individual and the Team. The
first half of the season, the first four weeks, should be devoted
primarily to the individual, teaching him the fundamentals, and how to
play his own position. Assuming that the season begins about the middle
of September, this work would carry the team until the second week in
October; the balance of the season would be devoted primarily to the
team, although it is often impossible to pick the team before the end of
the third week in October. After this point in the season the individual
coaching should be done during the intervals or let-ups in the practice,
or before or after practice. During the period that should be given to
the team the graduates come around, and the tendency is to neglect the
team for the individual. The bulk of individual coaching should be done
in that part of the season in which it should naturally come. So much in
general. Now a few suggestions to the captain, in settling his work for
the season, may not be altogether out of place.
First day out, the squad upon going upon the field should form a circle,
and pass the ball around. The captain and coach should notice each man,
and see that he can make the simple straight-arm pass correctly, and
catch the ball properly. Next, let the men line up in pairs, forwards
with forwards and backs with backs, and try a half-dozen mutual scratch
starts. The purpose of this exercise is to make the men quick on their
feet, and to secure quickness and agility. That done, line the men up,
and have them fall upon the ball. Having them in line instead of in a
circle, the captain and coach can see that each man is taught how to do
it correctly. Take a moving ball first--a ball moving from the player.
Next try a ball moving towards the player from the front. The practice
on the first day should be short, lasting not more than half an hour,
and ending with a good brisk run of a distance of a mile and a half.
The second day's practice should last about three-quarters of an hour,
consisting of catching and passing, falling on the ball, scratch starts,
two-mile run for the forwards, ten minutes' kicking for the full-back,
and catching for the half-backs, with the centre man to snap the ball
and quarter to pass to the man kicking.
On the third day practise one hour--falling on the ball, passing and
catching, sprinting starts, two-and-a-half-mile run for forwards,
kicking and catching for backs, centre men snapping the ball and quarter
passing, two-mile run for the backs.
Fourth day. Practise starting with the ball. The centre man to snap the
ball back for squads. There should be a good, sharp, hard sprint for
fifteen yards. The aim is to train the eye so as to divine where the
ball is going, so as to be able to beat it. Catching punted balls by
forwards and backs. Arrange these in squads, and have the kicking backs
punt to them. Begin with the end of the line, and have each man catch a
punt in turn. They should be taught how to do this properly. Falling on
the ball, one or two of all the different kinds of balls, and the dead
ball from a dive in addition. Forwards should be lined up opposite one
another and taught the theory of blocking. The centre man should snap
the ball, and one side rush through while the other blocks, and _vice
versa_. While the forwards are doing this, the backs may be kicking and
catching. A short run for the whole squad of about two miles.
Work of this general description should be kept up for about ten days.
In this time the captain should arrange to get in some work on the
fundamentals each day. It will be impossible to take them all up in one
day, but some can be taken up one day and some another. They are easily
forgotten if not brushed up occasionally.
The first three weeks in October should be largely devoted to
position-playing--picking the team. The captain should do all the
experimenting within that period. Much straight football may be learned
in the mean time. In that period, and that alone, should the coach be
allowed to stop the play to coach the individual. "Wait a minute," can
be allowed then, but not later. The team should have two practice
matches a week. These should make no difference in the ordinary
practice, except perhaps when a pretty strong team is to be played there
should be a slight let-up in the practice the day before, or no actual
play at all. On those days there should be plenty of practice at
signals. All practice matches after the third week in October should be
of the usual length, two half-hours. The practice game with the second
eleven should not vary much as to the time of play from the matches. Two
twenty-five or one thirty and one twenty minute half are not bad.
Toward the end of October the team should begin preparations for the
final matches, which generally come off the last of that month, and
little beyond mid-November. Team-play then has the field. The team
should begin to learn its repertoire of plays, signals, etc. It should
be taught the theory and practice of offensive and defensive team-work.
In the odd moments the individual should have all the expert coaching
possible. The fundamentals must be recurred to occasionally, but
team-work now holds the boards. It is the most difficult to obtain, and
requires constant and untiring practice.
The captain should be just as careful not to underwork his men as not to
overwork them. If an individual is overtrained or off his feet, give him
rest, but for the team hard work and plenty of it should be the rule.
