H O W T O P U N C H T H E B A L L

By MIKE DONOVAN

Boxing Instructor New York Athletic Club

IN the fall of 1877 I was living inTroy, N. Y., teaching a large classof students of the Polytechnic Insti-

tute. In my leisure hours it was my habitto call on my old friend and advisor,James Kiloran, who kept a hotel there.One day, while chatting with him aboutmy prospective match with William Mc-Clellan, I noticed a round football on ashelf. I took it down, and began bounc-ing it with one hand and then the other.While doing this, all of a sudden the ideacame to my mind that it would make abetter punching ball than the big heavysand bag that was used by all pugilists andathletes at that time. I said to my friend:“Jim, I have got an idea,” and told himof my prospective punching ball. Helaughed at me, saying: “This is somemore of your crazy notions.” I said: “Allright, you will see.” I took the ball andstarted for my gymnasium. On the way Ipurchased a screw eye and a piece of stout,marlin cord, also a small flour sack.Arriving at my room, I fastened the screwinto the ceiling. I then fastened my ropeto the screw and, putting my ball into thesack, fastened it closely to the ball, bymaking several loops on the mouth of thesack. It being about even with myshoulder I struck it several times andfound that it had too long a swing. Ithen drew it up a little further, whichbrought it even with my chin, and at thisheight I found that the ball worked better,though by no means perfectly. I prac-tised punching my ball for about a week,in the meantime thinking how I couldmake an improvement on it. I was notlong in discovering that by having atighter cover made it would give a betterbound, thereby making the swing better.I then had it covered with canvas, andlaced it so I could draw it as tight as wasnecessary. I also had a loop sewed to thecover to tie my string to. I then riggedit up and began punching it, and to mysurprise I found it worked beautifully, but

I did not then realize that I was inventinga popular apparatus that was to do somuch good to boxers, athletes, and thosethat have received benefit from its use.

After my first contest with McClellanI came to New York, and established mytraining quarters in the upper part of thecity. The first thing I did was to suspenda platform or a disc from the original ceil-ing, which gave my ball a two-foot swing,the swing in Troy being five feet. I foundthat this improvement gave me faster,quicker work. I did most of my trainingwith the bal l , and especial ly in wetweather. After working on the ball sometime, I concluded that a light leathercover would give it a quicker bound thanthe canvas cover. I had one made, andfound that it worked to perfection. Imight here state that while I was trainingin California I astonished all the profes-sionals and amateurs who witnessed myexhibition on the ball. They were loudin their praise, and said that they hadnever seen anything l ike i t before. Ireturned to New York and was matched tofight George Rook for the middleweightchampionship. I established myself intraining quarters at Far Rockaway. Oneday an enterprising sporting goods mancame down to sell me a pulling apparatus.I was punching the ball in the shed whenhe came in. I told him that I did notwant a pulling machine, but that I wantedto improve my hitting power and speed inboth hands and feet, and he, being veryinquisitive, I explained to him how Isecured all these benefits from the ball.This shrewd fellow saw the business endof it, and the first thing I knew balls wereon the market. This was a steal, pure andsimple. Not thinking there was anythingin it financially, I let it drift until 1886,when, after consulting a l a w y e r , h einformed me that I had let it go too longto claim any royalty, but I can say, anddefy contradiction, that I am the inventorof the rubber punching ball.

How to Punch the Ball55

On the benefits derived from the use ofthe ball:

In the first place it is a pleasant exer-cise; it is very much like boxing, and itis a well-known fact that boxing is themost life-giving exercise, when taken in amoderate way. Ball punching developsevery muscle of the arms and body, makesone very quick with the hands and feet;it sharpens the eye, and sends the bloodcoursing quickly through the body, bring-ing on good perspiration, purging thewhole system of impurities, enabling oneto retain good health, and be in good physi-cal condition. Any man or boy faithfullyfollowing instructions and persistentlytaking a daily course of exercise upon thebag brings out perspiration, vigorousaction to the heart and lungs, and, follow-ing it up with a rub down and bath, willsoon find himself free from many of theills which result from a sedentary occupa-tion. He will be greatly benefited in gen-eral health, the greatest prize desired byeverybody.

DIRECTIONS FOR RIGGING BALL.

The first thing to be considered is therigging of the disc. For the ordinary boythe height of the disc should be about sixfeet from the floor, or six feet two inchesat most. For a man of the ordinaryheight, six feet five inches, and for a manof six feet or a little over, six feet sevenor eight inches is high enough. If onewants to get much satisfaction out ofpunching the ball, the surface on whichthe ball bounds should be flat, as it givesa sound and makes one feel that he isdoing something. It is just like singingor dancing without music to punch theball without producing a good sound fromits contact on the disc; therefore I adviseone to have a disc with a flat surface. Itcan be easily rigged up at little expense.

