Athletics of To-Day for Women

r88 Athletics of To-day for Women is known a th double-hand styl , and more especially is this so since i.he introduction of throwing with a jav lin which is lighter and horter than the men's Olympic sp ar, used by women in the first years of their participation in the sport. But, even with the heavier spear, I still believe that both for women and men the " held in the middle " method was always the be t. I do not make thi statem nt without b ing prepared to upport my theories with proof . In rgrz I taught my sister-in-law, Mi s T. . Roberts, the way a spear hould b thrown, and, to my amaz ment and the surpri e of a good many oth r people, h produced a throw of rrz ft. 2~ ins., \ ith the full-sized Olympic pear before the year was out. he n v r nt red a comp tition in her life, but, had sh done so, a new world's r cord would undoubtedly have gone on the books. Then, again, in 1925, when I had the great pl a ure of coach– ing the first Ladies' International T am which ver came from Canada, I found that their jav lin thrower, Clara Ballard, wa a little slip of a girl, who look d less like putting up a big performanc than any throwing athlete I have v r se n. he start d off thew ek by throwing round about 75 ft. with th tip of th tail balanc d on h r fing r and the haft st adi d and direct d \ ith th other hand. Luckily, she was lik the rest of th anadian girls, ag r t learn and only too r ady to be taught, so that th re wa no difficulty in persuading h r to try an unfamiliar tyle, although h r international match was only a we k off. In that one w ek she learned to hold the javelin by the middle and to throw it straight. In training he beat ro6 ft., but she had not time to build up ith r str ngth or control with h r left hand, and that was just the circumstance which let her down when she came up against the pick of the girls from reat Britain and Czecho- lovakia. To my gr at per onal satisfaction, she never again departed from the orthodox styl which I taught her, and the anadian record for the heavy javelin till tands in her name on the books at g6 ft. ro! ins. The winn r of the Javelin (two-hands aggregate) at the 1925