There is nothing that helps a man or a team more in the hour of supreme
test or conflict than the consciousness of having done his or its work
faithfully and well.
From what has been said of physical training it can be immediately seen
that football is not a lazy man's game. It is needless to say that it is
not a coward's game. If a man is afraid of over-exertion or of getting
hurt, he had better play marbles. A player may have strength in
abundance, but without sand it profiteth him nothing. High moral courage
and unconquerable spirit are the prime requisites of a good
football-player. By moral training, as has been said, is meant the
mental state, the spirit of the eleven. The spirit of the eleven has to
do with the execution, and the execution is everything. Formation counts
for little. It is not the play, but the stuff that is put into it that
makes it succeed. Without this spirit a team may know all that it is
possible to know of the game, and may be in perfect physical condition,
but cannot hope to win. It is one thing to know how to fight; it is
another to be able to fight; but greater than either or both is the
fighting spirit.
The whole team, each and every man on it, should enter a contest or
match imbued with a just sense of the responsibility resting upon him as
the chosen representative of his school or college. He owes to her the
very best and all that there is in him. Her honor, her athletic
prestige, are at stake, and she demands nothing more nor less of her
sons than that they be retrieved or maintained. Hence the team should go
upon the field with a _do or die_ spirit, with a determination to win at
all hazards.
* * * * *
The portraits which appear at the head of these columns are those of the
officers of the National Interscholastic Athletic Association, who were
elected after the first annual field-meeting last June. C. B. Cotting,
the president, is a member of the Newton High-School, and an officer of
the New England Association. Hugh Jackson, the vice-president, comes
from the Iowa Association, and is a student of the Cedar Rapids
High-School. J. D. Tilford, the secretary, has for several years been
identified with the New York I.S.A.A. as a competent official, and
attends the De La Salle Institute. G. P. Smith, the treasurer,
represents the new association in New Jersey, of which he is president;
he attends the Plainfield High-School.
At a recent meeting of the Connecticut Football Association several
changes were made in the constitution. Is was decided that nobody should
be allowed to take part in any games under the management of the League
who had not been registered at his school before October 1. Furthermore,
it was decided that no student taking a post-graduate course should be
allowed to play on any team. There was some discussion about
establishing an age limit, but so much opposition developed that the
plan had to be abandoned.
The schedule of games for this fall's championship season was arranged,
and the first contests will be held October 31. In the Northern
Division, Hartford Public High-School will play New Britain High-School
at Hartford, and Norwich Free Academy will play the Connecticut Literary
Institute at Norwich. On the same day, in the Southern Division, Meriden
High-School will play Hillhouse High at Meriden, and Bridgeport High
will play Waterbury High at Bridgeport.
The Bridgeport team will no doubt be very strong again this fall--Smith,
centre, Wheeler, guard, Goddart, quarter-back, Deforest, half-back, and
Delaney, tackle, being in school again. The Hartford team is expected to
develop into a strong eleven as the season grows older, but it was
defeated, 22-0, by Williston in its opening game a week ago. The Meriden
High-School has the strongest eleven the school has ever seen. New
Britain will be very strong, having the full eleven men of last year
back in school again this fall. Hillhouse, Norwich, Waterbury, and the
Connecticut Literary Institute are all weak.
The Englewood High-School, of the Cook County League, played a game
against the Chicago University eleven on September 23, and held the
'varsity men down to twelve points. The school team played an excellent
game, and showed some fine defensive work. The University made a goal in
the first half after twelve minutes of hard play, and they got another
by a fluke just before time was called. In the second half the
University men were unable to make any headway against the Englewood
lads, and time was called with the ball in the middle of the field and
in Englewood's possession.
Other games of interest that have recently been played in the Cook
County League were Hyde Park H.-S. against West Aurora H.-S., in which
the former won, 4-0. The teams were pretty evenly matched, and Pingree
of Hyde Park made the winning touch-down by a run of thirty yards,
having secured the ball on a muff by the other side. The North Division
team played an eleven of graduates, and defeated them, 12-0, but a few
days later, on the return game, the graduates came out ahead by the same
score.
