so ina ‘clipping’ manner, not dropping the oar perpendicularly, but bringing it for some distance back in the air before it touches the water.
Now to tell a batch of men—all late, and all late from different causes as above—simply that each one is ‘late’ does little good. ‘I'he cure which will set the one right will only vary, or even exaggerate, the mischief with the others.
Hence a coach should, before he animadverts upon a fault, of which he observes the effect, watch carefully until he detects the exact cause, and then seek to eradicate it.
Another sample of cause and effect in faults may he cited for illustration. Suppose a man holds his oar in his fist instead of his fingers. ‘he effect of this probably will be a want of accuracy in ‘governing’ the blade. He may thereby row too deep ; also only half feather ; also find a difficulty in bending his wrists laterally, and therefore fail to bring his elbows neatly past his sides. The consequent further effect may well be that he dog’s-ears his elbows and gets a cramped finish. This will tend to make his hands come slow off the chest for the recovery ; and this again may tend te make his body heavy on the return swing,
Here is a pretty, and quite possible, concatenation of faults all bearing on each other in sequence, more or less. To be scolded for each such fault in tum may well bewilder a pupil. He will be taken aback at the plurality of defects which he isteld to cure. But if the coach should spot the faulty grip, and cure that by some careful coaching in a tub-gig, he may in a few days find the other faults gradually melt away when the one primary awkwardness has been eradicated.
These two illustrations of faults and their origins by no means exhaust the category of errors which a coach has to detect and to cure.
Sundry other common faults may be specified, and the best mode of dealing with them by coaches supplicd.
Over-reach of shoudders—Vhis weakens the catch of the water, and also tends to cripple the finish when the time comes
