Hockey

New Zealand Times, Volume XXXIII, Issue 7847, 8 July 1911, Page 15

Hockey

1 (By "Koquet.”) This afternoon the three competitions under tho control of tho men’s cussociation will be resumed. In the senior grade competition is likely to boot an uninteresting nature, as Karon and. \ icfcoria College should be able to come out fairly easily over Wellington and Wesley respectively. " The contest between. United and Y.M.C.A. should bo an even one. The principal games in the junior competition to-day will be the UnitedGovernment Insurance game at the baj, and the Metropolitan-Wellington fixture at Miramar. These four teams are ''ell up in tho championship table and tne results of the games will be awaited with interest— by junior players. Advice has been received by the secretary of the local association fro®™ l © Hawke’s Bay body accepting July 22nd as the date for their representative game with the local eleven for the hockey shield. As there is only one Saturday afternoon intervening between to-day and tho date of tho match, Mr Walton (p°l° selector) will probably choose the Wellington team this afternoon. Instead ot letting tho local eleven go without a trial match this time it is to be hoped that something will bo done to enable them to obtain some practice together before the game. Should it be impossible to play a practice game on a Saturday afternoon surely something could no done in the way of getting tho team together on some city reserve one morning in the week. Last Saturday’s Shield match fell far short of being a good exhibition ot the game. There was nothing brilliant about the play, and the game altogether will rank us cne of the most disappointing representative contests se.en hero tor some time. Although Canterbury gave Wellington what has proved to be the local team’s biggest "shaking up ’ lor the Shield there was nothing interesting about tho play. The visitors have shown us that since their la>t appearance in Wellington they have not improved in their stylo of plaj r , and attaching to the recent game there are one or two regrettable features. Ihe red backs soon after tho start began to set a rather bad example by indulging in questionable tactics. Mr Falconer, the referee, was justified in being so strict. Without much fear of contradiction it can be said that the visitors’ back division were the strongest that has been pitted against the Wellington team up to tho present. Their defence was at times too strong for "Wellington, and with tho ground all in their favour the backs were able to reach tho ball before tho Wellington forwards, who on the wet ground were insecure. The play of Bellamy as goalkeeper was of a brilliant order. Both his kicking and stick work stood him in good stead, and the defence of tho goal m so splendid a manner materially assisted Canterbury in running the game so close. Chambers, as right-full, was perhaps a trifle more prominent than Sonic at left, but both with their hard hitting were always reliable. The three halves were a hard working trio, and both in defence and attack all knew where to place the ball. _ In the roll in they seemed to be at variance with what is stated in the book of rules. Of the forwards there was uot one that gave a really creditable performance to the Wellington observer. After all their practice together in the southern city and the fact of tho ground being in their favour one would ' havo thought that j some combination would be iu their play, but this was sadly lacking. Bach forward was content with self-made efforts without any mode of attack among them. , .

Morpeth, the Wellington * custodian, struck one as being slightly off, his game, because on two or thr6&’ occasions ho was responsible for some uncalled for mistakes. Chris Davies as substitute for Hickson, owing partly to' nervousness, did not play up to his brilliant club form; but ho gave the impression that with a little more experience in representative company he would be an excellent second string y for Hickson. Kibblewhite was as usual in good form, Thompson, Burbidgo, and Campbell were a better set of halves than the Canterbury trio, their hitting and tackling being more finished in stylo. Salek on the right wing was slightly off colour. On one occasion he - missed an opportunity in the circle and in tho field of play he should not hold on to tho ball too long, jui mmkl it into his forwards. Davies was a hard worker at right inside and his solus efforts, especially in the extra spell, wore splendid; but like his confreres he could not retain tho ball owing to the. greasy -ground. The, two Stracks and Loader, although not so prominent perhaps as in other games, were hard workers in helping Wellington to retain, the' Shield.

