The training and conditioning of the contestants for the football team are matters of primary importance to the success of the team in its games. The men owe it to themselves to get into good condition, and the trainer can not exercise too great care in getting the players ready for the struggles ahead.
The days have passed in which men were required to go to extremes in training. The era of half-cooked beefsteak is no more. In fact, the proper training of the men requires no more restrictions, so far as diet is concerned, than anyone who desires to be the possessor of a good, healthy, normal body should observe. The men who present themselves as candidates for a football team are generally of good, moral habits, and are not broken down by excesses of any kind. They have not abused nature, and take training easily.
The worry and nervous strain incident to the training are matters which should be watched more closely than anything else. This is especially true of men who are new to the game, but most of all are these troubles apt to develop in the quarter back and captain, through the many responsibilities thrust upon them. The amount of hard work, of the sort which might possibly injure a player before he is in proper condition, should be minimized as far as is in the power of the trainer. In fact, during the very first part of the season nothing of the kind should be attempted. As the season progresses, work of this character should be along the lines of gradual development. Nor is the physical side of training the only one. It is equally important that the mental training should be watched and just as carefully developed.
EARLY SEASON'S WORK
To begin with, the coach, trainer and captain will face a mass of material of different physical characteristics. The varying ages of the men must be taken into consideration in the kind and amount of work necessary in their proper preparation for the game. The same work cannot be laid out for the rapidly growing freshman as for the fuuly developed senior who has played perhaps his four years on the team. The needs of the different individuals must be suited.
Commence with the more simple fundamentals, such as starting, passing and a little kicking. Be careful to avoid too much kicking of the ball while the men's muscles are soft, as it is very easy to develop that muscular ailment popularly known as "Charley horse" in the kicking leg, and this will not only retard the progress of the individual for the time but may prevent him from doing his best work in any game through the entire season. To be a good player a man must have a good pair of legs, and care must be taken of them.
The men must start with the beginning of the season to give up drinking water during the practice or in games. It is no detriment during a hard game to rinse out the mouth with water, but this rule of giving it up as a drink, on the field of play, should be followed all through the season.
It is almost unnecessary to add that the duration of practice time should be short at the beginning and gradually increased as the season advances.
LATER WORK
As the season progresses the amount of work to be given must be adapted to the different requirements of the players with increasing care. No two men can be worked successfully on the same plan. It is a very common mistake to attempt to train everyone in the same manner and by the same amount of work. The characteristics of each individual should furnish the data for the trainer's allotment of work.
Throughout the season the men must all, however, have plenty of work and experience at playing the game; yet it is useless to practice after the men are tired and exhausted and have lost their "ginger".
Late in the season care shouid be taken that no player becomes over-trained. The day before each hard game should be spent in putting on the final touches and toning up the men. Light work only should be attempted at this time and it is better to have no scrimmage practice at all. A man who enters the game full of energy and go will be of far greater value than one who is lame and wearied by work of this kind at this late day. The slight benefit to his mechanical proficiency, derived from this eleventh hour scrimmage work, is more than counter-balanced by the player's consequent lack of spirit and tone.