Success in Athletics and how to obtain it

152 SUCCESS IN ATHLETICS force of the resistance of the air, and therefore it must be made to fly gyroscopically flat, or, in other words, to "scale." The scaling flight is brought about by pressing downwards with the thumb as the discus leaves the hand, and by imparting to it a left-to-right spin from the first finger; · this spin must be really strong, other- wise the discus will fly scaling beautifully for a little way and then, as the impetus begins to die away, it will mount on end and sail on against the wind, to which it presents the whole of its surf~ce and, needless to say, soon dn;>ps to earth. If the thumb is not pressed down to keep the discus on a level plane as it leaves the hand, the force of the spin will cause it to ·wobble as it flies, rising first at one side and then at the other, and thereby adding to the surface to meet the wind-resistance, and from its unsteadiness shortening the period of its flight, When this fault is in evidence, it also sometimes happens that when the momentum begins to die away the discus stops its wobbling flight, and after sailing along with a proper " scale " for a very little distance, begins to turn over and over or, ·to put it in popular parlance, comes tumbling to earth "head over heels." When throwing the discus, a man instinctively raises his arms out at right angles, the reason for this being that the arm on the side on which the discus is held must necessarily be held away from the body, and the faster he turns the farther away from the body the discu~ flies, owing to the centrifugal force which rapidly increases. Naturally this weight, being all on ohe side, needs something to counteract it, and if the other arm is also raised at right angles on the other side, it considerably helps to effect the balance