Hammond Times, Volume 7, Number 25, Hammond, Lake County, 22 June 1918 — Page 8

PROVIDE

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SHOULDER TO

GOVERNMENT

By WILLIAM H. CRAWFORD.

RAWFORD, write a story about the im

portance of athletics in the National

Army and the necessity of thorough co

operation of all the agencies engaged in this work in order to secure the best results," said the Editor. This was a poser for me, as I belong to the constitutionally lazy group who spend most of their time in libraries rather than on the athletic field. I cudgeled my brain that night for the answer when suddenly I had an inspiration. "My old friend Walter Camp knows more about athletics than anyelse. I know, to my sorrow, that he knows how to train men for athletic sports for I have lost several hats and other things betting against Yale; I will go to him for information." A long distance call secured me an appointment to see him at his office in New Haven. I found him with eyes as bright, shoulders as erect and body as alert as they have been these past tweny-five years. He is a living example of the advantages to be gained by rational exercise, properly directed. '"Mr. Camp," I began. "I have to write a story upon the importance of athletics to the soldier boys and I have come to you as a fountain head of all such information." "You don't want me to talk on the subject any more than I want to tell the American people about it, my heart is so full of it. It is so important and so few people appreciate its necessity. We need the co-operation of all the magazines and newsto help us whoop up athletic training. ''War has changed. It is no longer a question of just being a gallant soldier, always marching with colors flying to the battle front to win a glorivictory or die for your country. Modern warfare has made it one-quarter soldiering and threeworking. Trenches have to be dug, food and munitions transported, road beds made; there are an endless number of absolutely essential tasks that require strong physical manhood. War is now a survival of the fittest, it is an endurance test, and the efficiency of any military establishment is in direct ratio to the physical fitness of its individual units. The army whose men possess the greatest ability to withstand hardships and to endure, will be the victorious one. What we need now is men who are able to fight all day. Men who can pick up their equipment, run forward a couple of hunyards and then be ready to fight again. "There are many reasons why athletic trainis important to the National Army: "IT INCREASES ITS RESISTENCE. More men die in the army from diseases than from enemy bullets. The casuality reports of any body of troops will show this to be true. The man who is physically fit has greater powers of resistance to disease. The lurking germs are thrown off by his vigorous system, as water is from a duck's back, whereas the man whose resistance is low, whose vitality is impaired, will be attacked by disease and will succumb to it. "REDUCES HIS DANGER IN COMBAT. It is a safe guard at the supreme moment of impact with the enemy. There has been much hand to hand fighting in this war and there will be much more before it is finished. At such moments the properly trained athlete will have the edge. The soft handed, flabby muscled, untrained man who formerly shunned athletics, will find himself "IMCONGRESSUS ACHILLE" (unequally matched with Achilles.) For athletic training not only strengthens his muscular power, increases his agility but brings about co-ordination between the mind and the body, that enables him to determine quickly his course and act upon it instantly. The trained man will be more than a match for his unadversary. "IT BUILDS UP HIS COURAGE. Courlargely is a matter of habit. The boy who has faced "the foe" on the football field and in the basket ball court, where he risked his life and limbs for glory only, more readily faces the dangers of war. It has been said that the English army is made on the cricket fields at Eton. This is true. Good soldiers are strong soldiers, strong soldiers are brave soldiers. You may be sure that in all charges on the battle field, the boy who is physically fit, properly trained and accustomed to take part in athletic contests will be in the foreHe will lead the wav. "IT CURES HOMESICKNESS. A large number of the boys have never before been far from home. They are suddenly transported a thousand miles from all their former friends and associates. They are among a world of strange peoples. Their homesickness makes them dissatisand discontented. Little as it may seem, this is a serious menace to the discipline and training of the army. The remedy? Give the boy something to do that he likes. Let lum engage in some sport, take part in some contests, let the training of his body be along lines that will interest him. Let him be made to feel that by proper care he can exthe other fellow, and lie will become so much enthused over his physical prowess and over the game itself, that he will forget to be homesick. He won't have time. "IT ACTS AS A DETERRENT TO VICE. The youngster has two normal instincts, piay and sex. It is a safe proposition that his mind is aleither engaged in one or the other. Both are perfectly natural, and need to be properly direct-

ed. The first one developed is play and it is posto keep it in the foreground. Give him an opportunity to engage in sports, to take part in football and baseball, to play healthy, robust, viggames, and this instinct stays in the ascendand he will stay at the camp on Saturday and Sunday rather than go to places of vice. Furtherhe knows that he must be moral if he desires to be at his best physically and therefore is unwillto lessen his chances of success by dissipation. In the football season we have very little trouble on this score with the candidates for positions on the team. Every boy hopes to make good. When it is explained to him that he cannot reach supreme physical excellence if he is immoral, you won't need to tell him that he 'mustn't'. It won't be nec-

