Show 0 STUDENT LIFE somely ami intelligently and gets the pleasure which is the essence of sport Xo greater mistake was ever made in an athletic system than this one of making the first team a winner at the expense of every thing If this is done and it often is done we find the great body of the students shunning the sport because they feel they can not “make the first team” Sports are profes-sedl- v for the students for all of them Then great virtue lies in the fact that while they keep the body a fit abode for the mind and provide a recreation that is truly a they stimulate ambition by placing before the man goals to which he hopes to attain A man is constantly matched against his fellows in strength courage and quickness of mind and muscle If these things are reserved for the very small per cent of men who make up the college teams what is left to the remainder but idly to kick the pebbles about under their feet or to match themselves against dumb bells and chest weights a thing which the great body of students will scarcely do Place everv sport open to every man and you can then claim of him the duty of trying If he has any pride in him you will find him on the field : if he has none your time is too valuable to waste trying to make him a man IIow sports may be the more open to all is easy to say but when re-crcati- on 119 the foundations of a system are laid it requires the utmost energy of a vigorous community to build upon those foundations There are plenty of examples of success in this work in the best educational institutions in the country At Harvard besides the “varsity” squads each class supports a squad In addition to this every man who wishes to play football is asked to put his name on a list and even if he has never seen a football he is assigned to one of the “scrub” teams and gets into actual play every day Each member of the team winning a fixed series of games is awarded a cup A like arrangement is made for baseball At Yale there are the “varsitv"squad the “college” squad and various “scrub” squads In one preparatory school of one hundred and fifty boys every one not physically disabled plays football and rows on one of the crews The mere spirit of the school requires this The scholarship of these institutions is unquestioned That such a system of athletics for all leads to successful “first teams” there is no doubt Merely as athletes the men get a long training and fellows of ability who are too modest or are afraid they will be laughed at for trving for the first team often in two or three years Pest of all evbecome star men ery man has enjoyed through his entire college course the rich pleasure which comes only to the true —G P C amateur sportsman |