Rowing and Track Athletics (extract)

The Weights and Weight- Throwers 381 swung, the inclination of the body away from the hammer, the angle made by the shoulders and the plane in which the hammer handle lies, keep– ing the feet within the narrow circle without losing speed and power - these and other equally subtle details are things which only instinct, in– tuition, long practice, and intelligently directed effort can master and put into effect. Many a powerfu11y built man trains for seasons, perhaps, and yet never is able to put the strength he really has into the shot as it leaves his hands, or to get over the fault of "letting the hammer throw the man." Requiring as they do so much beef and strength, the weights have naturally been more practised by the comparatively seasoned and mature athletes of the clubs than by college undergradu– ates. Those collegians who have gone in for weight-throwing over here have, however, reached a much higher degree of proficiency than that attained by varsity men in England, and at the international games the performances of the Oxford and Cambridge men as compared with our undergraduates have been as a rule almost farcical. With his record-breaking I 904 shot-put of 48 feet rt inches the young California giant, Rose, entered a class by himself; but for the matter of that such performances as those of Plaw of California and De Witt f Princeton with