BASEBALL INTRODUCED

BY Y.M.C.A. AT THE FRONT

IN FRANCE

man would hardly notice. Remarkable physical strength does not make a man the best soldier. We need the active man, the well-balanced man, physicWe went to develop his undeveloped muscles, to increase his weight, to build up his endurance and strengthen his heart. We want suppleness, chest expansion, resistive force and these do not come from great bulging knots of muscles nor from the ability to do extraordinary feats of strength. The boy is not capable of selecting his course of training. Each one must be assigned to such exas is suited to him individually. Men cs-

BASKET BALL AT CAMP GORDON

ATLANTA GA.

essary. It doesn't do any good to preach purity to a boy at this age, he is either not listening to you or he is wondering where the old guy got that funcollar, but he will listen if it affects his chance of making the team. "IT QUICKENS HIS TRAINING. It is urgently important that our soldiers get to France as soon as possible. They are needed now. Athwill accomplish this. Their physical condiis improved more rapidly, their hardening for the strenuous life ahead is less difficult, and their learning of discipline is quicker as a result of this athletic training. Recognized military authorities say that the trained athlete will be prepared for service several months earlier than the boy who takes no active interest in sports. "IT DEVELOPS ALL THE MEN. Propdirected athletics will develop all of the men rather than making physical giants of the few. It isn't like the selection of a football team. We are not trying to pick a team out of a squad of twomen, but to build them ALL up so that we may get at least one-hundred seventy-five able bodied men out of the two-hundred. It is not a question of selecting only the best men physically for the war, but improving the man power and vitality of all so as to render a larger number suitfor service and to increase the military value of each individual man. To do this it is necessary that the proper scientific methods be utilized. A large part of the exercise that the boy usually takes is not of the proper kind. Much has a tendency to build up great arm and leg muscles. The arms and legs get enough exercise normally. When you rise from a chair, what is the first thing that you do? You grasp it with your hands and push yourself up. Why? Because you know that your arms have the best trained muscles of the body, and therefore can be called on to assist your body muscles in getting up. We do not need to increase the strength of the organs already sufficiently developed. We need good lungs, good hearts and proper co-ordination of the muscles and the mind. The engine must be properly oiled and kept in proper trim. Frequentwe see some lad in the service with great broad shoulders and huge muscles, apparently a physical giant, puffing under a task that a more active, wiry

Our problem is to provide athletics for the men in order to duplicate as nearly as possible the home environment,

produce physical fitness with high vitality, and in this we had the most generous and whole-souled cooperation from the

the Knights of Columbus, the War Camp

have

Y. M. C. A.,

Service, and all the

Community

agencies

that are established in

and about the camps The results have been remarkable and convincing.

Walter Camp

WALTER CAMP

pecially qualified for this purpose must do it for him and they are doing it. "Several agencies have been established for this particular purpose. An army athletic officer is assigned to each regiment, the Committee of Training Camp Activities has a representative and the Y. M. C. A. has an athletic secretary in every camp and an individual athletic director in each Y. M. C. A. hut. The Knights of Columbus and the Y. M. H. A. also assist in this work. The work is so important that it is absolutely essential for these bodies to act in perfect unison. There should be no petty quarrels, no little misunderstandings but they must work in complete co-operation and every man must do his share.

"I am pleased to say that judging from the reports I have had, some of them coming directly from my son, who is actively engaged in this work in the Southern camps, there is complete co-opera-The athletic committee appointed by the Camp Commandant and usually composed of the Y. M. C. A. athletic secretary and the camp athletic officer, arrange schedules for games, organize baseball series, stage boxing bouts, wrestling matches, etc. Every piece of ground large enough is utilized by this committee for outdoor sports, and they use the Y. M. C. A. Auditorium and huts for indoor games. "It is attempted to so manage that every boy will have an opportunity to take a definite amount of physical execrcise. Boys take kindly to this, they like to play, therefore the influence of the athletic directors with the boys is great and their tasks enormous, so great that it is absolutely necthat the work be apportioned among these various agencies. "In conclusion let me say, in this life-grapple with the Hun, the array needs every available man, and every man who can be made available, and that every soldier be brought up to his highest efficiency. Every man must be physically fit. The task of physically upbuilding millions of men is

so big, that every agency engaged in this work must put forth its best efforts, and, without regard to any special credit, submerging self-interest and personal glory, work in complete unison in the wonderful task of making Uncle Sam's soldiers, the finest body of physical manhood that ever faced a despicable foe." I told you I would make Walter Camp write the story for me. Did I do it? Well, almost there is just one other thing that the reader should know. The Y. M. C. A. is equally impressed with the importance of athletics and is giving the whole-co-operation that Mr. Camp suggests. Read what Dr. Fisher, the General Athletic Director of the War Work Council of the Y. M. C. A. says about it : "A French General has said that the war will be won by the side having the best nerves. Morale is a great force in winning the war. Nothing can contribute more to these two factors than play and recreation. No country has ever equalled the presrecord of the American Army and Navy in the provision of athletic sports and wholesome recreaby civilian organizations in which all the agencies thus contributing, including the Y. M. C. A., the K. of C, the War Community Service and others have co-operated most heartily and harmonifor the national welfare."