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Show WW IN SWEDEN and Norway only 9 per cent of the youths 18 years old or younger are , reported unfit for war service. In Germany before be-fore the war the average was only 7 per cent. In the i United States out of every 100,000 18-year-old army prospects, 25,000 are turned back. This is a situation that must be corrected at the earliest possible date. The fact a major war is under c : way makes the cor- f. rection even more t - . necessary. V ' , The first point is this why should 25 t per cent of our Pju-ZmuZ , youth be unfit at 18 " years? i ' Here Is one angle l'vJv we have given the Y better part of our "cS jCJSSSSm training and devel- GrantiandRIce opment to the few who need It least those better qualified qual-ified to make up winning football teams, track teams, basketball teams, baseball teams, etc. In this way the great majority who need proper training most, get it least. The mass has been too badly overlooked over-looked in the concentration on those already fit to run, jump, swim, block and tackle. Having been with Comdr. Jack Dempsey at his coast guard post I can verify everything he says including in-cluding his statement that over 50 per cent of the recruits that come in can't play any sort of game including in-cluding the not too subtle act of chinning themselves. "Many of them," Jack says, "can't even tell a left hand from a right when they first get in. The whole picture is far worse than most people know." Starting Too Late This physical development and physical improvement must begin at earlier school ages. There is no reason why kids of ten should not be taught at least to swim, run and jump. Between the ages of 12 and 16, they should not only be taught games, but in addition addi-tion should be given better instruction instruc-tion and closer inspection. One or two leading teams are never nev-er enough. There should be as many teams as space will allow. Nurmi once told me that as a kid he had to jog to school, 12 miles away, and then walk or jog back. "On a general average," he said, "I covered around 25 miles a day on foot. So did many other kids In our neighborhood." Strong, active legs are among the essentials and legs don't happen to thrive on lack of use. West Point and Annapolis have Ideal athletic programs for everyone. every-one. Many colleges have good programs. pro-grams. But as a rule these programs pro-grams start about four years late. Ty Cobb was a good ballplayer at the age of 12 and his legs carried car-ried him through 24 years of rugged big-league competition. Bobby Jones was playing golf at the age of eight and his legs were a strong factor through his 12 major championships later on. Bob Feller was building up stout legs and a strong right arm when he was ten. Millions of kids get no such chance. But they should be given a far better chance than they have known in past years or know today. When 100,000 march up to an army base and 25,000 must turn back, no further argument is required. But mere words are not going to help. Some vital and early action is needed need-ed today more than ever before. And if such action had been taken before, more than 2,000,000 additional addition-al fit fighters would now be in our army and navy. College Football College football has now come to a crisis which must be met. This crisis concerns certain rule changes, notably the present kickoff nightmare, night-mare, which must be met to help give the college game a fair break with the professional side. Any advancement ad-vancement among such lines has been blocked so far by Bill Bingham of Harvard, chairman of the rules committee, Dana Bible of Texas and others who have become stubborn and completely out of line with the wishes of the players, the public, and 95 per cent of the coaches. This latter group wants an early meeting that will clear lip the muddled mud-dled atmosphere and put college football back where it belongs. Lou Little, Columbia's able coach, and one of the smartest football men I ever knew, has been working desperately des-perately to have such a meeting. The Main Arguments The main arguments at hand, first of all, concern the present out-of-bounds college kickoff rule. This made a joke and a travesty out of the game all last season. What happens now the big crowd waits expectantly for the kick down the field and the run back which may go from 10 yards to a touchdown. touch-down. But what takes place? The kickoff ' side promptly kicks out of bounds, riving the ball to the other team on Kic 35 yard line. |