RUN TOO FAR

Bay of Plenty Beacon, Volume 11, Issue 6, 17 March 1947, Page 6

RUN TOO FAR

YOUTHFUL ATHLETES OPINION OF AMERICAN His opinion on the beginning of the training of a child in athletics and his own method of training was given by Mr John Fulton, the captain of the visiting American athletic team when they appeared at the Paeroa Domain recently. Although the shot champion, A 1 Hershey; did not talk to the whole of the gathering, he gave hints to the athletes and general public who gathered round him in the middle of the domain to watch him in action. It was a great thing to foster the interest of the young folk in athletics said Mr Fulton, the middle distance runner, in his talk. What took place at the sports meeting at Paeroa was something that never happened in America. He was referring to the younger children taking part in the competitive events. But he said that he was shocked to see the young children running in long distance races. There was no point in getting them to run races over 100 yards, he said. They could learn nothing from the long races and the distances were only injurious to them. Mr Fulton said that he reckoned that boys and girls under 16 or 17 years of age should not run races of over 100 yards. He went on to give an outline of his procedure in training for his events. Throughout the winter months, he said, he began training by running cross country distances.' Those, he said, he kept at for some time and gradually he brought the distances down. The main reason for his long runs were to get his muscle and breathing in form for the race that he specialised in. Training Schedule Then towards the beginning of his running season he began training to a schedule laid down for each day of the week. This he suggested was something of a presis of the winter training. At the beginning of the week the runs were long and each day they were progressively shorter and faster until on the Thursday he ran the distance that he was to compete in on the Saturday, and on the Friday he relaxed completely. One point that he stressed as being absolutely essential to good running was the “warming-up” immediately before the event. He said that he saw very little evidence of New Zealand athletes practising that. To demonstrate what he meant, he asked the sprinter, Don Campbell, to exhibit v his methods of “warming-up” and loosing his muscles.

Value of Exercise

Any exercise at all that would work the muscles was beneficial. Don Campbell showed various leg and body exercises, while John Fulton pointed out the purposes for them.

,While John Fulton was giving his talk, the shot champion, A 1 Hershey gave a demonstration of shot putting and disc throwing. He expressed surprise that New Zealand had not given more attention to the shot and discus. The haphazard way that New Zealand kept its circles was commented on by Hershey. He maintained that no one could throw well on a turf circle. He suggested that the circle ought to be of well packed clay, and that the boundary should be flush with the ground.

Matter of Technique

The actual putting of the shot, he said, was not simply a matter of strength or weight. The whole action in discus and shot events was unnatural, and therefore, it was a matter of technique. Any man of over 1501b5., he said, should be able to put the shot 40ft. After that the whole secret of ability at putting the shot lay in mastering the technique of getting the most from the actions of the muscles.