Page:Lacrosse- The National Game of Canada (New Edition).djvu/221

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198
FIELDING.

and though guided by a captain, no captain can supersede individual judgment, nor obviate the necessity for every man keepii:g both his eyes open, for the advantages to be gained, and the defence to be guarded, in the wavering fortunes of the game.

The eight fielders should be expert in every part of the game; especially quick, accurate and en- during. As a first principle, they should play te each other, and to the more fixed points, and avoid the temptation for long wild throwing. Time was when men could play a showy game, and establish a reputation for superiority: now there are too many practical critics; Lacrosse is better under- stood, and a player who comparatively ignores the rest of his side, is put down as more vain than sagacious. There is a time to throw, and a time to dodge; a time to advance and a time to retire; and the perfection of fielding is to do all this neither too soon nor too late.

Playing to each other, or “tacking” the ball, is the characteristic of Indian play; and not until it was imitated by the pale-faces, did the latter show any chances of defeating the red-skin. Fielding degene-