WYLLYS TERRY. Yale.WYLLYS TERRY.Yale.
man who is willing to make a study of it. Coaching can but give any one wishing to acquire this a few points; the real accomplishment depends upon the man's unflagging perseverance and study. The first thing to be noted is, that a really good forward cannot possibly be blocked every time in the same way. He soon becomes used to the method, and is able to avoid the attempt. Dashing violently against him just as he is starting may work once or twice, and then he will make a false start to draw this charge, and easily go by the man. Standing motionless, and then turning with a sharp swing back against him, will disconcert his charge once in a while. Shouldering him in the side as he passes will throw him off his balance or against some other man, if well performed, occasionally. Falling down before him by a plunge will upset him even whenhe has quite a clear space apparently, but it will not work if played too often. By a preconcerted plan he may be coaxed through upon a pretended snap, and then the ball played while he is guarded and five yards gained by his off-side play, but he will not be taken in again by the same method. These are but a few of the strategies which engage the study of the tackle. How soon to let the man through is also an important question. When the ball is to be punted, the tackle upon the kicker's side must block long and hard, while the tackle upon the other end should block sharply, and then let his man through for the sake of getting down the field under the kick. When a drop is to be attempted, the blocking upon both sides must be close and long, much longer than for a punt. Moreover, it is by no means a bad policy to have theblocking last until the ball is actually seen in the air in front of the line, because then, if the kick be stopped, the tackles can go back to assist the backs in recovering the ball. The blocking for a kick, as a rule, should be close; that is, every opponent must be matched from the centre out, leaving the free man or men on the ends. This rule has its exceptions, but when there is any doubt about the play it is safest to block close, and take the chances from the ends rather than through breaks in the line.
In blocking for a run the case is very different, and depends upon the point of assault. If the run is to be made around the right end, for instance, by the left half-back, the right tackle must block very slowly and long. That is, he must not dash up to his man the instant the ball is snapped and butt him aside, for the runner will not be nearenough to derive any advantage from this, and the opponent will easily recover in time to tackle him. Rather should he avoid contact with his man until his runner makes headway, and then keep between the opponent and runner until the latter puts on steam to circle, when it is his duty to engage his man sharply, and thus let the runner pass. In blocking for an inside run upon his own side, he should turn his man out or in, as the case may be, just as the runner reaches the opening, being particularly careful not to make the break too early, lest the opponent reach the runner before he comes to the opening.
The position of guard, while it requires less agility than that of tackle, can never be satisfactorily filled by a man who is slow. Many a coach makes this mistake and fails to see his error until too late to correct it. I remember once seeing upon a minor team a guard who weighed at least 190 pounds replaced by a man of 155, and the latter actually filled the position—greatly to my astonishment, I confess—in excellent fashion. This does not at all go to prove that weight is of no value in a guard. On the contrary, it is a quality especially to be desired, and if one can find a heavy man who is not slow he is the choice by all means. But weightmust be given work to do, and that work demands practice, and slowness of execution cannot be tolerated. At the outset the coach must impress this fact upon the guards, and insist upon their doing their work quickly. It is really wonderful how much better the effect of that work will prove to be when performed with a snap and dash that are not difficult to acquire.
B. W. TRAFFORD. Harvard.B. W. TRAFFORD.Harvard.
When the opponents have the ball and are about to kick, the guard should have in his mind one persistent thought, and that is, to reach the quarter before the ball is away from his hand, but not to stop there. It is only once in a great while that fortune favors sufficiently to crown this attempt with success. When it does, so much the better; but the guard should take in the quarter only in a general sweep, making on for the kicker, and at the same time getting his arms up in the air when he comes before him, so as to take every possible chance of stopping the ball. Just here it may be well to explain the confidence with which in these details of coaching the phrases are used "when the opponents are about to kick" and "when the opponents are about to run." It is true that one cannot tell infallibly every time whether the play will be a kick or a run, but experienced players are really so seldom at fault in their judgment upon this point that it is safe to coach as though there never existed any doubt about the matter.