JOHN FRETER, YONKERS, NEW YORK.--If the ball, being kicked, passes
the line of scrimmage and is not stopped by an opponent, any one of
the kicking side can pick it up and run with it, providing he is on
side. Of course, to be on side he must either have been behind the
ball when it was kicked, or he must have kicked it himself, or he
must have been put on side by the kicker.
J. D. WILLIAMS.--You will find just the information you want in the
chapter on "The Middle Distances," in _Track Athletics in Detail_.
"TRACK ATHLETICS IN DETAIL."--ILLUSTRATED.--8VO, CLOTH, ORNAMENTAL,
$1.25.
THE GRADUATE.
[Illustration: STAMPS]
This Department is conducted in the interest of stamp and coin
collectors, and the Editor will be pleased to answer any question
on these subjects so far as possible. Correspondents should address
Editor Stamp Department.
The first instalment of the advance sheets of the 1897 catalogue has
been forwarded to those persons who pay $5 for the same. Used U.S.
stamps have remained stationary in many instances, with small advances
in others; but unused U.S. have been greatly advanced. I quote a few
instances, giving the 1896 prices first, the 1897 prices after. These
prices refer, however, to unused stamps in mint condition, evenly
centred, original gum, no perforations missing, etc. A slight falling
off in any of these conditions reduces the value from twenty-five per
cent. to fifty per cent.
1847 issue--5c., $5 to $7.50. 1851 issue--1c., ordinary type, 35c. to
50c.; 5c., ordinary type, $3.50 to $5; 10c., $1.25 to $3; 12c., $1.75 to
$3; 24c., $6 to $7.50; 30c., $7.50 to $12; 90c., $22.50 to $27.50. 1862
issue--15c., $2.50 to $7.50. 1868 issue (grilled, 11 by 13)--1c., $5 to
$6.50; 2c., $1.50 to $2.50; 3c., 40c. to $1; 10c., $3.50 to $6; 12c., $3
to $5; 15c., $20 to $25; grilled, 9 by 13, 2c., 75c. to $1.25; 3c., 25c.
to 75c.; 5c., $10 to $12; 10c. and 12c., $3 to $5; 15c., $4 to $7.50;
24c., $12.50 to $15; 30c., $10 to $15; 90c., $35 to $50. 1869
issue--1c., $1 to $1.50; 2c., 60c. to $1.25; 3c., 25c. to $1; 6c., $3 to
$4; 10c., $4 to $7; 12c., $2 to $5; 15c., $6 to $7.50; 24c., $16.50 to
$20; 30c., $15 to $20; 90c., $35 to $40. 1870 issue, grilled, have
advanced an average of one hundred per cent. The same issue, not
grilled, printed by the American Bank-Note Company, 1c., 40c. to 50c.;
3c., 25c. to 40c.; 5c., 75c. to $1.50; 6c., 75c. to $2; 10c., 60c. to
$1; 15c., reduced from 75c. to 50c.; 30c. remains $2; 90c., increased
from $4 to $7.50. 1882 issue--5c., Garfield, 20c. to 50c.; 3c.,
re-engraved, 10c. to 15c.; 6c., re-engraved, 75c. to $1.50; 10c.,
re-engraved, 40c. to 50c. 1893 Columbian issue has been reduced an
average of twenty per cent.
A. T. ADAMS.--There is no U.S. or Colonial cent of 1739. Your coin
is probably an English penny worth 2c.
PHILATUS.
ADVERTISEMENTS.
[Illustration: ROYAL BAKING POWDER]
A cream-of-tartar baking powder. Highest of all in leavening
strength.--_Latest United States Government Food Report._
ROYAL BAKING POWDER CO., NEW YORK.
[Illustration: THOMPSON'S EYE WATER]
JOSEPH GILLOTT'S
STEEL PENS
Nos. 303, 404, 170, 604 E.F., 601 E.F.
And other styles to suit all hands.
THE MOST PERFECT OF PENS.
[Illustration: PISO'S CURE FOR CONSUMPTION]
[Illustration: BICYCLING]
This Department is conducted in the interest of Bicyclers, and the
Editor will be pleased to answer any question on the subject. Our
maps and tours contain many valuable data kindly supplied from the
official maps and road-books of the League of American Wheelmen.
