Track Athletics in Detail (extract)

PUTTING THE SHOT 85 mand, the motion being just such a one as you would make with the clinched fist against the sparring-bag. This motion—the change of feet, the lift, the turn, the thrust—is a very rapid one, but the photographs illustrate it very well in the last two pictures of the series. Furthermore, this movement must be perfectly uniform from begin­ ning to end, with no jerks and hitches; but it takes long practice to acquire a perfect smoothness. The shot must be allowed to leave the hand easily, and the forward effort of the put must be so regulated that the equilibrium of the performer will be maintained. The perfect performer allows his body to bend forward just to that point where, should he go half an inch farther, he would be forced to step out of the ring. The beginner should practise with the shot for a good period every day. He should work until he beirins to feel tired, but after he has become master of the event—say in a year or so—he need practise but two or three times a week, and he will find that his form and powers are thus best retained. In England the university athletes put the shot from a 10-foot square instead of a 7-foot cir­ cle. This gives them a certain advantage 'over American athletes, for they get a longer run, and thus more speed, and hence a greater momentum at the end. Hickok can put the shot from two to three feet farther from a 10-foot square than he