Page:Lacrosse- The National Game of Canada (New Edition).djvu/158

138 and outwards, so that you will have to make short dashes to catch; next upwards and backwards, so that you will have to turn around and run backwards to catch. Then hold your crosse out at arms' length, right and left alternately, and practise a semi-circular throw, and catch from one side to the other; first, from right, over head to left, and vice versa. After you have learned the art alone, and can catch and keep balls, practise in the ring, as described on.

There are many variations of catching, but master the following and any others will naturally be easy:

1. Descending Balls.—If you catch a descending ball before it touches the ground you gain an advantage. In a game where every movement of play you make with the ball is liable to check, success often depends upon the advantages gained in seconds.

If the ball is descending from a high perpendicular throw, as if thrown straight up, or if descending in a curve, hold your crosse to the front, right hand at the butt, left above the collar, and when the ball is about two or three feet above the level of your head, make a thrust upwards to meet it,—something