Athletics of To-Day for Women

1 So Athletics of To-day for Women ro8. The girl running the last relay should keep the baton in her right hand to lessen the risk of dropping it. Other matters which yet remain to be discus ed are connected with starting. It is obviou that only the first of the four girls comprising th team can use the crouching start, and it is surprising, in view of this circumstance, how few girls are given practice in the old-fashioned standing start. Becau e they are on the move when the baton is pa sed to them, it i thought, apparently, that no standing starting technique i requir d. n th other hand I am not ure that a girl set properly for starting in the standing position, and ven receiving the baton standing still, would not g t away fa tcr than another girl who is looking b hind her an dancing about with little excited st ps. It mu t be rememb r d that in the old time tanding Up rouch tart, wh n the left foot wa advanced, the right arm was xt nd d behind and th hand held in exactly the right po ition for rec iving the baton. With the tanding p rouch ther is no uncertainty. The front foot is pressed flat on the tra k, and th knee are bent just ufficiently for the front leg to form a prop for the body; the r ar foot should be plac d comfortably o that the run out commence from the rear foot pu h off. \Vorking upon the principl that each girl hould be trained to run any section of the race, it follows that each hould be taught th tanding start and also the rouch start, which will be the form used by the first girl in each race. Th rouch tart i fully xplained in hapt r ine on sprinting. or the relay runn r, hO\ ev r, th re is an addition to the t chniqu , becaus th f et that she must start with baton in hand makes the dispo ition of th fing rs a trifle difficult in th " on th mark " and " g t set " positions. Th re ar thr e r comm nd d m thods of holding the baton for the start. In ith r ea th girl to run the .first relay hould carry the baton in h r left hand to lessen the risk of ropping it, and to balanc the vigorous swing and punch of th arms in the starting action sh should carry al o a stout cork gripped in her right h nd.