Page:Lynch Williams--The girl and the game.djvu/365

 a good deal of the fun of sport," one of them said in his cocky English manner.

"But we win events," said one of our sprinters, flaring up. Unfortunately the Englishmen won the match. Our team was overtrained. They tried too hard. There's a limit to the degree to which one should strain for success if one wishes to win success rather than sympathy. This limit can usually be seen by the simple process of standing off at a distance and looking at things calmly until we discern their true-proportions.

I'm inclined to believe that at least one-half the young men, especially the college graduates I meet on the street in business hours, are straining too hard; they are over-trained. They are missing the fun of the sport. The worst of it is that in most cases they deserve no pity. They are quite proud of it; love to boast of how hard they work, and how often the nerve doctor has warned them. I am always rather relieved when I hear of their finally breaking down with nervous prostration, for then I am