Evening Republican, Volume 15, Number 263, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 7 November 1911 — ASK EARLY FOOTBALL [ARTICLE]

ASK EARLY FOOTBALL

« , a . B , ■ Importance of PraottT &. ■. • , ‘r i ‘T <i ■» Jg£ •fe ■ "TunUyto aTow'GHt n Under ¥ J,. .. > V Clreomitanee*—Firat *»—•-• M... . jfmr 10119 Twiy» more football coaches since the rule of the tag * charges before Sept. 20. In the years before the stringent regulations of the conference, when It was possible to start training in the middle of the summer, It was not until almost October 1 that practice really began, but since the time has been set for September 20 coaches, captains and veterans have impressed upon candidates for gridiron honors the absolute necessity of appearing on the field the first day and staying there throughout the season if they expect tb be picked as “regulars.” Only half-hearted efforts were made to coach the veterans before October, under the old regime, the early work being principally a tryout for inexperienced material. Now there is not time for "try-outs and the greater part of the material which reports for practice at the big western schools Is thoroughly seasoned and those men who lack experience must be content to work on the “scrub” until such time as they may show they have gained the required knowledge of the game. The - freshman and scrub teams are the preparatory schools for varsity football education and a man who has not gone through a course of sprouts on one of those two elevens has as little chance of “making” the varsity as has a man getting into college without a preparatory school training.

There are some exceptional men who may make good with the school elevens without this preparatory work, but these are the exceptions that prove the rule. More than one high school or academy star has gone to college and refrained from playing on the freshman team, thinking the grind of daily scrimmages without the incentive of a game not' worth the candle. These men have relied much upon the reputations they have established as preparatory school players and find, too late, that college football and preparatory school football are as different as professional and amateur baseball. The system of cochlng is entirely different amfthe man who has had bis name shouted by thousands of admirers in Keokuk, lowa, or Ispheming, Mich., finds it rather annoying to be booted around and “bawled out” by men whom he regards as having only a tithe of his own ability. Early season work for the moat part is devoted to learning rudimentary, formations. Every school that has had a coach for more than\a year or two has some sort of "system” of - plays and formations and this groundwork is drilled into the men in the first work. At the end of this time they are expected to have the general plan of the coaches well in mind and are considered capable of putting into execution-their slightest command. Formerly there jras of conditioning when the men, returning from their' summer vacations, often fat, were trained down to something approaching fit physical condition. Now the man who reports for practice in anything but condition has little chance of receiving attention from the tutors. The coaches wisely decide that a man who does not care enough about the game to fit himself for the early work is persona non grata on the gridiron and the only way in which he may re-establish himself In their estimation is by working alone, getting the fat off and incidentally keeping pace with his more foresigbted brothers who have not this handicap to overcome.