The Savannah morning news. (Savannah, Ga.) 1900-current, 1903-07-05

OF all the exercises and pastimes of
the world there is none that is so per-
feet for the development OF swiftness,
endurance, springiness and the making
of muscle throughout the whole body,
from the heels to the back of neck, as
boxing.
Parents often object to boxing, be-
cause its practice leads to a certain
amount of brutality in many cases. In
this they are quite right. The boy who
is malicious or revengeful finds tempt
ing opportunity for satisfying those
feelings in a boxing match.
But boxing, If carried on under prop
er supervision, and after making a
square and clean agreement between
the boys, can be made the finest of all
most all forms of athletics, with less
cause for rousing angry feelings than
! even baseball.
Let the boys understand, first of ALL
that the object of friendly boxing is
not to punch" the other fellow. The
boy who aims only to slug and hurt"
his opponent should be debarred at
once from further participation.
3 This is not so much to save the 9TH
ers from being hurt. Everybody likes
a boy manly enough not to be afraid
of little hurt. But the boy who
boxes with his friends and wants to
hurt them isn't a fit person to assoc
ciate with clean-minded decent and
manly lads.
Every good boxer must be able to
strike a hard, swift blow. But the
way to develop that one particular abil-
ity is by punching a lively, air-filled
bag, and not by punching a friend.
Remember, too, that in ten cases out
of eleven, when two boys are going
at each other hammer and tongs they
are doing very little boxing. They are
just mauling one another, and under
those circumstances the chances are
that any boy, without knowing any
thing except a little about common, or
I binary rough-and- tumble fighting,
could do just as well as they can, for
they are not using any of the science
of boxing.
Boxing really is a science. The fact
that so many professional pugilists call
themselves professors" and prate of
the scientific manly art has caused
lots Of cultured persons to view the
Science" of boxing with contempt.
But it is science, and it was founded
in science by the Greeks, who based
their athletic sports on strictly scien-
tific grounds.
The striking of the blow is only the
smallest part of real boxing. The boy
who hopes to become a good boxer
must learn whole multitude of things
before he thinks of using his hands.
Many instructors in boxing begin al
once with teaching the pupil how tc
hold his hands and arms, ready tc
parry and strike. And to be sure, nc
person could become a boxer without
learning this. But. in the end every
skillful boxer must hold his hands in
the manner best suited to his temper
ament and build, just as every good
shot must have his gun hung and fit-
ted to suit his particular need.
The true beginning of boxing is in
the foot. There is the very first, the
vital element that makes for success
or failure. Learn to stand right and
you will have made a vast advance in
the road to becoming good, clean,
pretty" and able boxer.
To practice this first step in boxing
it is not necessary for a boy to con-
front another boy. He can get pretty
near to perfecting himself in 1t alone
The first great thing to acquire is
a perfect balance. This power of bal
ancing must be so complete that even
if you were to be showed or hit with
great force you could retain your
command over your body like a steel
spring.
Stand with your arms hanging down
by your sides loosely, so that they
will not help you in the lest in bal
ancing yourself.
Set your left foot as far ahead OF
your body in a perfectly straight line
as you can make 1t go. Do it just as
if you were taking a very, very long
step.
If you have made a good long stride
you will find that your body is resting
largely on the ball of the toe Of the
right foot. Look and see that this
right foot is turned out slightly-not
in an exaggerated way, but just
enough, as a person would do in walk
ing If he is not pigeon-toed.
Now, without bracing your arms
swing and rock yourself. forwards and
backwards and sideways. You will
find that it is not easy to keep bal
anced. You will feel 1t necessary to
shift your feet often to prevent your
self from topping. Well, until you can
swing like spring in all directions
without lifting the ball of that right
toe from the spot where it is planted
you are not ready to bother about
boxing with your hands. You have
not learned to box with your feet.