I will now endeavor to give a descrip-tive lesson in ball punching:

1. The first blow to learn is the straightleft hand lead. This blow is struck bystanding about two feet away from theball. After hitting the ball it should beallowed to bound against the disc aboutfive times; this gives opportunity to timethe ball for the next blow. By doing thisfor a short time one can get so accuratethat he can strike it at every third bound.The ball should be struck when on an angleof forty-five degrees, as seen in the illus-

tration. The arm should be at its fulllength when the blow is delivered, and thebody should be erect.

2. Strike the ball with your left hand,and after it has bounded on the disc threetimes meet it with the heel of the righthand, as though you were guarding a lefthand lead of an opponent. The strikercan occasionally vary this movement witha slight shift of position of his feet, fromright to left and from left to right. Ondelivering a blow, or having guarded withthe hands alternately, the left foot oughtto be in advance.

ALTERNATE RIGHT AND LEFT HAND BLOWS.

The next practise is the alternate rightand left hand blows. In striking theseyou must make a slight side step fromright to left and from left to right. Strikeout with the left hand, let the bull boundagainst the disc five times, make a quickside step to the left, so as to bring yourright arm nearly on a straight line withthe ball, then instantly spring to yourright and strike the ball with your left.Do this alternately until you do it well.In these movements your left foot shouldbe in advance of the right.

RIGHT AND LEFT HAND HOOKS.

The next to learn are the left and righthand swinging blows, commonly calledhooks. To strike these one must step alittle nearer to the ball. The arm shouldform right angles with the back of thehand upward, the wrist should be curvedslightly, so that the point of contact willbe the face of the fist. When startingthese blows at first the ball should boundagainst the disc five times, striking italternately with each hand until you cantime it well. When you have accomplishedthis, hit it after every second bound. Youshould swing the body freely with eachblow in a sort of swaying motion, so as toget all your power in the hitting. Youwill find these blows difficult at first, butwith a little practise they will become easy.

STRAIGHT JABS.

Strike the ball rapidly with the left andthen the right fist after every bound. Thebody should be erect and the feet shouldbe in the same line opposite each other.The ball should be struck in the centrewith the arms half extended, giving themabout seven or eight inches play. It isnecessary to be skilful with these jabs

56 How to Punch the Ball

because it enables one, if he loses controlof the ball when practising the differentblows, to bring the ball into line againwithout stopping, because one shouldnever take hold of the ball with the handsto steady it.

SHIFTS.

Strike the ball hard with your left hand,and before it makes its fifth bound on thedisc, side step quickly to the left with theleft foot forward, then strike the ballhard with your right hand, spring quicklyto the right with your right foot forward,so that your arm will be on a straight linewith the ball, and strike again with yourleft. Strike these blows alternately for atime, then you can strike the ball two orthree times with each hand before youchange positions. These blows if prac-tised will make, one very quick and shiftyon his legs, and also make one as cleverwith one hand as with the other, therebyenabling one to strike a blow while in anyposition.

THE FORWARD ROLLS.

These blows are delivered by holding theupper arm straight from the shoulderand the forearm at a right angle. Tostart, one should wind the hands aroundeach other, striking the ball after eachbound with the back of one hand and thenthe other, most of the motion coming fromthe forearm, the action being similar to adrummer playing a roll on a snare drum.When one gets the ball under good controlthe roll can be done by striking the ballwith the heel of the hand instead of theback. This slight twist of the arm bringsall the muscles of the forearm into play.This may be modified by striking the ballwith the inner edge of the hand.

THE BACK ROLL.

Stand with head and body thrown wellbackward and close to the ball; place thehands on the opposite side of the ball andbegin the roll by striking the ball towardyou with the back of the hand; this beingthe most difficult of the rolls, as it puts agreater strain on the back and arms.

LEFT AND RIGHT HAND FORWARD AND BACK

HAND SWINGS.

Stand sideways and strike the ball withyour left hand, the arm half extended asin a forward hook. The arms should bepartly bent and the point of contact thefirst knuckle. Strike the ball with a hook-

ing motion, and at its second bound onthe disc strike it with a backward swingwith the heel of the fist. In striking thisblow your wrist should form a slight back-ward curve. These blows have a greattendency to develop all of the muscles ofthe arm, chest, and back. One can shiftin these blows from left to right, asdescribed in the blows with the elbows.