To continue with the work of the guard when the opponents are about to attempt a run. One of the most important features of the play in this position is to guard against small wedges. If a guard simply stands still and straight he will be swept over like awisp of straw by any well-executed wedge play directed at him. An experienced man knows this, and his chief thought is how to avoid it, and how, first, to prevent the formation; second, to alter the direction, and, finally, to stop the progress, of this terror of centre work, the small wedge. There are as many ways of accomplishing these results as of performing the duties of tackle or end, and it rests with the individual player to study them out. To prevent the formation of small wedges, the most successful method is that of sudden and, if possible, disconcerting movements. Jostling, so far as it is allowed, sudden change of position, a pretended charge—all these tend to break up the close formation. Once formed and started, the change of direction is usually the most disarranging play possible; but this should not be attemptedby the player or players opposite the point of the wedge. At that spot the proper play is to check advance, even temporarily; for the advance once checked, the wedge may be swung from the side so as to take off the pressure from behind. So it is the men at the side who must endeavor to turn the wedge and take off this pressure. Without the actual formation upon the field it is difficult to fully explain this turning of the wedge; but if the principle of the defence be borne in mind, it will not be found so hard to understand. Check the peak even for a moment, and get the weight off from behind as speedily as possible. The men who are pushing must necessarily act blindly; and if their force is not directly upon the men at the point of the V, they pass by the man with the ball and so become useless. Both guards mustkeep their weight down low, close to the ground, so that the wedge, if directed at either, cannot throw that one at once off his balance backward. If this occurs, the wedge will always make its distance, perhaps go many yards. Lying down before the wedge is a practice based upon this principle of keeping close to the ground, and is by no means an ineffectual way of stopping an advance, although it is not as strong a play as bringing about the same result without actually losing the power to straighten up if the wedge turns. Moreover, the men in the front of a wedge are becoming so accustomed to meeting this flat defence that they not infrequently succeed in getting over the prostrate man and regaining headway upon the other side. This, as one can readily see, must always yield a very considerable gain. When a run is attempted
T. L. McCLUNG. Yale.T. L. McCLUNG.Yale.
at some other point in the line, it is the duty of the guards to get through hard and follow the runner into his opening, even if they cannot reach him before he comes into the line. In this class of play a guard should remember that if he can lay a hand upon the runner before he reaches the line he can spoil the advance to a certainty, for no runner can drag a heavy guard up into and through an opening. It is like dragging a heavy and unwieldy anchor. A guard can afford to, and must sometimes, tackle high. Not that he should, in the open, ever go at the shoulders, but in close quarters he often has no time to get down low, and must make the best of taking his man anywhere that the opportunity offers. He must always, however, throw him towards the opponent's goal. Another point for guards to bear in mind is, that in closequarters it is often possible to deprive the runner of the ball before he says "down." A guard who always tries this will be surprised at the number of times he will find the referee giving him the ball. He will also be astonished at the way this attempt results in the runner saying "down" as soon as he finds some one tugging at the ball. A man gives up all thought of further advance the instant he finds the ball slipping at all in his grasp; and when his attention is distracted from the idea of running, as it is when he is fearful of losing the ball, he can never make use of his opportunities to good advantage. For this reason the coach should impress upon all the forwards the necessity of always trying to take away the ball; but the men in and near the centre are likely to have the best opportunity for this play, because it is there thatthe runner encounters a number of men at once rather than a single individual.
When his own side have the ball the guard must block sharply until the quarter has time for receiving the ball, and, at any rate, beginning the motion of the pass. It is safer, in the case of inexperienced guards, to tell them to block until the quarter has time to get rid of the ball. The distinction is this: that an experienced guard sometimes likes to gain just that second of time between the beginning of the pass and the completion of the swing, and utilize it in getting down the field or making an opening. So accustomed does he become to measuring the time correctly that he will let the opponent through just too late to reach the quarter, although it seems a very close call. It is not safe to let green guards attempt anything so close. They must betaught to block securely until the ball is on its way to the runner or kicker. The blocking of a guard is much less exacting in its requirements than that of the tackle. Not that he must not block with equal certainty, but the act requires no such covering of two men as often happens in the case of a tackle. The guard forms closely towards the centre, and then follows his man out if he moves out, but only as far as he can go, and still be absolutely certain that the opponent cannot pass between him and the snap-back. To be drawn or coaxed out far enough to admit of an opponent's going through the centre shows woful ignorance in any guard.
