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GOAL-KEEPING
229

left hand, and some useful and pretty play made in tapping it up in the air, and keeping it out from the flags after it has bounced on the netting of the crosse. It is a common thing to cut and block balls with one hand as an assistant to the crosse. There is no license, however, given goal-keeper to catch and throw with the hand. The proper use of the feet is part of the science of goal-keeping. When you block a ball near the edge of either flag pole it is liable to slip sideways; as these balls are generally stopped at arm-stretch, when you cannot bring to them a full face of the netting. The instant you block at either side spring to that side ; bring the nearest foot in line with your crosse, toe to the stick and follow with the next foot heels in line with each other. This gives a guard the width of your crosse and two feet together, and has often, in our experience saved games. Had you feet like the Monosceli Indians of whom Pliny writes, who sheltered their whole body from the sun with the only foot they had,—having only one leg,—you would certainly be able to introduce some new and startling methods of goal-keeping.

The legs, from the ankle to the hips, are sometimes