ATHLETICS IN WAR-TIME

Intercollegiate athletics have been abandoned generally, in this part of the country at least, because of the requirements of military training, and as yet there has been little or no attempt to organize a substitute. Undoubtedly the action of the Athletic Association is justified, chiefly on account of lack of time. But there is another argument in favor of it. A great deal of importance is attached to intercollegiate contests; so much that the players devote all their attention and interest to them. At times they become almost professional, with an object of such paramount importance as military preparation in the field, no one can afford to devote to them all that they demand.

Yet there is great need for some substitute. Military training is not a complete equivalent to athletics, and even if it were, there are a great many students who are not in the R. O. T. C. and are hence deprived of all organized sports. Some form of intercollegiate contests ought therefore to be devised, something which would afford the exercise so many need, and yet would not demand unqualified attention on the part of the participants. We have had this sort of athletics before in the Leiter Cup series. If they could be organized now on a larger scale, they would fill a very big gap in University activities.