A “Throw In”
In the Highlands it is a grand sight to see two opposing bodies of clansmen—met as of old they met with targe and claymore—to fight out a friendly game. Everything is cast aside but shirt and kilt, and bare-headed and bare-legged the contestants seem to have walked out of the picture of some ancient Highland foray. Striking off in mid-ground the welkin soon rings with their shouts in Gaelic, their cheers and expostulations. Blows that were meant for the knag sometimes fall heavy upon an opponent’s knees, and soon legs are to be seen streaming with blood. In the heat of the play they feel it not, though next day they will possibly not have a part of their under limbs without bruises between ankles and knees. With terrific swing Donald or Duncan, who stands six-feet two in his socks, will drive it like a cannon ball through the air; and arrested by Malcolm’s head in its flight the latter drops like a stone, only to recover his senses in a minute again and go off in wild pursuit. When the sun sinks, the game is proclaimed over, and both sides shake hands, dress, and depart homeward, well pleased with their sport, no matter whether they may have won or lost.
A Corner Cut
Hockey Field
Indian Clubs.—Club swinging, if carried out in the correct style, brings almost every muscle into play, develops the chest and arms, imparts an easy carriage to the figure, and, if persevered in, under proper conditions to be hereafter mentioned, will ultimately enable the most round-shouldered individual to assume that lissom and perpendicular attitude which is the characteristic of the finished athlete.
First let me impress upon you the importance of avoiding heavy clubs when you commence the exercise, or even after becoming moderately proficient. Difficult feats are not easy to accomplish with very heavy clubs, besides the latter, instead of strengthening the muscles, are more likely to produce the opposite effect. Directly the club is heavy enough to sway you about on your feet, the exercise is doing you harm, and your attitude will appear ungraceful. Should you be ambitious to swing very heavy clubs, be advised to proceed cautiously, and gradually increase the weight at long intervals. Clubs recommended for ordinary use should weigh between 1½ and 2 lbs. each, as that weight affords plenty of muscular exertion to strong and comparatively weak men alike, especially in difficult exercises. After becoming fairly proficient with the lighter weights, heavier clubs might be used with advantage, say three or four pounds each, but a practised athlete of great muscular power may safely swing clubs of twenty pounds or more. A club, say twenty-two inches in length, made of willow which should weigh about 1½ lbs., is the most suitable for young boys or ladies. The club should be well tapered towards the top and artistically shaped: an ill-shaped club is a very awkward and unsatisfactory instrument. In nearly all exercises the feet should be some distance apart in proportion to your height: for a man of five feet nine inches, about the proper distance between heels would be seventeen inches. For many exercises the shoulders should be kept square to the front, while in others it is necessary to turn more or less to the right or left. If the shoulders are turned through half a right angle, reckoning from the position with the shoulders square, the shoulders are said to be half-right or half-left; if the shoulders are turned through a complete right angle, the shoulders are considered full right or full left as the case may be. Style is a most important item to be considered, not only for the sake of appearance, but also in order that the utmost physical benefit may be derived from the exercise. An eminent authority, in speaking of style, remarks: “If you swing clubs without regard to style, you will naturally contrive to cast almost all the labour upon your strongest muscles, so that the exercise, instead of searching out and strengthening your weak points, will merely tend to increase the muscles which are already disproportionately developed; whereas, if you attend carefully to style, you will be compelled to bring a great variety into play, so that your weakest muscles will be at first most severely taxed, and will gradually become developed in proportion to those which are naturally strong.”
It is necessary that the knees be kept straight and the muscles of the legs well braced, as there is a tendency at first, especially with heavy clubs, to let the knees bend in the course of certain movements; the head should be carried erect, and should turn with the shoulders, so that you always look in a direction at right angles to the line of the shoulders. The best way to keep the head steady and in its proper position is to fix the eyes on some point a trifle above their own level, in a direction at right angles to the line of the shoulders for the time being. Should you allow your eyes to wander, you will find it impossible to keep the head steady. In summing up the chief points relating to style, the following should be kept in view, viz.:—