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Show I; BREAKING IN and WEEDING OUT ike' FOOTBALL SQUAD I JotK Copjrlsbt, 1911, by the Jfaw York Herald Qo. All rights wscrreJJ ,UHg I " OOT3ALL is tbe most natural game in the ' I world. In its- very tender years it was the slm- 9?- K pleat. Man and the small boy; and perbnps the jTmB!" 1 sprightly maiden, mechaulcally kick trilling ob- '!? stacles out of their path from Bheer love of & kicking. The hat loaded with brickbats, for the an-Mp an-Mp clent ApriJ Fool joke, caters to the weakness of the fiWt human. A boy will kick a lump of coal or a bit of jjraj block for a mile down the road and rebpj when asked rRlt k brl" an nrmful of kindling wood from the cellar. & i In prehistoric tljqes the uncouth but probably agile tf T rofin savage assuredly kicked something In some game &J f of some description, else why should the trait be fas-JM fas-JM teucd on the higher development of the species? jV In a recent century whole English towns played ijjf U football from one town to another, the object of the i. game being to sequester the ball within the town Wi'I, limits of tbe opposing rivals, Tha women shrieked JjS It and shrilled and gave encouragement to "their men," ? TJ and while not all of the men were fast enough to fol-l fol-l Y low the ball, they were loyal enough to separate into $ -L groups which battled foe town supremacy, whether the ball was within a mile of them or not. lj - Fronl this unquestionably evolved the modern game 2 i' of fool ball, and if you will be pleased to make the Ji . trip this personally conducted tour will tako you J , right into the primer class of tlie American game, for m rl to-day football is nn amusement study. ii iiP Confessedly American football is derived from l 4 Rugby. But what of it? The instiuct to play foot-( foot-( )f ball is as great In the United States as It is in Eng-lfc Eng-lfc ('? lund, and tf there be ingenious Americans who are 'jl !; prone to imagine that they can improve a little on the 1 j original game .so much the bolter. 1 There Is u distinctive separation between the Amer-V Amer-V ' lean boy and the English boy In sport. The ruddy Jj i ; cheeked youngster of Great Britain will play for the fe sake of play alone, but tbe American boy, barker of - ' complexion, keen of eye and economical of time, M wishes a motive for which to play, not in the sense I of reward of a financial nature, but a distinctive objective ob-jective point for which he exercises mind and body. Tbe original Rugby appeared to be too aimless to the Americans who engaged in the sport, so they Introduced In-troduced new and modifying features, started the ball with a definite purpose, instead of kicking it out of a scrambled mess of struggling linesmen, and Since, then American football has picked its way along with such rapidity that it has spread across the continent like wildfire. Ten thousand play It now where one hundred played It ten years ago. Sounds like a large statemeut, but football is a large subject. That's why there Is a football .school every autumn au-tumn In fact, many football schools. It begins about the time the boys begin to return to their studies after they have been camping all the summer in the mountains or pluying on the beaches and Bwimmlng to keep in condition, or raking hay, perhaps, per-haps, or cutting timber. tmt Naturally the school is for the newcomers, but the 3 fy old fellows must go to it. The football taskmaster Is "'jj :L a sterner man very often than the grave professor who m fe flits behind his desk and expounds mathematical prob-i prob-i I' lems with a glibness which flusters his younger y hearers. f i , If the boy happens to be n member of a preparatory i: school and he wishes to become a football player for- 4 that preparatory school he is as much bound to attend "J 4 his football class as he is bis class in Latin. Per- $ naps for the time being college loyalty or school loy-j"! loy-j"! ;L alty, and it Is all the tame, holds that he would bet-(l bet-(l i " ter flunk a Latin recitation for a single day than be absent from the training table and from practice when ji 1. tbe coach begins to look around for hLs available ma- teriaL False sense of honor? Not a bit of it. There I. never was a man who went through the football school ! but was better for it ,, In these days when the college year begins there are ij more youngsters who know something about football I '. than there were five years ago. Not only preparatory if ; school but high schools are well coached during the ' ) football season. J I In the Volunteer Squad. A When the football squad volunteers for play the C: coach finds, in addition to the green material, many t- young players who have been taught how to tackle, l' bow to catch the ball, how to punt and how to try to ijii t get through tho line. rf'l Of course he has his own ideas as to what he ' 'Wishes for his own team, but It helps him a little