Tho record of the Wellington representative team in shield matenes since tho shield was won from Auckland is rather a good one. including last week's game Wellington have on nine occasions defeated their challengers. The goal record for the games mentioned is: 35 goals for, and 13 against—a record of which any team might bo proud. The following table shows the different teams Wellington have defeated.for the shield and the number of goals scored;

1909- 3—rl. 1910— Hawke's Bay, 2—l, 1910 —Horowhenua, 6—l. 1910—Wairarapa, 6—3. 1910 —Canterbury, 2—l. 1910—Wanganui, 4—l, 1910— Auckland, 3—l. 1911— Manawatu, G—2. 1911—Canterbury, 3—2.

Rational Golf

A Stroke Fallacy Exposed. One'fallacy referred to by A. E. Crawley in his _ articles on the “Theory of the Spin" in.tho London “Field" is in the opposite direction to that of “getting under the ball." This, remarks Jason .Rogers, the American golfer, in the Boston “Monitor," is the fallacy that fiscs upon the centre of the ball J s surface, R, in the diagram, as the point to which the club should be applied. The fallacy has actually been embodied in wood, lead .and horn, in the shape of the putter-faced 'driver, without any loft, the face being absolutely vertical. No doubt to one ignorant of the game it might at first seem that the proper point to hit the ball is R.‘ A club with its face at an angle of 90 degrees with the horizontal would, indeed, secure the .result of hitting the bail at R, If the blow

were parallel to the ground, the ball would not rise, but would roll along the grass like a croquet ball. Hitting up would produce overspin; in fact, the only way to use such a club would be to lay the face back. _ All errors, of course, can be utilised by the expert player, a truism which applies especially to the sliced and hooked drives.

The mechanism of the slice and the hook may be appreciated by considering

r ;lao relation between the ball and tho .dub face at rest. To begin with, tho most important practical matter is to ascertain the direction of the ball's ilight. As Tait suggested, a useful way of looking at those strokes is to imagine the side elevation of a drive to bo its plan; or in other words, to lay tho stroke on its side.

Then, what was tho loft in the upright diagram becomes a horizontally laid pack face. As long as the horizontal line of tho club face is at right angles to the line of the blow there will be no horizontal spin to produce either slice or hook, because tho lino of tho blow passes through tho ball’s vertical diameter. Even if, as in one form of the heeled and toed drives, the ball’s center of impact, P, is not mot by the club’s center, C, there is no spin if tho line of the blow is central. Also, tho direction of the bail’s flight is the same as that of the lino of the blow. But iuj moou as tho lino of the blow is off the central position, right or left Apia begins, and tho direction of the flight of tho ball is no longer at right angles to tho lino of the dub face. It begins to assume an elevation sideways, •is wo may put it by way of illustration. Similar results, of course, ensue if the toe of the club is in advance of tho heel, *vnd vice versa. A line drawn midway between tho line of tho blow a£ it passes through the ball, and a lino drawn at right angles to meet tho line of the club face at tho point of application, is tho initial dirocMon of flight. It does not matter, therefore, so much how you stand as how the line of the blow is placed. favorite form of the hook is a stroke in which the right foot is back, tho hands forward, and the ball is hit on the near side. But the lino of the blow 'e on tho oil side of the bail a center. This produces both spin and an inward direction. A simple and important distinction'may be drawn between tho slice and hook played with tho faco horizontaliy laid back, and tho same strokes played with the faco at right angles. A point of some importance, as affecting tho curve of the ball’s flight, is one which is due to the vertical spin, which both the hook and tho slice retain *from the loft of the club. Tho tendency in the case of the hook is. however, toward overspin, owing to the fact that the blow is usually obliquely upward. The sliced stroke, on the other hand, tends to be obliquely downward. Thus, tho axis of spin is not actually vertical, but is inclined. In both slice and hook the upper pole of the axis is inclined tp the left of the vertical, more so in the case of the slice. The result, is duo to a combination of axes of rotation. In the straight drive, without horizontal spin, jthe axis of rotation is more or less horizontal; it should bo absolutely horizontal, It the ideal slice, for example, if there wore no combination of vertical with its horizontal spin, the axis of spin, would also bo inclined backward. .As it is, it is inclined both backward and sideways, and its spin is oblique.