Nowadays sportsmen and sportswomen in the top rank train, practise and work out with an intensity unknown not all that long ago. In this day and age when supreme fitness is the key to success in all sport we expect no less than total dedication from champions. Gone are the days when match preparation consisted of one week of casual calisthenics, an hour earlier to bed the previous night or two, and a fortifying glass of glucose-laced brandy before stepping on to field or court. Now it is the hard, relentless slog of hours and hours and hours of scientific training that counts when the chips are down.
Yet there is one dimension of training that does not seem to have been sufficiently examined by the coaching experts. This is the role that sex plays in preparing for sporting encounters. As far as I can discover, the advice given varies widely and has not yet been codified and scientifically presented.
There are conflicting views on the subject. Some insist that one should indulge regularly and frequently during training and even advocate what they call a ‘pick-me-up’ just before a big event. Others, probably the majority, claim that abstention is better for the serious sportsman in training. It is this view that accounted in the past for the ban on wives or girlfriends accompanying cricketers on tour. It is this view also that leads some trainers to imprison their boxing champions in remote camps away from all temptations of the flesh before a big fight. It was certainly the view held by Mr Toshihiko Seto, the famous Japanese runner, who declared after triumphant victory in the Tokyo marathon years ago: “Running is my only girlfriend.”
Some scientific work has been done in this field. In pigeon racing, for instance, it is pretty generally recognized that what is called ‘widowhood’ is the right training procedure to follow before a race. This means putting a cock and a hen together before a race but not letting them tread. This training method – really amounting to an exercise in constructive frustration – is claimed to be particularly good for short races, but for some reason not so good for longer-distance races.
As far as I know, there is no statistical record of whether this training method has yet been applied successfully to other, human, sports. However, it certainly has been tried in the theatre. Jean Louis Barrault, the famous French dramatist, used to advise his players to remain chaste for a few days before performance and then on the day, as the time drew near, they were to make love – not going all the way, but making themselves excited, and then go on stage so that they might put the pent-up excitement into their performance. Theatre Guild workshops please take note.
It seems incredible that in this day and age scientific evidence has not been compiled about the effect of sexual activity in training and before competition. Does it weaken or does it invigorate? Is the effect before matches different for men and women? Should the sexual activity be in short bursts for sprints but long drawn-out for distance races? These are fundamental questions for sportsmen and sportswomen everywhere and yet nothing definite is known. Could I suggest that the National Sports Council take the lead in finding the answers? I do not think it would be difficult to mount a fairly simple research project. A basic study could easily be made by dividing our sporting champions into two groups – the abstainers and the indulgers – and tabulating their results in competition over, say, one year.
No doubt there would be very few volunteers for the abstention group but I am sure a sufficient number could be prevailed upon to make the sacrifice either through love of country or concern for discovering a brand-new scientific truth.
The Sports Council should sponsor such an investigation, I feel confident that we will be able to look forward to a more successful future in sport as soon as the findings are known and can be applied by our sportsmen and sportswomen in both local and international competition. There is no time to waste.
In the meanwhile, in the case of one great champion at least, the question seems to have been answered conclusively. An important aspect of Tiger Woods’ fabulous success appears to have come to light recently in no uncertain manner.