V. M. HARDING. Harvard.V. M. HARDING.Harvard.
When a kick is to be made the blocking must be prolonged a little, and on a drop-kick (as mentioned earlier) it should last until the ball goes from the foot. When blocking for a run, of course much depends upon where the opening is to be made, and a guard must be governed accordingly. The method itself is, again, different in the guard from that exhibited in the tackle. A guard may not move about so freely and must face his man more squarely than a tackle, for the guard must protect the quarter first, while the tackle considers the half only. If a guard allows his opponent to get a fair lunge with outstretched arm over or past his shoulder, he may reach the quarter's arm even though his body is checked, while such a reach at the point in the line occupied by the tackle would be of no value whatever. Previous to the snap-back's playing the ball it is the duty of the guards to see that their individual opponents do not succeed in either kicking the ball out from the snap-back's hand or otherwise interferingwith his play. This is quite an important feature, and a centre should always feel that he has upon either hand a steady and wide-awake assistant, who will neither be caught napping nor allow any unfair advantage to be taken of him. The guard should bear in mind one fact, however, and that most clearly. It is that squabbling and general pushing about are far more liable to disconcert his own centre and quarter than to interfere with the work of the opponents.
The man who may be selected to fill the important position of centre-rush must be a man of sense and strength. Brain and brawn are here at their highest premium. But there is another element of character without which both will be overthrown, and that is patience. Practical experience has taught football coaches that none but a thoroughly self-controlled man can make a success in football in any position, while in this particular one his disposition should be of the most equable nature. He will be called upon to face all kinds of petty annoyances, for his opponents will endeavor to make his play as difficult as possible; and never must he allowhimself for one instant to lose sight of the fact that his entire attention must be devoted to his play, and none of it distracted by personal feeling. Moreover, while he must be able to play the ball quickly when called upon, he can never afford to be hurried by his opponents. With the present excellent rulings of umpires regarding interference with the ball before it is snapped, much of the most harassing kicking of the ball from under his hand has been stopped; but, for all that, he is indeed a lucky centre who does not feel the ball knocked out from under his grasp several times during a game. In addition to this, every man who breaks through gives him a rub. Sometimes these knocks are intentional, often they are given purely by accident, and the latter are by no means the lightest. Then, too, a man is pushed into the snap-backjust as the ball goes. It may be his own guard, but the blow hurts just as much; and a centre who is not amiable under such treatment soon loses his head and forgets that he should care for nothing except to accomplish gains for his own side. The object of placing so much stress upon this qualification is to impress upon a coach the almost inestimable value of the quality of patience in any men he may be trying for this position. He can never say too much about it.
As regards the duties of the place, they differ from those of any other position in the line on account of the constant presence at that spot of the ball. The centre is either playing the ball himself or watching his antagonist play the ball at every down; so that while he has all the other duties of a forward to execute, he has the special work besides.Here is the weakness of so many centres. They are snap-backs only or forwards only, the former being by all odds the more common. A good critical coach of experience will see nine out of every ten men whom he may watch in this position playing through day after day with no more idea of doing any forward work than if they were referees. Putting the ball in play at the right time, and properly, is a great achievement, but it does not free the centre-rush from all other obligations. He must protect his quarter; he must aid in making openings, and perform any interference that may be possible, as well as always assisting a runner of his own side with weight or protection. He must always get down the field under a kick, for it is by no means unusual for him to have the best opportunity in these days when end rushers are so carefully watched. When the opponents have the ball, he must not be content with seeing that the opponent does not roll it to a guard, but must also see that there is no short, tricky passing in the scrimmage. Then he must be as ready as either guard to meet, stop, or turn a wedge. He must make openings for his comrades to get through, even when he himself may be blocked, and always be ready to reach out or throw himself before a coming runner to check the advance.
JESSE RIGGS. Princeton.JESSE RIGGS.Princeton.