to be able to avoid teaching all of tho rudlmcntB to every ! player on his squad. There are sure to be greenhorns who are plucky enough to believe that they can make a place on the eleven, and they will take up a great deal of bis time, while what is left of tbe hours in which he may have the Btudente for practice will be devoted to smoothing the rough spots and teaching team work. This American Ameri-can football is a glutton for team work. Its moves are as varied as chess, and in more ways than one it embraces problems like tho problems In chess. That jlV is partly why the American boys like it. Every one i of them knows that he Is doing something which is $ needed to help hLs team win. 0 j Sixty pupils enroll Jn the football class in which J we are Interested. They are short, tail, lean, lank, 1 ' atout, fat, nimble and sluggish. It Is the first day that ft & they have icported for outdoor work. f t Tho head coach and hLs staff sit around the field, J I and, after providing the squad, with some old footballs. J r tell the players to enjoy themselves. The first day, tho second day and some days following are employed i largely In ascertaining the physical characteristics ij of the volunteers, :iud serve also to permit the lazy J! ' and the easily dJswunigod to retire. "Tliure'd young Templeton from Essex," bald the jfi';' hnad coach to oneof the staff. "1 wish you would ill- take him Jn hand. He teemed to be a good half back 1J:, lust yeur except thut he would run back when he ' started with the ball. Keep him with you, Puul, and Jfil; break him of that habit." 'l, Now, l'aul in his day was one of the best half backs iJjS' -who ever played on a football field, so It Is assured 5?;. that the delegate from JCsscx In the next fortnight 13 Jl ; ' likely to learn a great deal that he did not know if he i r Is receptive. f looking around the field the head coach obuerved a J big, clumB.v fellow again and again engaged in punt- jhf- lng or trying "to punt tbe ball (a punt Is a kick made ! ' by dropping the ball from the hands and kicking It be-$'' be-$'' " foro It strikes the ground), and tho recruit was hav-f hav-f I ; lng all manner of trouble to kick the bal twice In 5 the same place. , t Tlie coach laughed a Httle when hLs eye first caught 1 1 ; sight of the "greeny" at work. Then he took note u j second time, and after that watched him for full five S' minutes, which was a great deal of attention to be rJ paid to one player early in school hours. P K - ' Turning .around he explosively shouted (tBy HrJTX George, Billy, look ac that fellow worjd He 'is ae Sj I awkward as a girl with a baseball bufcobut riee'the f ower that'ho puts Into those punts and tho distance 0WXPERIENCES of the Novice Who Sets Out to Make the Varsity jTi ' MLEteven and Wrestles with the Many Tricks and Problems Under the M I tft Expert Coaches Eagle Eyes wPm IL J that he Is making. Where's McC'ormlck? Hey, itac. you've got your stunt. Get hold of that big fellow over there, the one wearing a suit two sizes too small for him, and see what you can do with him on the punting line. Evidently he doesn't know, anything about It, but right now he is driving the ball sixty yards or m) with all of his lack of skill." Walking around the field the head coach let it be known to his assistants that he wanted some linesmen. lines-men. "We've got one good man," said he, "for guard, and that's all we have got. Tho guard who played on the second team last year doesn't look to me as If he can stand more than two or three games, during the season. sea-son. I'd like to keep him for second string man this fall, because I shall always feel safe with him to fall back upon If only we can find some six-footer among these tanners who Is active on his feet and who will be able to stand off Wood, of Hopkins, and Trumbull, - of Yale, who are certain to make their teams this season." "Let's get some of those big fellows out and make them run a hundred or so," said oup of the staff, "not to see whether they have any speed, but to look over their action." Thereupon half a dozen of the scholars were grouped and started away at an easy pace, and the coaches watched them carefully as thej- were led around the field by a veteran of the your before. 