Success in Athletics and how to obtain it

DISCUS-THROWING 149 words, within a 90° sector), and therefore he must concentrate his mind on direction as well as style. Before anything can be done in the way of training, the athlete must learn now to hold the discus, which is an exceedingly awkward implement, and one which can by no means be gripped. On his taking up his stand, the discus is laid flat upon the hand, the fingers are outspread, and the thumb turned as far outwards as possible to act as a balancer; the tips of the fingers come beyond the edge of the discus, which edge lies between the first and second joints, but nearer the former than the latter. Next, the beginner will do well to learn how to swing the implement across the body. This is done by sweeping the arm in front of the body from as far back as the hand will reach, giving as great a radius to the arc of the circle as possible. As the arm is swept across the hand is turned back upwards, so that the discus is under the hand, in which it is re– tained by centrifugal force alone. At the end of the swing the discus com~s to rest on the palm of the left hand (fig. 54), otherwise it would drop with the cessa– tion of the movement before the arm is swung back again. The discus can be swung across from the front to back without any support at the end of the swing, because the fingers are then in such a position that they will resist it; but if the left hand were not held to receive it at the forward end of the swing, it would slip out from under the hand. When the art of swinging the discus at arm's length has been learned, the novice may try a throw from a standing -position, and this must be thoroughly mas– tered before he attempts the more complicated evolution of throwing with a turn.