ATHLETICS AND SPORTS 57 



to "take a chance" and run the risk of sacrificing 

 any boy for the sake of the team, or, rather, for 

 advertising himself and the school. It is common 

 for private academies to put all their resources at 

 work for the development of successful teams, the 

 boys not belonging to the teams getting no phys- 

 ical attention whatever, so far as sports are con- 

 cerned. The writer knows of one typical academy 

 where every boy is required to pay $5 each year, 

 for " athletics." This brings $1250, $1000 of 

 which goes to a professional coach, who occupies 

 himself with the senior school teams which are 

 supposed to represent the school, and the remain- 

 der to incidental expenses connected with the 

 work — the great majority of the boys receiving 

 absolutely no attention as far as the encourage- 

 ment and training in sports is concerned. 



Frequently, as has been said, physical trainers 

 or coaches allow boys to join teams, or actually 

 persuade them to do so, who are not fitted for 

 such sport at all. We hear of many serious 

 accidents, especially in football; and a great 

 number are caused by allowing a young boy, who 

 is big and strong for his age, to play on equal 

 terms with older boys, who may be no larger, or 

 who may even be smaller, but who are much 

 more strongly "knit" and thus able to bear phys- 

 ical strains, without harm, which might disable 

 the younger boy for life. 



