Thrower

“ The thrower then runs for the ball, and if she can hit the striker before he or she reaches the next stone, the one who is hit becomes the thrower, and the other takes a place at the head of the line. ”

“ The guard may not tag any player unless his own duck be on the rock. Before he may chase the thrower, he must therefore pick up his own duck and replace it should it have been knocked off. This replacing gives the thrower an opportunity to recover his own duck and run home; but should the duck not have been displaced from the duck rock, the thrower may have to wait either at a safe distance or with his foot on his own duck if he can get to it, until some other thrower has displaced the duck on the rock, and so engaged the time and attention of the guard. ”

“ It is that the thrower is enabled to change his throw instantly from the underhand one over the left shoulder, backwards, to the overhand throw from the left shoulder, whilst facing the direction thrown to. ”

“ One of the most important qualifications of a good thrower, is to pitch with as little hesitation as possible. It is aggravating to see a man holding the ball and looking for the best place to throw ; and though it is well to pitch to the best place, it is folly waiting until a checker gets so near, that your anticipated throw is spoiled, and the man you proposed throwing to, probably checked while you were waiting. If you decide to throw, get all the opportunity and space you can, and do not risk a check. ”

“ Instead of going straight forward, it slowly rises in the air, whirling round and round in a curved line, until it reaches quite a height, when it begins to fly back again, and, sweeping over the head of the thrower, falls behind him. ”

“ Each player has but one turn, unless the ball should strike some obstacle before touching the ground, when another trial is allowed. A thrower must at the start stand in the circle and toe the throwing line, drawn across the center of the circle; in completing the throw he must not fall or step forward over the outer line of the circle in front of him. If at any part of the throw, from its start to finish, the thrower be out of the circle, it is considered a foul and does not score, the number of players in the team being counted as one less when the total or average is figured. ”

“ The players start from the bottom, opposing players moving in opposite directions, and with each throw of the sticks the thrower moves her awl forward and sticks it into the blanket at the dot or line to which her throw carries her. ”

“ After men have thrown in the open for a sufficient period, they should proceed to the next stage: This is the stage of throwing in a cage or from behind and over obstacles. There are three distinct phases of this feature of the training: (1.) The thrower sees the target but must throw over an obstacle. (2.) The target is invisible; the thrower is aided by an observer and a periscope; the observer notes the fall of the grenades and gives directions as follows—"So many yards right or left" or "Shorten or lengthen so many yards." (3.) Actual throwing in trenches. ”

“ Each throws and fields in turn, and whether the throw be good or bad can easily be seen. It is most important to learn to throw without the slightest hesitation: hesitation on the part of the thrower is exactly what decides the batsmen to attempt a second run, and it is a safe run nine cases out of ten, at any rate when the ball is in the long-field. ”

“ It is optional in the person who bets with the thrower, to bar any throw which the caster may be going to cast, provided neither of the dice be seen; if one die should be discovered, the caster must throw the other to it, unless the throw is barred in proper time. ”

“ On account of the length of his throw to first base, and because he is often expected to assist in the return of a long hit to the out-field, he should be a good, hard thrower. He should also be able to throw from any posture, because there are occasions when he has no time to straighten up and pull himself together before throwing. ”

“ When the ball is thrown, they all run to catch it and whoever lays hold of it is the conqueror, and again throws it at somebody for whom he wishes to testify a particular regard. When the thrower is ready to toss the ball, all the rest stand with outstretched hands, and the former frequently keeps them in a state of suspense, by pretending to aim, sometimes at one, and sometimes at another. ”

“ We learned to know the part of the goal at which the ball would likely have to be stopped, by the position some awkward throwers assumed in the first act of pitching.
DANGEROUS THROWING.
Almost any throw may be made dangerous if you like, or do not care. Nearly all old players, and too many new ones, can relate some instance of personal temporary injury from dangerous throws; and there seems something so deliberately wicked in rash methods of throwing, when men know they must hurt some one, that we wonder any player of feeling or honour would use them. ”

“ When the harpoon or the dart is to be hurled, the throwing-stick, of whatever form it may be, is seized by the grip and held backward, together with the weapon, in a horizontal position. (See illustration, page 40) ; being then jerked forward with force, its lower end comes away from the dart or harpoon, while, with the upper end, still fitted to its knob or peg (see illustrations on this and the next page) , the thrower hurls the weapon away to a considerable distance and with great accuracy. This is an extremely simple and effective invention. ”

“ All the players stand grouped around a goal, and the stick thrower throws a stick as far away from the goal as he can. As soon as the stick touches the ground, all of the players, including the thrower, but not the one who is It, scatter and hide. ”

“ As we carefully watch its course, and suppose it just about to stop in its erratic career, and drop, spent, to the ground, it suddenly ceases its forward flight, and rapidly returns to the thrower. It is thought that no white man can exactly learn the trick of throwing this strange weapon, and certainly few ever care to attempt it a second time. ”

“ As two might throw at the third at the same moment, or as the thrower of one ball might have to receive the second ball at the very moment of throwing, both hands had to be used and a good degree of skill was necessary. ”

“ As soon as he comes within throwing distance, which materially varies according to the strength of the thrower and the structure of the bolas, he hurls his singular weapon with unerring skill. No sooner does it leave his hand than the centrifugal force causes the balls to diverge, and they fly round and round in the air with a motion exactly resembling that which an English street acrobat imparts to a couple of padded balls at the ends of a string, when he wants to clear the ground. ”