The details of the special work of the centre are many, and thorough knowledge of them can only come from experience. During his early progress a new snap-back usually sends the ball against his own legs, or, if he manages to keep them out of the way, is upset by his opponent for his pains. It is no child's play to hold a ball out at arm's-lengthon the ground in front of one and roll it back so that it passes between one's feet, and still preserve a good balance in spite of a sudden push of a hundred-and-eighty-pound opponent. But that is just what a centre has to do every time the ball is down and belongs to his side. The first thing to teach a centre is to stand on his feet against any amount of jostling. Then he must learn to keep possession of the ball until ready to play it. Both of these acquirements take practice. The most finished and experienced centres have a way of playing the ball just as they are half straightening as though to meet a charge from in front. This insures their not being pushed over on to the quarter, and yet does not cause them to lean so far forward as to be pitched on their noses by a little assistance from the opposing centre. Whena man stands so as to prevent a push in the chest from upsetting him, he naturally puts one foot back some distance as a support. When a centre does this he is apt to put that foot and leg in the path of the ball. A second objection to this way of standing is, that the centre does not offer nearly as much opposition to any one attempting to pass as he does when he stands more squarely faced about with a good spread of the legs. As to holding the ball, some centres prefer to take it by the end, while others roll it on its side. It can be made to rise for the quarter if sent on end, whereas if played upon its side it lies closer to the ground. The quarter's preference has, therefore, something to do with it. It requires longer practice and more skill to play the ball on its end, but it permits an umpire to see more clearly whether the ball beactually put in play by the snap-back or played for him by the surreptitious kick of the opponent. It has also the advantage of sending the ball more narrowly upon a line, so that its course is less likely to be altered than when rolled upon its side. While the snap-back is seldom held to the very strictest conformity to the rule about being on side when he puts the ball in play, it is necessary for him to practise with a view to this particular, because he is liable to be obliged to conform every time if the opponents insist. The reason for carelessness in this respect is, there is no penalty for infringement except being obliged to return to the spot and put the ball in play properly. A certain laxity, therefore, is granted rather than to cause delays. But, as stated above, a centre must be able to put the ball in play when fairly on side, and must live
W. H. CORBIN. Yale.W. H. CORBIN.Yale.
up to this with some moderate degree of regularity, or else the umpire will call an off-side and bring him back. A centre ought to practise putting the ball in play with either hand until he is fairly proficient with his left as well as his right. Not that he should use his hands alternately in a game, but that an injury to his right hand need not necessarily throw him out of the game. It is by no means an unrecognized fact that the greater amount of experience possessed by the regular centre is so valuable as to make it policy to keep him in his place so long as his legs are good, even though a hand be injured, rather than to replace him by the substitute with whose methods the quarter-back is not so familiar.
A coach should see to it that his centre has a variety of men to face, some big, some tricky, some ugly. If any old playerscome back to help the team in the way of coaching, and among them are some centre rushers, they can do no better work than by donning a uniform and playing against the "'Varsity" centre.
The quarter is, under the captain, the director of the game. With the exception of one or two uncommon and rare plays, there is not one of any kind, his side having the ball, in which it does not pass through his hands. The importance of his work it is therefore impossible to overrate. He must be, above all the qualifications of brains and agility usually attributed to that position, of a hopeful or sanguine disposition. He must have confidence in his centre himself, and, most of all, in the man to whom he passes the ball. He should always believe that the play will be a success. The coach can choose no more helpful course during the first few days,as far as the quarter is concerned, than that of persuading him to repose confidence in his men. Many promising half-backs are ruined by the quarter. There is nothing that makes halves fumble so badly, get into such awkward positions, start so slowly, and withal play so half-heartedly, as the feeling that the quarter does not think much of them, does not trust them, or believe in their abilities. Every half-back can tell the same story—how he is nerved up by the confidence of the quarter, and what an inspiration it is to good work to see that confident look in the eye of the man who is about to pass to him. But not alone in the work of the half does it make a great difference, but in that of the quarter himself. When he lacks confidence in his man, his passing is unsteady and erratic as well as slow. He allows the opponents a far better chance of reachingthe man before he can get started, both by irregular and slow passing, and also by a nervous looking at him before the ball is played.