I have frequently cautioned the use ofthe left hand first in this lesson, because999 men out of 1,000 naturally are righthanded, and will most always use the handwhich comes easiest; therefore, the lefthand needs more practise. In proper posi-tions the left foot should be forward ofthe right, which brings the left hand closerto the ball, and for that reason should beused more often than the right. A manis never a scientific boxer, or a good ballpuncher, if he does not train his left handand become acquainted with its use as withhis right. In boxing a clever left-handedman will, in nine cases out of ten, defeat aright-handed man, because his arm has ashorter distance to travel to reach themark aimed at; hence, as the ball is theonly substitute for boxing, I advise its useto start off with.

THE RIGHT AND LEFT HAND PIVOTS.

Start the ball by striking it with theleft hand once or twice; instantly pivotingaround on the ball of the left foot, swingthe body to the right, and at the same timeswing the right arm so as to meet the ballwith the heel of the right hand after theball has made its third bound. When thisblow is finished one’s back should be to theball. The pivot to the left is the same inmanner with the exception that the ball isstruck with the right hand before makingthe pivot, thus driving the ball in an oppo-site direction.

ELBOW BLOWS.

In striking these blows you should standsideways and close to the ball. Strike theball with the outside of the elbow. Instriking you should raise your arm, so thatthe elbow points upward, forming thecapital letter A. Strike with a forwardmovement of the arm, and as it. makes itssecond bound meet it with the inner sideof the elbow. The body should swing for-ward and backward with each blow. Theseare very pretty movements when donerapidly, giving a musical sound on the

A Shift.

Hooking with the Right.

Landing with the Right Pivot Blow.

Elbow Work on Double Motions.

The Forward Roll.

62 The Manufacture of New Breeds and Varieties of Poultry

disc, which inspires one to work and makesthe exercise a pleasure. If you start withthe left elbow your right foot should beforward. If with the right, the left shouldbe forward. The position can be reversed byswinging the body and simply pivoting onthe toes. One may lose his balance atfirst in shifting his position, but after alittle practise it will come easy.

DOUBLE MOTIONS OF HANDS AND ELBOWS.

Strike the ball with your left hand on thesecond bound, meet it with the left elbow,and as it bounds strike it with your righthand, and as it bounds back again strikeit with your right elbow. In these move-ments. you should stand close to the ball,your forearm being almost on a rightangle with the upper arm as directed inthe right and left hooks.

TRIPLE MOTIONS.

Strike the ball with your left hand. Instriking this blow the upper arm shouldbe extended straight from the shoulderand the forearm on a right angle from theupper arm, with the palm of the handdownward. Let the ball bound back to theleft, and meet it when it comes down withyour left elbow; when it bounds backagain strike it with the back of your lefthand or the wrist, and as it reboundsstrike it with your right hand; let it boundover to your right, and as it comes down

meet it with your right elbow, then withthe back of the right hand. Your bodyshould swing gracefully from side to sidewith the ball when striking it with eitherhand or elbow, and your hand should betightly clenched, as it enables you to givea quicker and harder blow.

QUADRUPLE MOTIONS.

The triple being learned, all that is nec-essary for you to do in striking this blowis to add another movement, which is bybringing into use the other elbow. Afterhaving struck the triple, you then strikethe ball with the elbow, bringing the armforward with the elbow pointing upward,so that the arm will form the shape of acapital letter A. This movement is one ofthe hardest to learn, as it requires greatrapidity of motion to bring the elbow intoplay, but it is very pretty when doneskilfully.

It is well nigh impossible to convey byverbal directions an adequate knowledgeof ball punching, as, like most fine arts,the details and refinements are almost asimpor t an t a s the p r inc ip l e s . I haveendeavored to describe the latter andreduce them to an intelligible form. Theywill at least tend to introduce to theattention one of the most advantageousforms of athletic exercises, which trainsthe eye, the body, the feet, and the arms.

T H E M A N U F A C T U R E O F N E W B R E E D S

A N D V A R I E T I E S O F P O U L T R Y

By H. S.

THE last quarter of the nineteenthcentury saw the appearance Ofmany new breeds and varieties of

fowls. The fanciers of the United Statesand England were especially active insuch production, and the list of these new,or comparatively new, breeds and varietiesis formidable. This activity was awak-ened through a recognition of the greatvalue of poultry products, and was furtherstimulated by the increasing number of

BABCOCK

poultry exhibitions. The knowledge thatthe production of new fowls increased,directly and indirectly, the poultry sup-plies of the world; that these suppliesadded to the wealth of the several nationsengaged in their production; that thegreatest profits were to be derived fromimproved breeds and varieties; and thatthe promise of such improved breeds andvarieties lay in the manufacture of new,rather than in the development of the old