Target (sports)

“ But gradually the team learned to play fair, to take hard knocks, and to cheer the winners. They grew into such "good sports" that when one day an invading cow, aggrieved at being hit in the flank by a flying ball, turned and knocked the goal thrower flat on the ground, the interruption lasted only a few minutes. ”

“ So many self-styled sportsmen are trying to spoil sport by artificial means—hunting, shooting and coursing semi-tame animals, and calling it sport. We, in my humble judgment, have the greatest need to uphold true, honest, genuine sport rather than its counterfeits, which only go to make our enemies blaspheme at us with some cause. ”

“ Not only do you lose the game for your side if you let the ball through, but your reputation, and peace of mind. Any other man may pass muster, but you are a sinner. And bright and soft eyes do not look at you graciously any more—a serious trouble, everybody knows, to young fellows unwed.
But let us smooth the way for your defence of goal. We like to go to the flags with shoes on instead of moccasins, and, if throwing at goal from short distances is to become the rule, we intend to wear leg-guards, as in Cricket, for why should we needlessly expose our shins to fracture. ”

“ There are qualifications required of a goal-keeper in an eminent degree, which, owing to the singleness of his responsibility, are as imperative as a strongly woven crosse. If it does not need courage to stand at the flags, and fear no pace of a ball, which would kill a dog if it struck it, tell us what does? What needs more undivided attention, more promptness, self-reliance and coolness, than when your goal is crowded by four or five red skins, and your own men in a desperate attack and defence? ”

“ To bear the enemy's flag to your own camp, that is, over the taw line, wins the victory for your side. Tackling is allowed, as in football, and is limited by the same rules. No boy bearing the mark of a snowball on chest or back is allowed to take further part in the game, as he is considered to be a dead soldier, but the dead soldiers may coach their comrades as often as they please. ”

“ For brilliancy of individual effort as well as of combined team play, for incessant movement and thrilling situations, for cheer-inspiring displays of undaunted pluck or untiring fleetness, there is no game that can compare with it. The ball flies all over the field, now soaring like a bird through the air, now skimming along the ground like a frightened field-mouse. First one goal is in danger, and the players crowd so thickly about it that you cannot see the goal-keeper. ”

“ It is, in short, the danger, or the possibility of danger, which is the vital elixir of big game shooting, and which gives one, too, an opportunity of knowing oneself, and gauging one's presence of mind, or the want of it, as the case may be. But what, after all, is the amount of danger? That depends very much on the experience of the sportsman. ”

“ When, in addition to the advantages of a national sport or collection of national sports, such as boxing, sword exercises, wrestling, etc., you recognize the possibility that the games you have been indulging in with your friends in playful contests may at almost any moment be utilized for defeating your enemies and possibly saving your life, you are forced to the conclusion that there are some sports at least which can be turned to practical account. ”

“ Then is the moment for the sportsman, who, concealed in a large thicket and comfortably [Pg 315] seated at the summit of the hill, listens and laughs in his sleeve as he hears the affrighted partridge call, and the timid hare rushing through the vines towards him; they approach, are within range of his gun, and ere long the shot-bag is emptied, and the sportsman is in that rare but agreeable dilemma of not knowing what to do with his game or his gun. ”

“ In the sports field, for instance, you have at once an instrument of physical training as well as a definite education in a team work, which does not depend upon uniform and synchronous movements commanded from without, but upon the intelligence and dexterity of the players themselves. Moreover, the sports field affords an illustration of the proper use of the competitive spirit. The military discipline has its eye upon potential enemies to be destroyed; the sports discipline has its eye upon rival teams of friends and thus always a cheer for the beaten team in the end. ”

“ Brilliant running and dribbling, indeed, you will see; but as distinguished from a side composed of individuals, however good, who are yet not a team, these brilliant episodes are always part of a plan, and end not in some wild shot but in a pass or a succession of passes, designed to lead to a good opening for scoring. ”

“ The only sports of an athletic nature are shooting at targets with arrows and spears, and a game of ball in which two goals are placed a mile apart, and each party—sometimes a whole tribe—endeavors to force the ball past the other's goal, as in foot-ball, except that the ball is thrown with a stick, to one end of which is fixed a small hoop or ring. ”

“ Indeed, without this moderate degree of danger the sport would have been of quite a different kind, for is it not evident that all sport is to be divided into two widely different classes—sport in which you are liable to be attacked, and sport where the attack is all on one side? ”

“ The small fields to which we are predestinated in towns and cities,—even on this continent of great lands,—and the change from carrying, to a game of accurate throwing from all positions and distances, which makes the goal a target for good shots, might be sufficient reason; and when we consider the importance of that open space being well protected when the ball is thrown to it ”

“ Instead of making each throw as if the destinies of the world were at stake, the soldiers played fast and vigorously, aiming rather to knock the opponent's ball away from a coveted position near the goal than to reach the goal. ”

“ It was the fashion that a team of runners use against one dangerous opponent, challenging him one after the other and running him out so that the best in the team can come through with a spurt at the end and pass the flagging enemy. ”

“ In the old days sport filled up our leisure hours, but that, in these days, is not always to be had without going far afield, as, from the number of guns in the hands of the natives, the game within their reach has been mostly destroyed. ”

“ Who would change positions with you under such circumstances? If the several men in front of you cannot prevent a shot or tip to goal under such circumstances, how, unerringly certain must be your defence. ”

“ How many times it occurs that, when the line has been successfully assaulted and a runner penetrates into the enemy's territory, one of his comrades who has also broken through is able to grasp the man with the ball and carry him out of the arms of the tacklers into the enemy's country still further! It is team play. ”