In practice, great stress should be laid on quick handling and sharp passing of the ball. A quarter can slow up in a game if advisable, but he can never do any faster work than that which he does in practice without throwing his men completely out. In order to make the play rapid, a quarter must be figuratively tied to the centre's coat, or rather jacket, tails. As soon as the centre reaches the ball after a down, he should know that the quarter is with him. Usually there is an understood signal between them, which not only shows the centre that the quarter is on hand, but also when he is ready to receive the ball. One of the most common of these signals has been placing the hand upon the centre's legor back. A pinch would let him know when to snap the ball. In spite of this method's having been used by opponents to fool a centre, it has been, and still is, the most common. One of the best variations of it has been for the quarter to put his hand upon the centre and keep it there until he is ready for the ball, then take it off and let the centre snap the ball, not instantly, but at his convenience. Should anything occur making it advisable, for some reason, to stop the play, the quarter puts his hand upon the centre again at once, and until it is once more removed the snap-back understands that the quarter is not ready to have the ball come. Almost any amount of variation can be made in the signal of the quarter to his centre; but in arranging this it should be constantly borne in mind that the signal should not be such as to give the opponents the exact instant of the play, because it gives them too close an idea of the moment when they may start.
ALEXANDER MOFFATT. Princeton.ALEXANDER MOFFATT.Princeton.
The speed of a quarter's work depends upon his ability to take the ball close to the snap-back and in proper position for a pass. In merely handing the ball to a runner, one might suppose that there would be no particular position in which the ball should be held; but in that he would be in error, for a ball so handed to a passing runner as not to settle properly in his arms or hands means in many instances a disastrous fumble, or at best a slowing-up of the runner's speed. In giving the ball to a passing runner, it should be held free and clear of the quarter's body and slightly tilted, so that it can be taken against the body, and without the use of both hands for more than an instant, because the runner must almost immediatelyhave use for his arm in going into the line. It is impossible to give in print the exact angle and method of holding the ball for this purpose, but practice and the wishes of the runners, if consulted, will soon show the quarter just what is meant. When the ball is to be passed any considerable distance, it should be taken so that the end is well placed against the hand of the quarter, while the ball itself lies against the forearm, the wrist being bent sharply. This will enable the quarter to send the ball swiftly and accurately almost any distance that it may be necessary to cover. Of course, in many cases the ball does not actually rest against the forearm of the quarter; but this is the best way of conveying the idea of the proper position of the hand upon the point of the ball, and by practising in this way the correct motion for steadypassing is speedily acquired. In receiving the ball, the right hand, or the hand with which the throw is made, should be placed upon the end of the ball, while the other hand stops its progress, and should be placed as nearly upon the opposite end of the ball as convenient. This is the theoretically proper way of receiving the ball; practically, the handling cannot be as accurately performed as this would indicate. If, however, the quarter will in practice be constantly aiming at receiving the ball so that his right hand grasps the end just as his left hand stops the ball, and settles it securely against his right, he will find that after a few weeks he can receive four out of five snap-backs in such a way as to make any great amount of arranging the ball for his pass, after it is in his hands, quite unnecessary. After the preliminary weeks of practice, and whenin a game, he must bear in mind the fact that, in order of importance, his duties are, first, to secure the ball, no matter how; second, to convey it to his own man, no matter whether in good form or not. He must never pass the ball if he has fumbled it, unless he has a perfectly clear field in which to do it. He must always have it down in preference to taking the slightest risk of losing it. Even though he receive it without a fumble, there may be a way through in that part of the line towards which his pass is to be delivered; and here, again, he should hold the ball for another down rather than take any chance of the opponent's intercepting the pass. After letting the ball go, the quarter should follow his pass; in fact, he should be almost on the run as the ball leaves his hand. No matter whether the ball be caught or fumbled, he is then
RALPH WARREN. Princeton.RALPH WARREN.Princeton.
ready to lend assistance; whereas if he stand still after his pass, he is of no use to the rest of the play. When the play is a run, he can do excellent work in interfering; and when the play is a kick, he can take any opponent who gets through, and thus aid the half in protecting the kicker. In either case, if his own man muff or fumble he is close at hand to lend assistance in an emergency, which otherwise might prove most disastrous. When lining up the quarter should take a quick glance, not directly at the player he is to make the recipient of the ball, but covering the general position of all the men. In doing this he locates his individual without making it apparent to the opponents which man is to receive the ball. Any amount of disguise may be practised in the way of taking a last glance at the wrong man, or calling out to some one who does notenter into the play. The chief point, nevertheless, is to avoid that tell-tale glance at the right man which is so difficult to omit.
When the opponents have the ball, the quarter makes an extra man in or near the forward line, and, as a rule, he can by his shrewdness make it very uncomfortable for any point in the line which he chooses to assail. No law can govern his tactics in this respect, but he should be a law unto himself, and show by his cleverness that he is more valuable than any man in the line whose position is fixed. One caution only is worth giving to the quarter in this line of play, and that is, to be less free of going forward sharply when the play is evidently to be a run than when a kick is to be attempted. In the latter case, a quarter can always be sent for his best.