“ The thrower, therefore, bent his whole body somewhat in the moment when he threw back the right hand with the disc, in order to give it the necessary impulse, pressing his left leg firmly on the ground, and digging his toes into the sand, at the same time bending the right knee in order to give the disc increased power by springing up from his bent position at the moment of throwing. ”

“ If the checker is good, as in good matches he would be, he will take care always to keep on the throwing side, and the trouble he thereby causes may be imagined. Now, if the thrower would only learn the left shoulder shot as well as the underhand throw over the left shoulder, and would condescend to take a wrinkle and stand as above directed, he would find matters greatly simplified. ”

“ Whenever he stops the ball, he throws it to either front or rear. The throwers take their turn, if they have only one ball.
The ball should be thrown in every possible way. It is excellent practice to have one or two good throwers aim in succession at the following points of your body, or on a level with them. ”

“ The target is a crossbar and head, life-size, representing the head and arms of a drowning man, planted in the ground twenty yards away. Each competitor throws in turn from behind a line drawn on the ground; he may stand or run to make the throw. Whoever throws the furthest wins, provided that the line falls on some part of the dummy, so that it could be caught by the drowning man.
Or have heats to find out who is the worst thrower. ”

“ A feeble hit will not stir the ponderous Ger-block; the spear has to impinge with the force of a sixty-pound blow, so that a successful throw is also an athletic triumph. The German Ger-throwers are generally lads after the heart of Charles Reade—ambidexterous boys, whose either-handed strength and skill illustrate the fact that the antiquity of a prejudice proves nothing in its favor. As the least vacillation in the act of throwing would derange the aim, this exercise imparts a perfect command over the balance of the body, besides improving the faculty of measuring distances by the eye. ”

“ This loop was near the lower end of the javelin; the thrower put the first and second fingers of his right hand through it—sometimes it was a double loop, so that each finger grasped a separate strap—he laid his thumb on the wood of the spear, which rested on the third or fourth fingers placed underneath, or else on the third finger alone ”

“ The riders seemed almost to lift the ponies by the grip of the knees and the balance seemed perfect, and the greatest surprise was that something other than the ground was not jabbed by the flying spears. Some good throwers could attain a distance of about seventy to eighty yards. ”

“ This player must dash forward and catch the ball before it strikes the ground, while at the same moment all of the other players run as far away as possible. Should the one called succeed in catching the ball, the players come back and the thrower throws again, calling the name of some other player. Should the one whose name is called fail, however, to catch the ball, he calls out "Stand!" upon which the others must stop in their flight. The ball man then picks up the ball, and from where he stands throws it in his turn at one of the players. Any player so hit calls out "Hit!" ”

“ Rigid wooden spear-throwers, or, as they are generally termed, throwing-sticks, are more widely distributed. They occur all over Australia, and the Cape York variety was borrowed by the Western Islanders of Torres Straits. Strangely enough, in German New Guinea a distinct type of throwing-stick occurs sporadically. Another form of throwing-stick occurs in America among the Eskimo and among the Conibos and Purus of the Upper Amazon, and formerly among the ancient Mexicans. ”

“ First of all, let us teach them to catch by throwing the ball from one to another, and let the ball be small, proportioned to the size of their hands. Teach them to take the catch opposite the upper part of the chest, when they can get to it in that position, and to draw their hands back as the ball comes into them. Do not keep them too long at this, or they will find it irksome. Vary with a little ground fielding, but do not let them throw too often or too far, or their arms will soon go, and you will ruin your bowlers and your throwers as well. ”

“ Besides the high count, they have the privilege of a second throw. This, if lot backgammon came first, and was succeeded by dice backgammon, would naturally pass into our rule of giving doubles another throw. The throw of one white, which is called "child," or táb, i. e., "game," has a special power, for only by it may a "dog," that is, a stone or draught, be moved out of its original place in the outer row, and set at liberty to circulate along the lines of squares or "houses," taking an enemy's dog if found alone in its house. ”

“ If the throw is five, for instance, he lays his horse between the fourth and fifth stones and hands the pa-tol sticks to the next man. If his throw be ten, however, as the first man's throw is very certain to be, it lands his horse in the second river, and he has another throw. The second man may make his starting point the same or another river, and may elect to run his horse around the circle in the same direction that the first is going or in the opposite. ”

“ It is rarely you meet with players magnanimous enough to throw at goal in the way you would prefer, or a little slower than you would suggest. They may put the greatest amount of brute force into their most violent throw, and you must not budge or move a hair of your eye lashes. Have you ever had an opponent, noted for hard throwing, pick his ground ten feet from you, and send the ball whizzing from the lower angle down the netting straight at your face? ”

“ It can almost be taken for granted that it is impossible satisfactorily to define a throw, and even if this were not so the solution of the question would be no nearer, as there would be just the same difficulties in the way of an umpire saying that a bowler came within the definition as there is now in saying that he throws. ”

“ There are only certain features that must be present whenever throwing exists. It is impossible to throw without bending the arm at the moment of delivery, indeed I have grave doubts whether it is possible to bowl fast with a bent arm without throwing. But this is absolutely certain—it never can be a throw if the ball is delivered with a straight arm: some bend of the arm must accompany every throw. It would seem from this that no so-called bowler, who bowls with a bent arm, must complain if his delivery is regarded with suspicion. ”

“ We do not undervalue old or present methods of throwing, but we think there is great room for improvement, and that new and more effective methods can be invented to supersede them at certain times. We presume, then, that we are agreed—
That good throwing is essential to good play. That throwing has not been brought to perfection. ”