Fielding Yost

“ After all a football team is but a small army and the discipline must be just as rigid as if something even more important than the mere winning or losing of a game were at stake. Orders must be obeyed unquestioningly after the team is on the field. The soldier who refuses to follow the mandates of his commanding officer is court-martialed, and the quicker the team gets rid of a member who willfully refuses to obey instructions, the better it is for the team. Rules for training, practice and play must be strictly adhered to if the team is to be a successful one. ”

“ The attainment of individual perfection is as impossible in football as in anything else, for absolute faultlessness does not exist in the human being. Nevertheless, a young fellow who is ambitious in athletics and who tries hard to outstrip others in the competition for football honors can greatly improve himself in the requirements of the individual. The fellow who has gone through the proper training honestly and courageously cannot but be a better man mentally and physically.
In the first place, a football player absolutely must be physically strong and rugged. ”

“ A football player must be a man not easily exhausted or injured. A game is not a severe strain on a man who is physically fit, because proper training has put him into such condition that he can speedily regain the loss caused by the tax on his strength. Taking out time for exhaustion or injury is giving the other side just as much rest and may be just what the opponents need. Other things being equal, the team with the endurance will wear down the opponents, and many a championship has been decided in the last few minutes of the game. ”

“ The one who weakens or hesitates about tackling the opposing player running with the ball, even if that runner should happen to be the hardest man in the world to stop, will never make a football player. Football is not tag, and, no matter if the tackler does put his hand on the runner, the latter is not going to quit if he is a real football player. The runner must have the determination to get away and keep on advancing the ball and the tackler must have the firm resolution that his opponent must not be allowed to go a step further. ”

“ It cannot but be admitted that the man who loses his head in a game is the man who will probably lose the game at a critical moment. It often occurs that an opponent makes use of a proficiency in shy banter for the very purpose of getting the other fellow going. While tactics of this sort are not ideal in football, they are often presented in the general problem that the player meets. People on the sidelines do not appreciate the continual struggle going on in the individual player to control himself. ”

“ Quickness may be acquired just as strength may be developed. It is the jump on the other fellow that counts, and any player of a team who does not start his part with the rest of the formation at the proper instant may easily upset the entire play and spoil what otherwise would have been a good gain. Many people wonder why a team runs up and down the field, going through formations for hours during practice, with no opponents to stop them. It is to perfect speed as well as to acquire a knowledge of the signals and formations. A fast working team will always defeat a slow-running eleven. ”

“ The man who cannot start, catch, pass, tackle, block and interfere is not a real football player. There is no telling at what moment he may be called upon to use his versatility to save or to win the game. A championship contest may easily depend on whether one individual can catch a punt, tackle a runner, block an opposing player or interfere properly for his own team mate. ”

“ No man ever made a success of anything unless his heart was in it. The wall street magnate loves his game on the stock exchange. The merchant king is inspired with a devotion to business. The great politician would go insane if it were not for his world of excitement and the opportunity which his field affords to give vent to his hobby. No lawyer or doctor ever approached the top of the ladder in his profession who did not have an enthusiasm in himself, constantly urging him higher. ”

“ Likewise, no man can be a football player who does not love the game. Half-heartedness or lack of earnestness will eliminate any man from a football team. The love of the game must be genuine. It is not devotion to a fad that makes men play football ”

“ To conquer an inclination to "get even" is a manly victory. If the resolution to accomplish this is fulfilled in the first game, it comes easier in the next contest, until it finally becomes second nature not to get rattled. Nothing is better preparation for a young man to meet the plays on life's real gridiron without "losing his head." ”

“ In football training he is simply following out directions which the best physicians in the land would advise as the proper method of living. Hence it ought not to be considered a sacrifice. Anything a man absolutely needs should be given him. The subtraction of necessities would be a sacrifice. The elimination of luxuries and pleasures is one that helps to build men up, not tear them down. ”

“ There is hardly a big team which does not have some member who tips the scales somewhere around the 150-pound mark but who has won his place because he has made himself strong and courageous and is not afraid to perform the duties outlined for him. ”