'Tietty good materinl for green men," said one. A Defensive Guard. "Right!" said the head coach. "We'll stick some of them together In two green lines to-morrow and see how they can "hold. If that man In the extreme left," pointing to one wh.o ran with aiyeasy stride and freedom of action, 'should show that his courage and grit are as broad and as well moulded as his shoulders 1 can see where you. Holt, will have a matinee each day from now until the middle of October making of him not only a good defensive guard but one who can gather the 'ball In his arms whenever he huppeus to stumble over it and beat out some hasty footed back on the other team. He looks to me like an athlete. "Make them all kick." continued the head coach. So one after another the members of the squad tried to punt The old fellows, of course, with a year's experience, were as haudy when they reported us they were when they left college the summer bo-fore. bo-fore. Some of them were much better, for they had been practising at home. The recruits often do not know how to punt They try to kick the ball with their toes Jnstesld of with the arch of the foot, and part of the time they don't kick It at all, because they haven't learned to time it well, but the coach keeps an eye on any who occa-blonally occa-blonally lift the ball with a long spying down the turf. They are the young&ters who are likely to remain Btudents m tuc Tv-otball clabs until the last game is played in autumn. There Is no end to this work for some weeks. More and more tbe members of the tjquad arc bi ought closer to what football really meau.s. The practice at punting is ceaseless, for It Is one Of the theories of a good football coach that no pluyer can be too intelligent intelli-gent l learning to punt well. And In addition to the punt there is tho drop kick to bo tried and learned. Nowadays when kicking Is so much a part of the American game and so valuable the cohcIi who see& a recruit In his squad who appears to be a natural drop klckor bends all of his energies toward shaping his skill to perfection. At that, drop kickers are mostly born; they're not made. It doesn't matter much whether a kicker looks like a guard, a coutre, a tackle or a back, the coach wants him because he seems to be expert enough to drop back of his line at any reasonable stage of a hard fought contest and lift the ball with his dexterous toes over the bar of the enemy's goaL There's a great deal of Intoxicating elixir In t'har sort of thing, not only for the cifect that it hab on tho "deadly rival" but for the encouragement which it A Football in Action Is as Elusive as a Coquette, as Ornery as a Kicking Mule and as Obstinate as a Homesick Cal puts Into a team which Is fighting with all of Its vigor to check a powerful .adversary. Tho beginner Is taughthow to fall on the ball. That's "G" In the "A, B, C" of the game. Falling on a bull fceenis about as simple as tumbling off a log Into the creek, doesn't lt7 Try It and see. Try It with eleven men charging after you determined to wrest that ball from your hands If they can possibly do so. Try It when tho ball bound In a scries of gyrajious resembling a corkscrew cork-screw gone crazy, and to lose it means to lose th game. After you havo tried It you will realize why falling on the ball Is "C" In the primer class. A football In action ac-tion Is as elusive as a coquette, as ornery as n kicking mule, and as obstinate ns a homesick calf. The football scholar fulls where he aw the ball and flattens to earth some Inches of grass which Is slowly turning to russet with the advent of the cool days, while the ball may be behind him, In front of him, to the right of him, to the loft, or even on top of him. It lakes weeks before he can be so sure of himself that he will wager that tlie ball is encircled so firmly by both of his strung arms that there is no possible chance for It to get away. Tho primer class workp, and works unceasingly, in practice at falling on tho ball, and there are sore ribs and bruises of a pronounced brunette complexion where occasional pebbles have pushed their way Into thick moleskins or canvas Jackets while tlie art of falling on the ball and capturing it at the same tlmo has been learned The Training Table. By and by the coach announces that po and so and some more will go to training table. That Includes both the players who are presumably regulars., and the other players who are to keep the regulars busy In practice. The poor second team in football does not receive ao much of the applause of the public as Its fellows, but the longer that football is being played the moic the second team comes In for lis share of approbation. approba-tion. A man Is bomethlng of a hero to his university when he will be hammered nwuy for all of the fool-ball fool-ball season merely to shuipen the playing ability of his own playmates. . When the training table starts the squad probably loses some of Its members, but those who are left have subscribed to a season of discipline which Is aj exacting as if they had enlisted in the army. Now the football school Is on In earnest. The players are required to "line up to the mark" every lay. No exennes except for injury, and even the injured in-jured must be present at Indoor recitations, when the coach explains his system of signals. There b one university where tho foorball students have a club houso all to themselves. It's tho airiest, brightest place indoors that you could Imagine. Every room is light and open, the beds and the furniture fur-niture are so wholesomely clean that a student couldn't help but rest easy on them, and every meal is made up