Tuesday, January 21, 2020

Why Students at Guilford College Should Support Sports, Jan. 21, 1920

From the editorial page of The Guilfordian, Guilford College, Jan. 21, 1920

Just as the actions and works of a man picture vividly the character of the man, so do college activities, society work, debating, chorus work, social activities and, most of all, athletics portray the strength and spirit of a college. No one ever gets the best out of life until he identifies himself with universal ends, and the puts into life the best he possesses. And no student can possibly get the best here in a college life until he identifies himself with activities that affect the entire student body. The student who does not have the time to give to community development as much as to self-development is not the student that a college needs, and the greater the number of students of this type that a college is burdened with the more the potential power of that institution will be lessened.

We are now wading into the basket ball season. Four games have already been played by our team. “What does the picture look like which my action in and attitude toward this sport portray? That is the question for every student to ask himself.

The student who puts most into a college sport is not always a man of most enviable physical appearance and strength, or the individual star of the team, or the unexcelled cheer leader. The little man to whom nature has been most unkind, who stands on the side lines keenly alive to every move of the game, pouring his whole heart and soul into the midst of the battle in a sane manner, always with the full content of his lungs, is one student who needs a slap on the shoulder when the game is won. A real college spirit in athletics, however, is not an intermittent spring flowing only when an intercollegiate contest is one. The real spirit of the student body toward college athletics is reflected by the attitude of the students toward daily training. It is impossible for a member of a team to be at his best in a scheduled game unless he exerts himself in putting forth his very best in daily practice. During the season of practice, as well as the time of big games, the influence of the student body, in their attitude toward those who play on the scrub and varsity players, and their occasional organized cheering in pep “meetings,” is readily felt by those who spend a portion of six days each week in strenuous exercise.

Our record in basket ball thus far is not one to be ashamed of, yet it could have been better. We have no “cinch” games on our schedule, and unless every man who is working for a place on either scrub or varsity team throws himself unreservedly into the sport, and unless every member of the student body puts the spirit into the sport that he should, the complete record at the end of the season will have no better appearance than the part which we see now.

Everyone on the campus, play the game!

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