Success in Athletics and how to obtain it

r68 SUCCESS IN ATHLETICS how the shot should be disposed in the hand. This can be done in two ways. The man with a very strong wrist and strong fingers may place the shot so that it lies at the base of the fingers and slightly up towards the middle joints; the finger-tips are upcurled to prevent the shot slip– ping back off the hand; the weight of the mass is supported by the three middle fingers, the thumb and little finger being used to retain the weight from breaking out of the hand to either side. It must, however, be mentioned that the shot is not to be gripped. When the shot is held in this way, the final impulse will come from the fingers themselves, following upon a wrist flick. To enable the athlete to accomplish this, he must build up special muscles, and this is done by placing the shot in the right hand and flicking it off into the left hand by a movement of the right wrist and fingers alone. At first this will De found very hard to accomplish. The novice who thinks he is strong enough to employ this style, is therefore advised to get some one to grip his forearm firmly just beyond the ~rist on the side nearest the elbow, until he can be sure of moving the hand (with shot in place) from the wrist without moving the forearm from the elbow as well. For the beginner who is less strong in the wrist and fingers, a better style is to let the shot lie com– fortably in the palm of the hand. With this hold it will be found that, as time goes on and the athlete improves, he will acquire a very good style of de– livering the shot, which, as the arm shoots out, will roll up the hand to just above the base of the fingers, and so will receive its final impulse from the fingers themselves. When this style is acquired it is pro-