A RETURN TO SANITY

One phase of the Harvard Athletic Association's winter sports program has received a great deal of unfavorable comment. For the past few years it has been the custom for Harvard to send a relay team and individual entries to all of the important winter meets. Indeed, the annual beating administered by the Holy Cross Relay team to the Crimson runners has become almost an institution at the Knights of Columbus games. When Mr. Bingham refused to enter the whole team in the winter meets this year, sportswriters in general and the local promoters in particular castigated the H. A. A.

However, since regular practice does not begin until after the winter holidays, the task of getting a team into proper condition has always placed an unfair burden on both the coaches and the members of the squad. For the men, it has meant grueling practice five days a week during the reading period and time trials during the examinations. The necessity of concentrating on the varsity squad in preparation for these contests has often prevented the coach from devoting the requisite attention to Freshmen and newcomers. Indeed, the result of the intensive early training has often been to make many of the men go stale early in the season, thereby jeopardizing Harvard's chances in the most important intercollegiate games.

The current policy of the H. A. A. has been a sound remedy for the obvious defects of the former high pressure system. By keeping the team as a whole out of the early games, by allowing only a few men who are in condition to go into the B. A. A. games, Mr. Bingham has inaugurated a much needed reform in the conduct of the winter track season.