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Show v fCMvriA,w 1 i A V ace AA PHE United States, fur many years, has led the world in coin- ! I i titive sport And yet the United States has dropped far behind in the matter of physical fitness when com- I pared to many other nations I I This country has given entirely Inn in mil attention to improving the winnliiK 1 1 1 i t of Its stars. Little regard has been given the great mass that actually need training and romlitioning. But these millions are neglected because they have Hltle to contribute in the nay of football, baseball or other (ports which absorb most of the public'a Granlland Kiee I attunlion through newspaper headlines head-lines and through the paying turn-ktilcs. turn-ktilcs. Entirely too much training and developing attention has been given to those who need this least. i We see where Lieut. Col. Donald I G. Storck of the army air corps, one of West Point's finest athletes and I a man of broad understanding, is I now in charge of the new physical training branch for the army air forces. " . I Up-to-date the navy has turned in a much better job airing these lines ! than the army has even approached. ! Under the direction of such men as l Commanders Hamilton, Wickhorst i and Gene Tunney, to mention only a few, navy has done the best it 1 could to help build up this country's youth that, along average lines, was in sad need of such training help. For after all, the physic's development develop-ment of the many Js far more Important Im-portant than the championship form ready. Colonel Storck has outlined a plan which applies both to the physical and competitive side, building up the fiber of legs, arms and bodiesr,-plus bodiesr,-plus contact games that teach one to think quickly in action. It is a fine plan and is sure to accomplish a world of good. Hotv About Younger Set? In the meanwhile, who is to look after the training and development of the younger boys, those between the ages of 12 and 16? This group Is well below the draft age so their jondi'Jon is not a military problem. I And yet this is the time such help I 's needed more than ever. I Many of these boys get some sort f a chance to build up their bodies ind their competitive mental attitudes atti-tudes at various prep schools and boys' clubs, but this list Is In a j heavy minority. There are millions mil-lions who get no such opportunities. As a result the majority of our youngsters are well below the averages aver-ages of many -other countries.- : 1 ' Returning .officers and enlisted men from Australia will tell you the average Australian or New Zealand kid gets much better service of this sort than we give over here. We need far more trainers, coaches and instructors in every section of the country. , . When 100,000 boys around 18 years : old are drafted and some 25,000 are found to be physically unfit for service, serv-ice, you get a general idea of our present poor conditioning program for those who need the right traftl" ing more than any one else. i should say that less than 50.000 boys out of 100,000 are up to the physical standards they should know at 18. Boys of 10 should do a lot more walking, running, jumping and swimming than they do not in com petition, but in the way of exercises exer-cises needed to give them the right foundation for future living. Two Leading Examples Looking over the map, it is my guess that the high school students of Texas and Oklahoma are given the best chance for development on both the physical and competitive side. No wonder so many, football, baseball and track stars come out of Texas and the southwest in general. gen-eral. . . : Texas and a big portion of the southwest will shortly be getting much larger dividends than any oth- er section of the country from a saner use of their youth power. Conditions Con-ditions in the larger cities of the 1 country are deplorable where so many millions of kids between 10 and 18 years old are involved. These youngsters rarely have a.ny chance at all to Snd tha physical fiber so badly needed later on. And the depressing point is thaf so few of the older people seem 'to care. - . .: : .; Sports ori the Home Front Many promoters tell us about the way England is handling sport. I wonder If they know 'that' while England and Scotland are carrying on, almost the entire proceeds are given to the Red Cross or some war fund? There is no sporting clean-up in Great Britain'. There are no promoters pro-moters collecting important money, from the testimony that I get. There arc no stars raking' in rich pursesr-whatever pursesr-whatever the game. i |