of tho foods which will do the most goon ror growing youths who have been taking exercise in huge does and liave encouraged appetites which would discourage discour-age any but athletic trainers and a football school. On the ground floor there is one of the cosiest of sitting rooms, where the students gather when they wlah to "talk things over," and there Is a veranda with abundouce of comfort, which is popular with all of tlie m until the cold weather drives them Indoors around the wood Are. Sounds like a pretty flue school house. It Is, but don't Imagine for a moment that the young men who live in that school house do not have to earn their right to enjoy such comfortnblo quarters. By tho time that the conch has got along to the training table he Is deep In working out hLs signal practice. Every player must know the signals and know them perfectly. If one man falls on the signals, and occasionally one will do so In the heat of a contest, con-test, there Is sure to be a Jumble and a messing of pla.vers which will bring confusion into a plan of attack at-tack which had been running with the bmoothness of a spark driven engine Perhaps the coaches employ numeral signals. When you went to the football game you heard the stubby little quarter back stand up and In a high voice shout: "One thousand and six, seven, five, eighteen!" Sounds like gibberish, but it Lsn't. It 1h possible that only one of those numbers was tho actual signal for n play which Ls well known. The "five" may hove told all of tho story and the remainder was thrown In to bother the other side. Or It may be that tho signal was actually given in "ono thousand." More than that, it Is possible that it took every one of the numbers to run off the signal proj-rly, proj-rly, I he "seven, five and eighteen" modifying a series if plays embodied on the "one thousand and six." So it may be seen that thero Is a great deal to b learned in this department of the football school. One eleven played one year with letters iuatead of numerals. The qunrter back guv.- out his signals as follows: "A, G. R, X. Q" and "B, A, D." It went pretty well for a time, because it confused tlie men of other teams, who are always looking ahead to pick up the signals of their opponents. Tho great rroublo was that there did not seem to be enough carrying power in the mere local expression of letters, and In u warm game tho players "went all to pieces" on their bigual code There was a varsity team which played nearly all ' j IH of one season with merely one signal for a punt - i r -----fl fore the signal wax discovered. The quarter back llll called out any numeral of which be happened to think lH except some number which was embodied tn I'M Ci team's. Blgnal code. Then he shonted, "Play it faNt."' Fl The "play it fast" was tbe signal for a pant, and it uH was almost the last moment in tho football bcunou rH that year that a quick wltted little back on the other j t' side who had been listening to the signals for ten , H minutes of the game, shouted "Look out for a pant." I IH when he heard the opposing quarter call out "Play 1fl It fast." He bad guessed it ll Even that quick perception failed to avail much, 1! for there was another signal for a punt, and the quar- l ter shifted over to that. He said after tbe season was v j) over that often he had expected the opposing side 1 would pick up the "play it fast" signal, but for boiuc ' hlH reason or another it had fooled, the adversary. ' While football school was going on during these i! fll days the players were compelled to answer questions l 1 M about plays which were put to them by the coach. and they were also expected tp ask questions to show j n whether they understood what they were to do on tbc H gridiron. -H Qho head coach outlined a play by which he hoped 1 JH to gain ground during the year. JH "Now, you," said ho to the right half back, "are to ( .jH cross over to the left side of the team, follow the left ' end, who will run hi front of you, while Williams, the ' left guard, will get In your right tp protect you n j 'H much as possible. Brown, the left tackle, will stand V j still and block the right tackle of the opposing team. ' I expect tlie left end to get the right end of tbe other H side out of the play, and by the time that is done both 'H the left half back and the guard will be hi position to H interfere for yop In addition to the uuartcr back., The 1 '' right side of our line will be out In front of the oppos- '' jH ing left." H Turning to the centre he said, "Now, Curtis, where t J will you be?" H "As ncur as I can figure It out I will be qn the i jH ground," said Curtis, "with that big Galnor ou top of V' H ;H The reply nearly broke up the football school for a !H moment, buL ultimately Curtis was made to see that .H If he were not ou the ground it was his particular i M bnsinc-jS to turn the flank of the opposing eleven to . H Che best of h'is ability. . H "And I'll be