THE ATHLETE "ON PRO."

Year after year Harvard loses decisive points in athletic contests because--for academic reasons--she is not fully represented in the field. Coaching, training-tables, intensive practice, often prove futile because her best material is "on pro." No sport this winter,--from swimming to track, has been free from this evil.

Participation in any college activity requires at least average intelligence: in nine cases out of ten the player "flunks" through sheer laziness. The athlete who breaks training the day before the game has always been subject to the contempt of his follows. But the man who goes on probation deserves just as little commiseration; he injures his team no less.

If a man takes sufficient interest in college sports to go out for one of the teams, he ought to have enough enthusiasm to keep up in his studies. Yet college spirit in the past has repeatedly failed to prevent such disasters of academic origin, and there is no indication that it will not betray us again. Harvard captains have exhorted their faltering team-mates with indifferent success, probably because the trouble starts long before the season opens. It becomes apparent, therefore, that although the management can do much by watching prospective material in the college, the problem devolves upon the players themselves. Student tradition alone can successfully meet the issue. If personal ambition and obligation to team and to University do not suffice to keep our athletes off probation, perhaps popular opinion will.