HOCKEY AND HEALTH.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LV, Issue 100, 13 September 1912, Page 8

HOCKEY AND HEALTH.

HARHFULNESS TO LADY PLAYERS. A DEBATABLE POINT. "That hockey six days a week is detrimental to the* health of girls" was the motion moved by an Auckland delegate, a mere man, at the meeting of delegates and managers in connection with the ladies' hockey tournament (says the Lyttelton Times). He said that Auckland • was opposed to the tournament system, preferring a challenge shield with single matches each year. Medical men were of the opinion that a week's hockey was too great a strain on the health of girls. The chairman, Mr. A, A. Gower, of Wanganui, smiled broadly, and snid that he could not accept the motion, as the meeting was hardly competent to decide the point. He added that the hockey girls he had seen seemed to be particularly healthy specimens of femininity. "1 would like to speak to the motion," said a charming young lady from Taranaki. "I have been playing hockey since the age of twelve, and that there is nothing wrong with me you can see for yourselves." Certainly she was far above the average of 'good health, and was a "living monument" to the benefit of hockey. Notwithstanding the chairman's ruling, the mover refused to withdraw his motion, and stated doggedly that he wanted a division. It vras seconded by Miss Moore, secretary to the New Zealand Ladies' Hockey Association, who said that she knew of girls in Wellington whose health Had been wrecked by hockey or who had been debarred from playing it owing to injuries sustained on the field. A Buller delegate asked whether Auckland had found out that hockey was too severe a strain, and one of the Canterbury members suggested that Auckland should not enter teams if it thought the players were not fit for a week's games. "Let us all undergo medical examination," said another player. The chairman remarked that the case was one for medical experts to decide. Hockey had been played for a long time, and the girls looked sturdy and well Any game, or even methods of living, if carried to excess would do harm. A delegate from Manawatu said that the strongest supporter of the game in Wellington was Dr. Izard; and, if he thought it was injurious to health, he was going the wrong way about improving the race. I Two young ladies from Manawatu and Otago expressed the opinion that a week's tournament was too strenuous for the majority of young ladies, but they were evidently in a minority. The motion was declared lost "four deep," only four voting for it.