As the game is at present played, the back is more of a third half-back than a goal-tend, and so should be trained to half-back work. It has been well said that all that one can ask of the best rush line is to hold the ground their half-backs gain; and when one follows carefully the progress of the play, he sees that this is the proper division of the work. The half-backs, then, must be the ground-gainers of the team. Such work calls for dash and fire—that ability to suddenly concentrate all the bodily energy into an effort that must make way through anything. Every one has such half-backs in mind, but unfortunately many of those half-backs whopossess this type of character have not the necessary weight and strength to stand the amount of work required. Although a light man be occasionally found who is particularly muscular and wiry, the constant shock of going into a heavy line of forwards usually proves too exhausting for any but those of middle weight before the end of a season be reached. It is not that the work of a single game proves too much for the light-weight half. It is that in both practice and games he is so overmatched by the weight of the forwards whom he must meet that every week finds him less strong than the preceding, until his playing falls off so markedly that the captain or coach is at last convinced that there is something wrong, and the man is replaced by some one else, often too late to bring the substitute up to anything like the mark he might havereached had he been tried earlier in the season. Such thoughts as these will suggest themselves to the experienced coach when at the outset of a season he has placed before him a number of candidates for the position of half-back, among whom very likely there may be two or three men of perhaps one hundred and forty pounds' weight. Likely enough, too, these men may be at that period easily superior to the middle or heavy weights. In such a case the very best advice that can be whispered in the ear of coach or captain is, to make quarters or ends of them, even though it be only substitute quarters and ends. It will leave the way open for the proper cultivation of half-backs better built to stand the wear and tear of a season.
Almost equally to be deprecated is the waste of time often devoted to making half-backs of slow heavy weights. Onlya quick man can perform a half-back's duties successfully; and although much can be left to practice, there must be some natural quickness to build upon. Slow men can be improved far more rapidly in the forward line than among the halves. All this regarding the weight of half-backs applies not only to 'varsity teams, but school teams as well, if one will make the proper proportional changes in weight. That is, a 'varsity player will be called upon to face a forward line averaging one hundred and seventy-five or thereabouts, and men of less than one hundred and thirty-five to one hundred and forty are too light to meet that weight. In school teams the rush line will be some twenty pounds lighter, and the halves can therefore be selected from even one-hundred-and-twenty-five-pound men, if well built. In other words, a half-back ought not to
JOHN CORBETT. Harvard.JOHN CORBETT.Harvard.
face over twenty-five pounds' difference in weight; and the more that difference is reduced, supposing that speed and agility be retained, the more chance there is of turning out a thoroughly successful player. It is worth while to be thus particular upon the point of the early selection of candidates for the position of half-back, because, while no more work is demanded of them in a game than of others of their side, the quality of that work must be more uniformly good. When a half-back has to tackle, he must be as sure as a steel-trap; when a half-back has to catch, he must be a man to be relied upon; when a half-back is called upon for a kick, it must be no fluke; and, although no one expects a half-back to always make on his run the five yards, he must be a man who will not be denied when he is called upon for that last yardwhich will enable his side to retain the ball.
Almost the first thing to be critically noted by the coach is the way in which a half-back takes the ball from his quarter. The case in which he takes it directly from the hands of this player has been already dwelt upon at some length under the head of the quarter's passing; but when the ball is thrown or passed some little distance, it is just as important that it be properly received. Except when about to kick, the half-back should be moving when he receives the ball, and, more than that, the reception of it should have no perceptible effect upon his movements. In other words, he must take it as easily and as naturally as a batsman in a ball game drops his bat after he has hit the ball fairly. No batsman remembers that he has had the bat in his hands after the ballhas been hit, and yet, when he is at first base, he has left his bat behind him at the plate. Thus a football half-back should so receive the ball as not to know the exact instant of taking it, but find that he has it as he comes up to the line. It will never do for a coach to suppose that an inexperienced half can be told that he must take the ball "without knowing it," but it is necessary to explain to a half that until he does take the ball naturally, and without having to stop and calculate about it, he can never come properly up to the line nor get his whole power on early. To acquire the habit of taking a pass easily, a half-back should spend a little time every day off the field in practising taking a sharp pass when on the run. By a sharp pass is not meant hurling the ball with all possible force against a runner so that he is nearlyknocked over by it, and cannot by any possibility catch it except at the expense of giving the catch his sole and undivided attention. Such passing in practice does far more harm than good. The ball should be passed with that easy swing which sends it rapidly, accurately, and evenly up to the runner without any great apparent force, for it is remarkable how much the appearance of force tends to rattle the runner, who easily handles fully as much speed properly delivered. Daily practice of this nature between the quarter and halves accustoms each to the other, so that the regular work of the team on the field is not disorganized by loose passing and looser catching. While this passing is progressing, the coach should stand by the side of the half, and watch him closely, correcting any careless tendencies of receiving or stopping, and paying