Recognizing the value of the work being done by the L.A.W., the
Editor will be pleased to furnish subscribers with membership
blanks and information so far as possible.
There is an important feature of bicycling which comes, or should come,
to the attention of every rider about this time of the year; that is,
the question of a thorough overhauling of the wheel itself. This is of
the greatest importance, and should be done whether the bicycle appears
to be in good running order or not. For example, you have been riding a
wheel in the country, or near the sea-shore, and though you have kept
the wheel in good running order, the spokes are a little rusty, and the
bearings must be more or less filled with dust and sand. The rust on the
spokes not only looks badly, but tends to weaken the wheel. A little
grit mixed in with the oil and the balls of the bearings is quite enough
to wear the bearings themselves as well as the balls, and in a short
time render the wheel practically useless, unless an entirely new set of
bearings is put in. Even if you have not been in the country, the fact
that you have used the wheel a little each day, and only wiped off the
outside of the machine and reoiled the bearings occasionally, is enough
to prove that the machine should be taken apart before you begin the
fall and winter season. This particular time, however, of the year
applies rather to those people who are returning from the country with
their bicycles, and who are likely to use them to some extent during the
fall. But it is a good time for any one. If you are somewhat of a
mechanic yourself, you can take the wheel apart and do the cleaning
yourself; and in this connection the article on "The Care of the Wheel,"
published in HARPER'S ROUND TABLE for March 31, should be read before
taking the wheel apart, and kept near by while the work is being done.
An extra caution, however, should be given to all those who take their
bicycles apart--and that is, take the utmost care of the little balls;
for if one of these, for instance, is lost from one side of the front
wheel-bearings, the wheel may run easily enough for a time, but the
strain on the others and on the walls of the bearing will soon wear
both. If any of these do happen to lose themselves (and it is very
probable that they will), the wisest plan is to go at once to the maker
of your bicycle and purchase enough extra balls to make up the required
number. To a great many people, however, the cheapest method for
overhauling bicycles is to take them to the manufacturer and request him
to go over every part of the wheel--clean it, polish it, and replace any
weak point, straighten any bent cranks, supply nuts that are gone, and
in every way renovate the wheel--which, by-the-way, he can do far better
than any amateur. If the wheel is not yet a year old, the average
manufacturer will do this without charge, but in any case a few dollars
is all that a maker requires. The point of this renovation is evident.
If the wheel is thus examined twice a year--in the fall and the
spring--any little irregularity which may be wearing away vital parts of
the machine can and will be corrected; whereas many a fault in a bicycle
is not perceptible to the average rider until the injury has actually
been done, when an entirely new part is necessary; and the larger the
number of replaced or new parts, the less stable and firm is the
bicycle. It therefore pays to have this renovation done twice a year,
whether the wheel appears to need it or not.
An Irishman took his watch to a jeweller's to have it repaired. The
jeweller, after examining it, said the mending would amount to eight
dollars, and he asked if the man was willing to pay that much.
"Sure," answered Pat, "if you're willing to take the watch in part
payment."
A FEW DON'TS FOR BICYCLE BEGINNERS.
I.--Don't pay any attention to people who tell you that the best bicycle
path for beginners can be made out of fifty or sixty mattresses set end
to end and running in a circle. It may be pleasanter, when taking a
header, to land on a mattress than on a macadamized road, but it is a
curious fact in bicycling that the softest road is the hardest to ride
on.
II.--Don't try to make a century run within two days of your first
lesson. If, however, you are too ambitious to follow this rule, purchase
a high-gear cyclometer which will register a mile for every ten feet you
travel. And, speaking of cyclometers, don't forget that people who call
them cycloramas are apt to be set down as wanting in intelligence.
III.--Don't think, if you are learning to ride on the sea-shore, that
because your wheels have rubber tires on they won't get wet if the waves
dash up over them. The worst mistake any one ever made in bicycling was
that of the small boy who thought the rubber tires were put on the
wheels to keep them dry, just as rubber overshoes were put on his feet
to keep them from getting wet.