Cold Baths and No Toast - Tips for a Victorian Sports Day

 by John Sadden

 Quarter-mile race at Hilsea c 1885

At a time when, in some circles, training was considered “ungentlemanly”, writers in the Portmuthian, provided some handy tips for pupils in preparation for Sports Day. Inevitably, the articles, from which these extracts are drawn, reflected attitudes of the time.

• Have a cold or slightly tepid sponge bath every morning followed by a brisk towelling. Rub down with a rough towel and dress as quickly as you can, so as to avoid catching cold. A cold bath with a fortnight’s dumb-bell exercise makes a capital beginning to the training regime.
• Tea or coffee not too strong, and in the case of tea ' fresh-made,' may be drunk, together with plenty of milk and at times with the addition of a raw egg. For a few days before the Sports, extreme care should be taken not to drink more than is quite necessary.
• Bread should be eaten stale or toasted, but of course hot buttered toast must be excluded from the dietary… Avoid ices, however excellent their provenance, along with pastries and sweets.
• Avoid smoking like poison (This at a time when some people believed smoking was “good for clearing the lungs”, and the OP Club was holding “Sports Day Smoking Concerts”)
• The running drawers may be of flannelette, coming just below the knee, with a stripe of your distinguishing colour running down the side.
• The jersey should be of Indian gauze, opening in front rather than towards one side. Get your sister to bind the opening and the neck with silk of a distinctive colour ; the sleeves too, should be bordered with some silk, and they should be short not quite reaching to the elbow.
• Long steady walks of from five to ten miles should be taken whenever possible ; There must, however, be no sauntering, and care should be taken to hold the body erect, and to make each step from the hip, so that the stride may be as long as possible.
• On the day itself the lightest possible food should be taken not later than three or four hours before an event. This precaution will avoid  stitches in the side and greatly improve the wind.
• Try not to be nervous and preserve an equable temperament.
• Corks firmly grasped in the hand are useful, especially in sprinting, and they enable you to employ to greater advantage some of the muscles that are used in breathing.
• Of High and Long Jumps, no instructions of general application can be given, for each man adopts his own style
• All races should be started by report of pistol or by the single word “Go,” for when a man is toeing the line, he is expected to be ready, and it is his fault if he is left on the mark. (There was evidently no preparatory warning, “On your marks!”)
• Above all, remember to run all races right out to the end, past the tape, for many a race has been lost from neglecting this precaution.