“ The Individual may be subdivided into Fundamentals and Position Play. Fundamentals comprehend passing, catching, dropping on the ball, kicking, blocking, making holes, breaking through, tackling. The Team is divided chiefly into two parts—the offence and defence. The offence comprises the direct attack, the indirect or strategic play, and kicking. The defence embraces the general defence, the theory, styles of defence, defence to particular plays, and defence at given points of the field. In this first paper I shall treat of the Fundamentals of Individual Play.
FIG. 10. ”

“ So you shall give your mite to the rest
⁠To bring the whole team through,
And then at the time of your single test
⁠They shall give their strength to you.
And these are the laws of the athlete,
⁠You can heed them or not, as you like,
But they make the code of the runner fleet,
⁠And they check a man when he'd strike.
They tell you how to lay your plan,
⁠And how to carry it through.
They help the man, who's done what he can,
⁠To bear his Waterloo.
"CASEY AT THE BAT"
BASE BALL.
By S. D. Richardson. ”

“ Football, of a wild, guerilla species, was waged intermittently, blended in some inextricable way with Home Rule and a brass band, and on Sundays gatherings of young men rolled a heavy round stone along the roads, a rudimentary form of sport, whose fascination lay primarily in the fact that it was illegal, and, in lesser degree, in betting on the length of each roll. ”

“ It is the goals made, not the men disabled, that give one victory, and victory is what every player should seek.
To the forward, discrimination is a valuable asset. When caught in a tackle so far away from goal that getting free will not help you pass the ball at once, don't allow your opponent to punish you. But if you are nailed within easy reach of goal, fight as long as there is breath of life in you. Never mind how helpless the task may seem, a team-mate [p. 172] may come to the rescue at any moment, and then you'll score. ”

“ The risk has this charm, that, though so great unless steadily and skilfully met, it is within the sportsman’s power, by coolness and good shooting, to end it and the assailant’s career by one well-planted ball. ”

“ I strongly advise any one who contemplates betaking himself to the velt after big game to set about the enterprise in the true sporting spirit, making of it a really genuine contest between man and beast—a genuine duel—not an onslaught of the many upon the one. Many English writers support me in this, and they understand the claims of sport in this field as well as we Germans do at home. The English have instituted clearly defined rules which no sportsman may transgress. ”

“ A word to goal-keeper. You must make up your mind, to endure reproaches patiently, and defeat bravely. Study to succeed; and, believe us, goal-keeping is a post worthy of practice, and infinitely more responsible in a hard-pressed match than all others. When the ball is sent whizzing outside of the goal, and your opponents shout “game,” when it is not game, we hope you will not feel as vexed as we do. It jars on our nerves like a false check to an old chess-player. ”

“ Every person ought to be very attentive, and listen for the stroke, before he opens the door of a billiard-room.
75. The striker has a right to command his adversary not to stand facing or near him, so as to annoy or molest him in his stroke.
76. Each party is to take care of his own game, and his adversary has no right to answer any questions; as, if the ball be close?—if he touch the ball? &c.
77. The marker should make those persons who do not play stand from the table, and give room for the players to pass freely round. ”

“ So closely are love and war connected that not only is individual pugnacity greatly increased at the period of sexual maturity, when animals acquire or develop horns, fangs, claws, spurs, and weapons of offense and defense, but a new spirit of organization arises which makes teams possible or more permanent. Football, baseball, cricket, etc., and even boating can become schools of mental and moral training. First, the rules of the game are often intricate, and to master and observe them effectively is no mean training for the mind controlling the body. ”

“ I claim that Base Ball owes its prestige as our National Game to the fact that as no other form of sport it is the exponent of American Courage, Confidence, Combativeness; American Dash, Discipline, Determination, American Energy, Eagerness, Enthusiasm ”

“ Or perhaps the opponent in rear of your goal, surprises you by closing in and sending a grounder through—which is not game, of course,—which “Home” tries to strike back. It is hardly possible that such a crisis can arrive and find you without your aids to check ”

“ It must be a man, for tomorrow, next day, the day after, we would go over the top. Then it WOULD be a man. Everything must be real.
“Football is like that, you must go after things hard. You must buck the line in scrimmage as you do in a real game.
[220]
“Football is like war in other ways. If a battalion cannot go through the enemy’s line, it attempts to go around him. If an army is too light for ground fighting, it takes to the air. You do the same thing in football. ”

“ The matches are usually made by gentlemen, and their goales are either those gentlemen's houses, or some towns or villages three or four miles asunder, of which either side maketh choice after the nearnesse of their dwellings; when they meet there is neyther comparing of numbers nor matching of men, but a silver ball is cast up, and that company which can catch and carry it by force or slight to the place assigned, gaineth the ball and the victory. ”

“ The success depends on catching the ball dexterously when thrown up, or dealt, and carrying it off expeditiously, in spite of all opposition from the adverse party; or, if that be impossible, throwing it into the hands of a partner, who, in his turn, exerts his efforts to convey it to his own goal, which is often three or four miles’ distance. This sport, therefore, requires a nimble hand, a quick eye, a swift foot, and skill in wrestling; as well as strength, good wind, and lungs. ”

“ Bunching Game.—It is the highest art of goal- guarding to contest successfully against a bunch of opponents, especially if they be frantic Indians fighting your men for the ball. Stoop down low, and keep your eye on the ball. ”

“ When a match at foot-ball is made, two parties, each containing an equal number of competitors, take the field and stand between two goals, placed at a distance of eighty or a hundred yards the one from the other; the ball, which is commonly made from a blown bladder, and cased with leather, is delivered in the midst of the ground, and the object of each party is to drive it through the goal of their antagonists, which being achieved the game is won. ”