Coral Gables Riviera-Times

LOOKING AT SPORTS By DON CUDDY

Ed Beckman of the Youth Center returned from New York City last week with a glow—and it wasn't the snappy autumn weather up in those parts that made him feel mellow. He was up in Gotham for the National Recreation Congress, comparing notes with other recreation directors from all over the country . . . and what his queries add up to is that our Center stacks up as the most versatile and economical in the nation. Naturally South Florida has a big climatic advantage for outdoor activities, but the other representatives present were amazed by the success of the softball leagues. And the interest displayed in attendance follows very well the Congress' discussion of extending recreational activities to older age groups. Another feather in the Youth Center's cap is the low operating cost of the most complete program represented there. The average recreation program works out to a cost of $1.75 per person each month. The budget of the Youth Center for all activities runs around $800 a month. With 1700 members our monthly tariff reduced to around forty cents—which is not only good arithmetic for me but indicates that Gableites can be pretty well satisfied they have an efficient team handling the center. ACCENT OFF YOUTH? One of the most important considerations of the Congress, Ed reports, was the recommendation to "de-emphasize" high school programs during the school week. It's logical that the average high school has about 50 extracurricular activities for its students; so rather than compete with the school system the Congress advocates that community-operated recreational set-ups work more closely with them. Florida directors told the Congress about the bill that is before the state legislature to keep public school facilities open year 'round for handicraft and recreational training. A new angle to running a recreational program was considered in the recommendation that all workers (of each center) have a three-hour weekly planning meeting, making for better coordination of activities. POWER PLUS PERFORMANCE What filled the Hurricane's tank with hi-octane against George Washington? There's no simple answer to that but this corner ventures that forgetting about the razzle-dazzle formations and concentrating on the 'ole single wing helped. Miami teams have and probably always will think best in terms of the single-wing and I'm not going overboard on the basis of the game mentioned above but thinking of the record over a period of years. FAREWELL TO THE 'T' Last season saw some pretty fancy ball handling from the "T" by teams the Hurricanes beat and others they didn't. Those fast-opening, deceptive plays looked slick and Coach Jack Harding said, with reservations, that it might be a good variation to have in the Hurricane's bag of tricks. The reservation was the record of teams that tried the touchdown-getter and had a disappointing first year with it. Harding straddled the fence on the transformation before coming out on the short end of two depressing ball games and now, methinks, the system is shelved at least until the 'Canes get to the top of the crest they're riding. GEORGE WASHINGTON SLEPT HERE Harding doesn't coach deceptive teams (that's not saying he couldn't), but occasionally he comes up with a not-too-spectacular-but-effective bit of caginess which pays off. Such was the strategy of running plays from the left formation which had the Colonial line guessing Friday night. The word has been out for years that Miami runs strictly from the right formation and opposition defenses are always bolstered to stymie the strong side. Harding's switch couldn't have baffled the Colonials, even as indifferently coached as they were, but the resulting confusion was nearly as much a break for the locals as Mario DeMarco's blocking that quick-kick to set up the first Miami score. It seemed to me that George Washington didn't catch on until the second half . . . and that helped get things off to a good start. TWO-TEAM SQUAD IN THE MAKING Watch the Hurricanes developing the two-team system in the next couple of games. Now that they have the break-away runner(s) they've been searching for . . . it's time some attention was paid to defensive work. (Rollins was the first Miami opponent in 22 games that was held scoreless). Harding has used a defensive backfield in most of the games and usually drops a few line replacements into the game whenever the ball changes hands. But if there is anything that helps coordination, it's having the same eleven men run together constantly. This move has been on the back of the stove for over a year but has been delayed because, in Jack's words: "It's hard to get eleven men to work smoothly together; four or even five boys can operate together reasonably well, but after that the problem gets complicated. It might take a little time but I think we're ready for the double-team system and I think it will help us."