This Vancouver lacrosse team wo ‘acrosse was top sport n the Minto cup in 1912. | at turn of the century | Back at the turn of the century, ' When a kiss without a moustache Was like a hot dog without Mustard, lacrosse was Canada’s na- tional game in fact as well as in theory, Those days are gone, perhaps. never to return. Today lacrosse , - Still played on the West Coast, | z the Niagara Peninsula, Toronto an Peterborough, but it has van- €d from the sports scene every- ere else, i © one denies that lacrosse is Re-of the fastest, most exciting! ae ever invented. Why, then, ae the crowds dwindled, until nie a handful of the faithful turn Ft . 0 watch topnotch teams in Ction? . ieee fact is, lacrosse killed itself. stints roughness in play, sub- Paros of vicious slashing for Fant eventually so sickened the Dlie that they began staying away in large numbers. The habit | grew, and even though rigid rules have reformed the stvle of play, lacrosse has *never regained its one-time large following. Fred Jacob once wrote a poem called “Lacrosse — the Svort. of Canada.” One verse goes: There are jolts and you bet you feel them, when you get the body fair— Some bumps you take, and some you give—in the end you call it square. ; Maybe you shed a tooth or two; your skin is not always whole. But it’s worth it when you grab the ball, and bang In the win- ning goal. / : : In the first decade of this century : lacrosse was even more popular than hockey. It suffered an eclipse during the First World War but revived in, 1919 and thou- the afternoon games. Within a few years interest . languished again. i “Box lacrosse’ came on the scene in the 1930’s and. an Ontario league was launched. Fans refus- ed to swelter in stuffy arenas dur- ing the summer months and the league died. In the early days ‘Canadian girls played a modified version of the men’s game, and in the 1860's in- troduced lacrosse to the English when they played an exhibition game before Queen Victoria. It caught on in the Old Country and is played extensively in girls’ schools there. Lacrosse is a fine game, deserv- ing of much greater support than it gets. It would be a good idea to have two top local clubs stage an exhibition match for visitors to the British Empire Games. : Gert’ Whyte's ODERN athletes are better conditioned, better trained than ‘sportsmen of yesteryear. Hence few of the old records sur- vive (although nobody has yet bettered Babe Ruth’s mark of 60 home runs in one season). As soon as Roger Bannister shattered the psychological bar- rier surrounding the four-minute niile, it was evident that’ others would follow in his footsteps. Last week his great Australian rival, John Landv, cut ‘the time to 3:58, a full 1.4 seconds better than Bannister. And there is no doubt that others—including the U.S, miler, Wes Santee, will break the four-minute mark in the near future. , If you haven't bought your tick- ets yet for the mile final at the British Empire Games, Saturday, August 7, you’d better hurry! ; mw am + I’m too much of a gentleman to mention those North Vancou- ver Scots by name—the fellows who chortled with glee when Hungary down England, and add- ed; “They wouldn’t have done that to a Scottish eleven.” Wonder how the boys feel now, after Uruguay whipped the poor championships at Berne? The Scottish team didn’t even make the quarter-finals. And listen to what the reporters wrote: - “Before 45,000 customers, the Scots were given a lesson in the finer arts of football. The South Americans were so superior in every branch of the game that at times the Scots were made to look like school boys.” But when all is said and done, what am J gloating. about?-. Just remembered that I'm a Scot my- self. poe) ie 8s % A fellow phoned up; in the middle of a big argument, see, and wanted some facts and fig- ures on the Schmeling-Louis | fight, the second one, that is, | where Joe demolished Max in the. Scots 7-0 in the world soccer. SPORTLIGHT first round. How old were both fighters at the time? Was Schmel- ing 15 years older than Louis and past his peak? aca I said I though there was.a dif-' ference of five or six years in their ages, an@ promised to check and give the answers here. Max Schmeling was born in 1905, and was 31 when he reach-" ed his peak and kavoed Louis in 12 rounds, June 19, 1936. He was 33 when Louis knockéd him out in one round June 22, 1938.