Page:Lacrosse- The National Game of Canada (New Edition).djvu/164

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144
CATCHING, AND CARRYING THE BALL.

Whether you catch with one hand or two grasping the crosse, is a matter of choice; but though any catch may be commenced with the ordinary grasp of carrying, it is safer to let every catch terminate with the two hands on the crosse, in case you are obliged to throw.

A ball, accidentally caught under the arms, should never be touched by the hand, nor carried there. Avoid the very appearance of unfair play.

Carrying.—Before the laws were made, the fashionable thing was to have a bag of various degrees of depth, at the lower angle, in which it was also fashionable to carry the ball. Of course the bag facilitated carrying very much, and the deepest bag had the best chance. Now, the lower angle is the riskiest place for carrying, unless the leading strings are large and protective. When running, the safest place to carry is on the centre surface, because you can there control the ball better, and are always ready for an effective one-hand throw. If you carry on the lower angle, you have little control of the ball if your stick is struck by a checker; if on the extreme top surface you cannot recover quick, if hard hit, unless you have