ATHLETICS 



157 



ATHLETICS 



THLETICS , ath let ' iks. Originally 

 i m was applied to any kind of outdoor 

 sports. More recently, however, its use has 

 been restricted largely to trials of speed, 

 strength, skill or endurance among a number 

 of contestants. 



Professional Athletics. According to the 

 way in which they are organized, athletic con- 

 tests may be divided into two groups pro- 

 fessional and amateur. The chief professional 

 sport of the United States and Canada is base- 

 ball ; its popularity fills foreigners with a never- 

 ending wonder. The United States has two 

 Major leagues and both it and Canada have a 

 number of smaller ones, and enormous sums 

 are spent annually in hiring players, erecting 

 stands and maintaining grounds. Such expense 

 can be supported only by heavy gate-receipts, 

 and baseball has become a business, conducted 

 like any other, for gain, although possessing 

 great elements of sporting rivalry (see BASE- 

 BALL) . 



Amateur Athletics. Amateur athletic con- 

 tests, on the other hand, are conducted without 

 thought of gain. They are enjoyed as a spec- 

 tacle, and practiced, in theory at least, for the 

 physical benefit of the players. It is the mark 

 of the amateur that he does not play for hire, 

 and k'reat care is exercised to exclude athletes 

 who have accepted money for their athletic 

 prowess. Certain ideals of fair play arc chcr- 

 i~h. d by the amateur, who makes it a point 

 of honor to be a "good loser." Amateur ath- 

 letic events are arranged among groups of 

 athletic societies, cities, schools and colleges. 

 In the United States such events arc conducted 

 the supervision of the Amateur Athletic 

 Union, which is allied with the Canadian Ama- 

 teur Athletic Association, or, as in the case 

 colleges under that of the Intcrcol l<m:it. 

 Association of Amateur Athletes of A: 

 The effect of these organisations has l> 

 standardize rules and promote regularity. 

 played a considerable part m .u- 

 ramrmg international contests. 



chief athletic games represented ii 



contests are football, baseball, basket ball and 

 lawn tennis, as well as field and track games 

 and gymnastics (see FOOTBALL; BASKET BALL; 

 LAWN TENNIS). The swinging of dumb-bells 

 and Indian clubs, weight-lifting and practice 

 on the horizontal bar are grouped under gym- 

 nastics. Track games include running for 

 various distances, from twenty-five yards to 

 two miles or more, and leaping over hurdles. 

 Among the more familiar field games are pole 

 vaulting, high and broad jumping, putting the 

 shot and throwing the hammer, javelin or the 

 discus. Canadians share the British fondness 

 for cricket, and they excel in playing their 

 national game, lacrosse. This is played both 

 as a professional and an amateur game. There 

 are several lacrosse clubs in the Dominion, 

 including the National Lacrosse Association of 

 Canada, the Toronto Lacrosse Club and the 

 Capital Lacrosse Club (Ottawa). Hockey, too, 

 is an exceedingly popular game. 



In the United States, college athletics occupy 

 a very prominent place. The chief game, 

 from the point of view of popular interest, is 

 football, which is almost wholly an amateur 

 sport. Enormous crowds, even larger than 

 those that witness championship games of base- 

 ball, crowd the stadium at Harvard or pour 

 into the Yale "Bowl" to witness the triumpli or 

 at of a team of eleven young men in dusty 

 uniforms, with grotesque leather headguards. 

 The excitement is intense, the enthusiasm 

 boundless. The desire to produce a winninu 



.Iteil. doubtless, in a high d. 

 of specialization, so that the benefits of ath- 

 letics tend to be confined to smaller and 

 smaller groups rather than shared by the stu- 

 dent l...dy as a whole. This has resulted of 

 late in no little criticism, and efforts are hemu 

 made to cleanse college athletics of the mint 

 of professionalism as well as from too great 

 specialize 



Training. To nain the wind, the skill and 



I that \\ill . n:.Ne him to \\ith-t.md 



the prolonged strain of contests on field or 



has to subject himself to 