- He fought his last fight in 1948, at the age of 43. During his career Schmeling fought 70 times, winning 56. He was knocked out’ five times. ; Joe Louis was born in 1914, sO was just 22 when Schmeling kayoed him, and 24 when he won the return bout. He fought 71 battles, winning 68 of them, and was knocked out twice, by Schmel- ing and Marciano. He made his last ring appearance against Mar- ciano October 26, 1951. Schmeling, incidentally, is the only heavyweight champion in history who won the title while sitting on the ring floor, com- plaining that he had been “foul- ed.” tt happened jin the fourth round of his title fight with Jack Sharkey, June 12, 1930. Sharkey was leading on points when Max folded after 2 minutes 55 seconds ef the fourth. Referee Jimmy Crowley and -Charles Mathison, one of the judges, did not see the blow. Harold Barnes, another Judge, said he saw it, so Crowley dis- qualified Sharkey, The New York boxing commis: - sion “elected” ‘Schmeling cham: pion, although member Bill Mul- doon voted against it: The next year the commission “dethroned” Schmeling for refusing to sign for a return match with Sharkey. When Sharkey finally coaxed Max into a ring with him June 21, 1932, the Boston Gob easily outpointed Schmeling. : sands of spectators turned out to Hungarian football captain t ells how team trains all year round ‘Our key to vic By FERENC PUSKAS §Ptain, All-Hungarian Team br Henever the Hungarian eleven fellow home a victorv, I and my Quiri., Players. receive lots of en- ods €s_ about our training meth- We pwd about the way in which , tebare for matches. Authough to qvillingly give all information thar © best'of our ability, we find digg Sur words frequently arouse ex ePointment, for our tisteners Somet to hear something’ different, ‘, in discussing meth- footh, training of the Hungarian Players, I usually remind not to expect anything gate 8 Our methods of training Matie °t Sensational; just syste- is = in every field of sports, there tea Permanently selected football Of the =, Hungary. In awareness Toung : €ar’s program, an all year &d fo, ; Uning schedule is prepar- Noi team members. : ey training of the selected before ©gins less than a month Oncg .° MAtional game, meeting Useg ‘ Week to get the team English, ach other. Before the May “Hungarian match held _ loing mr tet example, the first "Selent ig was held May 5. traing d team members keep on Paratj all around the year. Pre- tory Der; In the so-ealled transi- Men ered —between two tourna: “asons—we train less, but ing in sports. we do not stop engaging in spor' During that season, other athletics come to the fore. As for mys«lf, Lam very fond of handball, otuers i, skate, ete. ee comes the period of getting ready, when the stress is laid on Hungary's f coaching assistanc ootball team recently e to several Chinese teams. tory is systematic training’ i ing the players’ condiliun: | matches are often plaved. Training hours. After the boys get warmed improving Pp is diversified. This is the time up, starting and turning are praec- practised. In the period of shap- when. individual coaching sched- | ticed alone with. exercises to step ing up, the improvement of thejules are of highest importance. up the suppleness of the body. running and physical exercises are players’ condi Jissue, with added. technical and tactical practice; two-goal coaching te “ & nies tion is still a main! Novel tactical moves are tried out | and polished un. % a's faced: ve exhibition game in Peking (above) and gave PACIFIC TRIBUNE — JULY 2, 1954 — PAGE 11 A training neriod lasts several Next we get a ball, and each Player oractises the techniques that have been assigned for him. Some practise head-shots, others the taking over the ball, again others _ practise kicking. All the while they do not lose sight of precision and quick reaction -in handling the ball. : They also try to learn several variations of an action. | think that a player is highly efficient only if he completely masters the ball, if he is able to safely pick from the many ways of captur- ing and passing on the ball the one thaf can ‘at the moment be most easily carried out and thaf is most likely to take the ad- versary by surprise. : -An important part of training is practising diverse methods of © at- tack and defense. -Various’ ppsi- tions can be solved in a yariety | attribute of good team perform- of ways. The. more of them a team can perform, the greater the surprise element in its game, and consequently the more effective it will be. Let it be said in conclusion that: coaching is made complete by fre- quent and. regular . discussibns among the players: . P| . These talks jare highly. profit able; they strengthen collective spirit, which is an indispensable ance.