meet both with cool promptness. If you have a narrow limit for play, and a difficult dodge to overcome, take the Irish maxim, “Be aisy, and if you can’t be aisy, be as aisy as you can.”
General Rules.—Do not be afraid of swift balls or close throws. One great beauty of checking, is to stop a thrower’s shot when within a few feet of his crosse. Keep your eyes on the ball. Improvise checks when you can, according to circumstances; for in the infinite variations of close play, occasions arise for checks that you cannot anticipate.
Dodging and checking are so interwoven that you need a knowledge of both to he perfect in either. Checks will be the more effective, if you know just how the dodges are done, and vice versa.
Guard against the habit of reinforcing one of your side, who has only a single opponent to contend with, unless the latter practises the “short stop and turn,” without the check being able to defeat him, when the nearest player of the same side should assist him.
