Bucking a Wooden Football Line 



PITTING your shoulder to the 

 wheel of opposition and developing 

 strength and power from the strug- 

 gle is an ethical procedure in the gener- 

 ally accepted meaning of the words. 

 But football players have not only re- 

 duced the axiom to practise but have 

 e\'en manufactured a sturdy opponent 

 which is equal in weight and resistance 

 fa Seven human beings. 



Heavy oak planks ten feet long, one 

 foot wide and four inches thick are 

 put together in pairs and laid seven feet 

 apart, w'ith one end each rounded like 

 the runner of a sled. Cross-beams of 

 similar material are then fastened in 

 place until the whole resembles the 

 framework of a sled. Seven planks three 

 feet long and one wide are placed in an 

 upright position along the back of the 

 framework and braced by hea\^ tim- 

 bers to the cross beams. The uprights 

 are then hcavilj- tufted 



When all this is 

 done you have 

 a "buck 

 ing" ma- 

 chin e 

 that 



is used to train football players in the 

 gridiron sport. This apparatus is really 

 for the line men to use, and its weight 

 is approximately that of seven football 

 warriors who constitute the line of an 

 opposing eleven. Against the tufted 

 ui)rights seven players hurl themselves 

 with as much force as if a game were 

 actually on, and the sledge-like mechan- 

 ism is pushed over the turf sections of 

 the field. 



At the opening of the season, when the 

 players arc somewhat tender, the weight 

 of the apparatus is lessened. As the men 

 liecome hardened to the demands of the 

 sport, weight is increased b>' the addition 

 of several timbers and sometimes a 

 heavy stone. The '"bucker" has proven 

 a valuable aid to both trainers and 

 players. 



It has been found that the men 

 trained to it are prepared in consider- 

 ably less time than 

 would have 

 been requir- 

 ed with- 

 in "\ out its 



The weight of the apparatus is upproximately that of the seven men who constitute the 

 line of the opposing eleven. As the season advances the weight is gradually increased 



551 



