More than 800 boys representing the finest schoolboy runners in each county will be competing on March 17 in the National Schools Cross-Country Championships to be staged in Arrowe Park.
The fact that almost all these boys will be billeted in the homes of local schoolboys helps to make these meetings even more valuable. In the sphere of athletics the picture is very similar with school inter-school, county and national championships, all extremely well supported.
One would imagine that senior athletic clubs would be reaping the benefit of the work of the schools but this is not so. The number of boys continuing in athletics after leaving school is depressingly low. Probably several factors contribute to this state of affairs. The major one, which appears to be nationally common to most forms of recreation, is that the presentation of so much canned entertainment, together with high salaries for young workers, tends to develop spectators rather than performers. It is too much bother to travel to the club house, suffer inadequate facilities, train in rain, mud or snow and then journey home perhaps without even a hot shower. At school so much is done 'in the firms time', no travelling is involved and the dressing and showering facilities are often amongst the best in the country.
Athletics also suffer by competition with other major sports. Except perhaps for a small amount of early season mid-week training, boys joining soccer and rugby clubs need only devote Saturday afternoons to the game and these team games more easily foster esprit de corps than the necessary individualism of athletics.
The post match social gatherings around the bar also prove very attractive. Perhaps it all boils down to the fact that athletics are very much more demanding than other forms of sport. A boy taking part in athletics normally has the competitive spirit as part of his make-up. Consequently if not competing against others he competing against himself and his previous performances in training. He is never satisfied and therefore must train harder and more frequently to make further progress. In the end rightly or wrongly he tends to become almost a slave to the sport and full satisfaction and achievement can only come through more hard work. J.W.
Ends
Source - Wallasey News - Saturday, 10/03/1962
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