J. DEAN TILFORD, Secretary.
GEORGE P. SMITH, Treasurer.
The papers on the science of football written by Mr. W. H. Lewis, of the Harvard Football Team of 1893, which have appeared in the last four issues of this Department, have attracted such general interest among the football-players of the schools that it has seemed advisable, inasmuch as the active football season is not yet in full swing, to add a brief supplementary paper on "Training," from the pen of the same authority. The advice given here is the result of the best experience, and any coach or captain who follows it implicitly may confidently look forward to the best results.
Any correct system of training for a team comprises three separate and distinct elements—the physical, mental, and moral. An eleven should be physically fit to play a hard, fast, and aggressive game from start to finish; and it should be mentally fit in the sense that it thoroughly knows its own game from beginning to end. Every man should know every play, and his place in every play. After being able to play the game both physically and mentally, the next and final thing is to play it. This brings us to the third element—the moral. By that term is meant the spirit of the eleven.
It is not our purpose to deal with the subject of diet. In passing it may, however, be said that the proper diet for a man training is any plain, wholesome, nourishing food. Highly seasoned foods, sweets, and all alcoholic stimulants should be avoided. The value of from eight to ten hours of good, sound, refreshing sleep cannot be overestimated. In general, one broad, comprehensive rule may be laid down with regard to training for athletic contests, and that is this: All training must be adequate to the demands of the particular kind of contest to be entered into. For light athletic contests, light training; for heavy contests, heavy training. The same training requisite for baseball would not be sufficient for rowing; nor can training for track athletics be at all adequate for football. Different sports make different demands upon the physical man. And the training for each must be adapted to meet the demands of each.
Football is the most vigorous and hearty of all our athletic sports. 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.
