TRAINING THE YOUNG.

Dominion, Volume 7, Issue 1940, 24 December 1913, Page 7

TRAINING THE YOUNG.

AMERICAN SYSTEM OF RECREA- [ . TION. Thoro were about 150 people present at tho lecture delivered last night. by Jlr. Peixottb, manager of the American athletic team which is-touring New Zealand. Tho .Mayor of Wellington (Mi 1 . J. I'. Luke) presided. The smallitess of tlio atteiidanco was regretted by tho chairman of the Council of tho New Zealand Amateur Athletic Association (Mr. A. A. Mafryatt), who expressed tlio opinion that public men could have profited by spending tlie evening among tho audience. Tho object of tlio lecturo was' to" give citizens an idea of what .was being done iii America, and spread' and- foster recreation, and at tho conclusion Mr. ' i'eixotto was heartily thanked. 6 , ! • n " :ar '

The lecturer said'that ill America," as I elsewhere, athletes were to a great exyjont born, not made: but thero seemed ;|o bo an impression. that there was some wonderful secret about American success, in athleticism. Ho was afraid there wa3 ho such secret; success came from hard work, study, and training. Every trainer in America was strict against smoking and drinking. Thero are some-men who were not' affected by citlier of these 'usuries, but they did no one any good, and sooner or later smoking affected a man's wind, and drinking affected his heart.. To get the best out of oneself in the Held, study of form was necessary. Ho noticed particularly that our shot-putters bad no form at all.. Perhaps they had no opportunity to study. To put tho shot 0110 needed -to study how to get tho most out of. ,every muscle, rather than just uso tho arm. In New Zealand there w6ro.no real athletic fields; our public grounds seemed to be.placcs run in connection with' cricket or "football. I'or .'instance, there, was no pit at which a man could practice jumping on any of Our grounds. When an athlete Went to a sports meeting he found ono there, but never had one to practico on. Ho wondered sometimes how our athletes did so well. Ho mot ono of our most prominent- runners the other day, whoso training amounted to what in' America would bo termed no training at all, and yet by hard work that man had readied tho forefront of Australasian athletics, and, ho might almost say, of tho world's athletics. In America the system of athletics, or recreation, was well organised, and this told its tale in competition. America's success at the Olympic Games had brought her system under special notice.' 'l'ho public school system of training in America was extensive. Tho boys were divided into classes to make tho competitors fairly even. They believed that a boy who had learned how to win witlioiit getting "swelled head," and the boy who grew to know how to being too downhearted, had learned a valuable lesson . (Applause.) In Chicago over £10,000 had been spent on recreation, grounds, and tho result 'was entirely satisfactory.' They, lieved in America that to get bovs engaged in clean sport had tho result of "diminishing juvenilo delinquency. A boy would armiso himself in the surroundings in which ho was environed. Mr. Piexotto advised citizens to mako recreation grounds while there was jet time. The lecture was supplemented by lantern' views. -■