WINTER CREW WORK BROUGHT TO CLOSE

No Harvard shell got out onto the Charles yesterday. The float, which was needed at Weld Boathouse in order to launch the shells on the open water there, remained fast in the ice in front of Newell. The cold of Thursday night had kept it frozen in solidly, and despite the warm rays of the sun yesterday, it could not be moved. The work will be continued and undoubtedly the crews will be on the water Monday.

There was even talk yesterday at Newell of launching a boat from Weld today, but this has been given up, and the oarsmen will confine themselves to their regular Saturday run.

What is of the greatest interest to the crew coaches at the present time, is the situation in regard to the ineligible first-year men. Because of the fact that so many Freshmen went on probation at mid-years Coaches Stevens and Shaw are urging all men out for the Freshman crew to seek the help and advice of the Student Advisory Committee. By proper utilization of time together with such other assistance as older and more experienced members of the Committee are able to give, it is expected that first year men will become more effective in their studies.

The coaches emphasized the fact that the Committee is not a substitute for work but merely a means of helping men to help themselves. Only men who are willing and able to stand on their own feet scholastically will be considered at the boat houses. Had this policy been adopted in the fall, the coaches believe fewer crew men would now be on probation.

The break-up of the ice on the Charles river and the resulting inauguration of the 1924 outdoor season bring to a close one of the most remarkable winter training periods in many years. In no past winter season has hard work been so prevalent and daily running so emphasized. When the indoor work began shortly before Christmas, the majority of the crew men had only partially mastered the stroke introduced by Coach Stevens. At present, as the winter season closes, the men have progressed much farther toward the new standard.

When Coach Stevens came to Harvard last fall, he brought with him the so-called Western American or English professional type of rowing. This system's essential feature is the utilization of the powerful leg muscles instead of the weaker back muscles, which were used so much in the old Harvard method of leaning far forward, and backward at the beginning and end of the pull-through.

New Stroke Is Introduced In Fall

Changing from a rowing system to which men have been accustomed for years in preparatory school and college is not a matter of a few months, but almost of years. By the close of the fall season, many of the Harvard men were rowing a style which could not be classified. They were beginning to utilize to better advantage their leg power, but the habit of leaning far forward and backward was not easily to be broken.

It was in the winter season's practice on the machines and in the tank that these faults were to be cured. Coach Stevens laid down his policy of "hard work" and for months routine practice was maintained.

The winter season began in earnest when college was resumed after the Christmas recess. All men ran three times a week over a distance varying from three to five miles. Coach Stevens has laid such emphasis on running not only in order to develop the wind of the oarsmen but more especially the leg muscles, upon which rests the burden of the pull-through in Coach Stevens' method of rowing.

Install New Motor In Newell Tank

Not satisfied with the results in the still-water tank at Newell, Coach Stevens, who had studied the moving water tank of the University of Syracuse, had a similar motor and water wheel attached to the Newell tank, where now the water is kept in motion, giving the oarsmen sensations similar to those felt in a shell skimming over the Charles.

The fundamental idea of Coach Stevens in this winter work, has been to keep the men in rowing condition during eight months of the year. In the past, much of what they accomplished in the fall training period was undone by the comparative inactivity of the winter months. But such was not the case this year, when the men are now emerging from the winter period far more fit for successful rowing on the river than when they left the water last fall.

Four Veterans Placed In Boat A

The Harvard A boat, as a result of the winter seating, has four letter men on it at the present time. S. B. Kelley '25 rows at bow, G. S. Mumford Jr. '25 is at number two, Captain B. McK, Henry '24 at three, and A. L. Hobson Jr. '24 at seven. J. W. Adie '26, like H. C. Potter of Yale, has been promoted from Freshman stroke of 1923 to the University stroke. The two other men are Parker Hamilton '24, who was ineligible last spring, and R. C. Storey Jr. '24, who rowed on a class crew in 1923