there," said Curtis, "if I hae two logs """' H left to stand on." ' 'H Day after day and night after night- these plays are r ! rehearsed and new ones are devised. Day after day Is "j 'H devoted to signal drill after or before the scrimmages. ' j "Scrimmaging" is the rongh work of practice. That i ijl means ihe meeting of riie second eleven with the . , lH sturdy men of the first eleven, while the second Ij eleven plays its desotcd head off to try to score 1 IH against the varsity Jl Sometimes it doe, too. Sometimes the freshmen tj will come olong and score against the yarsjly. but all ' cH of this tlmo the football coach ls admonishing here, , encouraging there, grabbing this man by the body J :H In tho thick of the play and illustrating to him how to j r' jjH check a runner, suddenly calling a signal himself to sen If all of the team is quick to respond to it, and J pouncing upon tho luckless wight who falls to play j f low und stop his man. U i ' The team assembles on tbe field and the players, I fl responding to the barking commands of the quarter j M back, run to this end, to that end, between end and t i H tackle, between tackle and guard, around the end, ' f some times in one combination, sometimes In another. ) rll on'd some times with almost all of tbe team changing j IH from one side to the other. ' HH That ls the signal drill. It's the mathematical class IH of the football echooL Tho players must know all ' IH problems as well as they know that twice two make lH four. If a player is designated by a certain uumber jH he must bo ready to fall into nls position In the play ' I, jH on the moment. There can be no hesitation. Losing i . H two seconds In football means that the other team f j H inHy have piled through by that time and forced tho r H attack Lug lino back two or three yards. "Getting the Jump on the other fellows" Js pne Qf J ' H tho head coach's strongest lines of argumcnL ' iH Varsity vs. Scrubs. j . H The varsity and the scrub- are lined up for prac- H tlce. The varsity quarter back gives out the signal.. 'H On the end of the play or behind the line stands the H head coach looking tho men over. When the signal JH ls given with a screech ho shouts: "Now beat 'em tp I (H It! Beat 'em tp itl You cant gain ground if you H don't get through I' n jH Day after day the linesmen nenr this. It is the ro- j H fraln which accompanies them to bed and It Is tbr J j ,H summons which wakens them In the morning. It Ls M JH the last solemn adjuration of the coach when they jH take the field for an important game, and even while i H Ihe game Is in progress the coach may be heard shout- J. IH ng over the field. "Beat 'em to itl" He Ls not sup- i f posed to shout, but thero are times when It Is almost t 'H Impossible to keep quiet at a football game, and If he ' l-H doesn't shout It he think it aloud. While football j j lM school is In progress . the players receive many a M thump aud bruise, but if it i no worse they ease their f H hurts off with liniment and a laugh. f H Some very strict regulations govern this school. Its ) H 'constitution and bylaws," fio to epeak, are more jH rigid than even those of tie varsity or tbe academy j . ,H to which the team belongs. 1 I . H Scholars must not emoke; If very moderate an oc- j H casional pipe, but they are requested not to smoke I f' H anything. They imt not drink any beverago other iH than the water which is provided at training quarters. ' sH They must return exactly on the hour which Is cstab- J , lH Usbed by the coach, aud they must not permit them- i nelves to get behind in uuy way ulth their studies. J They must do what they are lud to do on the field, j ijH und they must subordinate their personal likes aud i t dislikes for the moment to tnose of success for the , ll team. They must learn to take victory with conserv- j , jH arive satisfaction and to accept defeat a an object ; '- lesson, proving to tbehj wherein they lack the necea- . ) Ifl sary qualifications to be awarded diplomas ivheti they graduate. I .H All of this Ls taught in the primer football class In I JM ono way and another. The coachM do their share. t H The veterans of other years are not nlow to relate their I ' M experiences. Mud the school goes on aud on from year )1 i H to year, numbering fresh students every s.-ason until MM some day there will be as many as one hundred thou- j ( H eund football graduates In tho United States. , fH A Jlttlo more than thirty years ago there were i .JH barely one hundred players In America all told Kor J ji H which reason even the most sceptical as to the nltl- H mate benefits of the course must agrco that there if jH must bo .something of moro than ordinary attraction jj jH or it would pot have thrlv.ed like new wheat , , j WM And the small boy and the grown man will go fcfej 1 IfjH their way kicking from before tjnjm lc pebWfc, ) I M the chip, tlie idle T pleasure from which grew, a-fiuwgifjv ItH of nations. 1 ' C-.--H |