W. BULL. Yale.W. BULL.Yale.
particular attention to his going in a straight line—that is, not running up to meet the ball and then sheering off again. The best half-backs endeavor to receive the ball at approximately the same height relative to their bodies, no matter how it comes, and they will correct quite a variation in the quarter's throw by a little stoop or a slight jump. A half-back must be taught to be uniform in starting, and in reaching the spot where the ball is to meet him. The coach will have no great difficulty in teaching him this steady uniformity of pace, which will enable the quarter to throw the ball so as really to assist rather than retard his motion. There are two other things which the half-back must practise apart from his team-play. They are kicking and catching. The former is of sufficient importance to deserve a separate chapter, but a few hintsunder the half-back column will not be out of place. It is usually the case that of all three men behind the line, the two halves and the back, any one can do the kicking upon a pinch, but one of the three is, nine times out of ten, manifestly superior to the other two. In this state of affairs there is altogether too great a tendency to slight the practice of the two inferior kickers, and rely almost entirely upon the best man. It is quite proper to let the best man do all the kicking possible in an important game, but it is a very short-sighted policy to neglect the practice of the other two during the preliminary games. Not only should they have the advantage to be gained in the length of their kicks by daily practice, but they should also have the steadying experience to be acquired only in games. It may happen at any moment in a most important game thatthe kicking will devolve upon them on account of an accident to the third man, and it is, indeed, a foolhardy captain or coach who has not taken sufficient forethought for this contingency. The principal reason why we develop so few really good kickers is, that coaches, captains, and players have given so little attention to the detail of that part of the work. Fully nine tenths of the men who do the kicking upon American teams are more natural kickers than practised ones. Let me explain this so as to be fully understood. As in boxing one often sees a man who, having taken no lessons, and being therefore unable to make the most of himself, can yet more than hold his own against a more finished opponent on account of his natural quickness, strength, and aptitude; so in football one sees here and there a man who is able to do some fairkicking without having devoted particular attention to it. In boxing, however, when a teacher takes the natural hitter in hand, he begins by putting him at work upon the rudiments of guarding, holding himself upon his feet, hitting straight, and moving firmly. He never undertakes to make a first-class man of him by merely encouraging him to go in harder, and increase his power without regard to the proper methods. In football, coaches rarely teach the kickers the first principles, but instead urge upon them only the necessity of constant practice in their own way. For this reason our kickers show all manner of styles, and the only wonder is that they kick so well in such wretchedly bad form.
While it is neither advisable nor necessary that a kicker be prevented from attempting to kick hard until he has mastered every detail of the swing and brought it to the same point of perfection that a finished oarsman does his stroke, it certainly is best, in his practice, to subordinate power to method until he acquire good form.
KNOWLTON L. AMES. Princeton.KNOWLTON L. AMES.Princeton.
The coach should take his man in hand by watching him make a half-dozen kicks in his own way. Then he should select the worst of his faults, and show him why it is a fault, and how to correct it. He should keep him upon this one point for a few days, until he is convinced that there will be no backsliding, and then begin upon the next. In this way a few weeks will serve to make a second-class man a good one, and open the way for his becoming something out of the ordinary run in another season.
