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 who possess 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 have reached 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. Only a 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

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 yard which 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 ball has 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 nearly knocked 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

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 hints under 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 that the 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 fair kicking 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.

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 gets his 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 the toe, 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-kicking the 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 an oarsman'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 is eminently 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

duty of making a running return of a kick. The opponents have sent a punt down towards him, which he secures while the opponents are still some yards away from him, although they are coming down rapidly. In this case, a thoroughly finished player will not only gain a few steps before he takes his kick, but he will take that kick on the run, sometimes dodging the first man before taking the kick. A full-back who can do this and never lose his kick is the greatest kind of a treasure for any team, and it is worth a captain's while to devote a good bit of attention to the full-back's perfecting this special feature of his play.

He will also be likely to have the long place-kicking to do. In fact, it is proper to practise him at this, because, if he be the best punter among the men behind the line, he can be made the longest place-kicker, and few realize the great advantage of these long place-kicks to a team upon occasion of fair catches.

Tackling, when it does fall to the lot of a full-back, comes with an importance the like of which no other player is ever called upon to face. It usually means a touch-down if he misses. For practice of this kind it is well to play the 'varsity back once in a while upon the scrub side. This is likely to improve the speed of his kicking also.