In judging the faults of a kicker, the coach should note just where he getshis power on, what is the position of his leg and foot upon the swing, and what part of the foot strikes the ball. These are the principal points, and deserve the first attention. Regarding the first of these, his power should be put on just as his foot has passed the lowest part of the arc in which it swings, and it should meet the ball in the upward sweep very soon after passing this point. The position of his leg and foot is to be next noted, and the "snap the whip" phrase is as good a one to convey the idea as any that can be adopted. As the leg begins to swing the knee is bent and the body pitched a little forward, so that the weight of the kick seems to start from the hip and travel down the leg as it straightens, reaching the foot just as it meets the ball, as above mentioned. As for the third point, the ball, when punted,should be struck between the instep and the toe, impinging most upon the former. In a drop-kick and a place-kick the ball is met by the toe, and the sweep is made with "a longer leg," as the expression has it; that is, the foot swings nearer—in fact, almost along the ground.
All these three points can be most clearly illustrated by noting the effect of departures from them. If the power is not put on as above described, the man will simply send the ball along the ground, or will hook it up, merely tossing it with his foot instead of driving it. These two are the extremes, of course; but they illustrate where the power is lost or wasted. If the leg be not swung in proper position, the ball will be simply spatted with the foot, the only force coming from the knee. Finally, if the ball be not met with the proper part of the foot it may snap downwards off thetoe, or be merely bunted by the ankle. There is still another thing to be watched, which, while not the kick proper, really belongs to it as much as the swing of the leg. It is the way in which the ball is dropped to the foot from the hand or hands. The usual tendency of beginners, and many half-backs who could hardly be classed in that category, is to toss the ball from the hand; that is, to give it a motion up from the hand, which, however slight, causes much valuable time to be lost. The ball should always be dropped to the foot, the distance between the hand and foot being made as short as possible. The hand should be merely withdrawn just at the proper moment, and with practice it is not difficult to make the entire transfer from hand to foot so rapid as to almost eliminate any danger of having the ball stopped or struck during that part of the play. In drop-kickingthe fall is necessarily greater, but it should never be a toss even then. There has been no little argument as to whether the ball should be held in one or both hands when about to kick, and such are the examples of good kickers arrayed on both sides that one cannot fairly say that either way is the only right way. If a player has become so accustomed to the two-hand method as to make him uncomfortable and inaccurate if forced to the one-hand way, it is hardly advisable to make the change. But any player who is taken early enough can be taught to drop the ball with one hand, to the great advantage of both his quickness and his ability to kick from tight quarters or around an opponent.
The entire series of motions, therefore, which go to make up a well-performed kick should be in the coach's mind just as the separate parts of anoarsman's stroke are in the boating-man's mind when coaching a crew. The ball dropped, not tossed; the leg well swung, the power coming from both leg and hip with all the advantage that the poise of the body may add; the foot meeting the ball with the forward part of the instep on a punt, with the toe on a drop, and in either case just after passing the lowest point of the arc of swing, rather later on a punt than a drop, because the ground helps the latter to rise, while the rise of the former must come entirely from the foot. The next step in the education of the kicker is the side swing. The ball cannot be kicked as far when met directly in front of the kicker—his leg swinging straight, as it would in taking a step in running—as it can be kicked by taking a side sweep with the leg and body, the hips acting as a sort of pivot.
One of the most common false ideas regarding this side kick is, that it is not performed with the same part of the foot as the straight punt, but that the ball is struck by the side of the foot. Of course, this is all wrong. The foot meets the ball as fairly and directly as it does in the ordinary straight kick, and the ball impinges upon the top of the instep and toe just as before, the word "side" referring to the swing of the leg and position of the body only.
All the suggestions thus far have been applicable to both half-backs and back, but before bringing the chapter to an end it is well to note a few of the special features of the full-back's position. The place originally was that of a goal-tend, but with the increase of the aggressive system of defence his duties have become more those of a third half-back. Other things being equal, it iseminently proper to select as a full-back an exceptionally strong tackler; but as for placing tackling ability above that of kicking, that is a mistake which might have been made six years ago, but of which no coach or captain would to-day be guilty.
The importance of the position is rapidly growing, and there is no doubt that the time will come in another year, if it be not already here, when the selection of the three men behind the line will be after this fashion—namely, picking out the three best half-backs, all things considered, then selecting that one of the three whose kicking is the best, and making him the third half or full back. After the man has been in this way chosen there will devolve upon him certain duties which do not commonly fall to the lot of the other two half-backs. Chiefest among these is the