"No one shall be eligible to compete in any athletic meeting, games or entertainment given or sanctioned by this Union, unless he shall be a duly registered athlete, a member of the or ganization from which he enters, and shall not have competed from any club in this Union during a period of three months next preceding such entry; nor shall any member of any club in this Union, or any club in any district in this Union be allowed to compete in case he has within one year competed as a member of any other club then in this Union, except with the consent of such other club, which consent shall be filed with the registration committee of his district prior to such competition unless such other club shall have disbanded or practically ceased to exist; provided that the requirements of this section shall not apply to any athletic meeting, games, or entertainment, the entries for which are confined to the club or organiza tion giving such meeting or entertainment.
°No athlete who has been released from a club which is a member of this Union, and who competes for another club directly thereafter, shall be allowed to compete again for the club he was released from for one year from the date of his release, except that the club has disbanded or ceased to exist.
°No person shall be eligible to compete for or enter any competition as a member of any club in the territory of any active member of this Union, unless he shall have resided within the territory of said active member at least four months previous to entering for competition; nor shall any person be eligible to enter or compete in any district championship meeting unless he shall have been a bona-fide resident of such district for at least six months prior to the holding of such championship meeting; and no person shall be eligible to compete in a championship meeting of more than one dis trict in one year. The restrictions contained in this section shall not affect the eligibility of an undergraduate connected with any allied college athletic organization who shall have been elected to membership in any club of this Union prior to 20 Nov. 1899, to represent such club as long as he remains an undergraduate; nor shall these restrictions apply to an undergraduate competing for any college belonging to an allied body.' The Amateur Athletic Union (A. A. U.) of the United States has jurisdiction over the fol lowing games or sports: Basketball, billiards, boxing, fencing, gymnastics, handball, hurdle, racing, jumping, lacrosse, pole vaulting, putting'the shot and throwing the discus, ham mer and weights, running, swimming, tugs of war, walking and wrestling. The Union con sists of the Metropolitan Association compris ing the States of New York, New jer sey, north of Trenton; the New Eng land Association, comprising Maine, New Hampshire. Vermont, Massachusetts, Rhode Island and Connecticut; the Atlantic Asso ciation, comprising New Jersey, south of and including Trenton, Delaware, Maryland, Pennsylvania, West Virginia, District of Co lumbia, Virginia, North Carolina and South Carolina; the Central Association, comprising Ohio, Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, Wisconsin, Iowa and Minnesota; the Pacific Association, comprising California, Arizona, Nevada and Utah; the Southern comprising Alabama, Louisiana, Florida, Mississippi, Texas, Georgia and Tennessee; the Western Associa tion, comprising Missouri, Wyoming, Arkansas, Oklahoma, South Dakota, North Dakota, In dian Territory, Kansas, Kentucky, New Mexico and Colorado; and the Pacific Northwest Asso ciation, comprising Idaho, Montana, Oregon, hands from a seven-foot circle, the hammer being swung around the head. Putting the shot
consists of throwing a 16-pound iron ball straight from the shoulder with one hand. Throwing the discus is somewhat similar; the discus, a flat, circular stone or piece of meal, weighing four pounds and seven ounces, is hurled from a nine-foot square.
The following table shows some of the prin cipal American Amateur Athletic records : Washington and Alaska. All its meetings are under the direction of games committee,D one referee, two or more inspectors, three judges at finish, three or more timekeepers, a starter, a clerk of the course, a scorer and a marshal; besides which all the conditions and restrictions for various events: the number of throws allowed, the size and area of prelim inary effort, as in shot-putting, etc., are subject to definitions from time to time promulgated, and imposed, by virtue of the authority of the A. A. U. in meeting assembled.
The Intercollegiate Association of Amateur Athletes of America is the governing body of intercollege athletics. Its championship must be won at the annual meeting. The events at outdoor field meetings, track and field athletics, as they are more closely defined, include the following: Flat racing, subdivided into sprint, middle distance and long-distance races. °Sprinting' signifies top speed running, up to 300 yards. cMiddle-distancep events are the half-mile, mile and two-mile race, longer stretches being 'gong distance." Hurdle racing, covering two events, the 120 yard and 220-yard hurdle race. The first is run over 10 flights of hurdles, 10 yards apart, the first being 15 yards from the start, each hurdle being three and a half feet in height. The 220-yard race is over 10 hurdles two and a half feet high, the conditions being otherwise the same.
Jumping, including the broad jump, the high jump and the pole vault. The first is a running jump from the edge of a plank sunk into the track, with a distance as the main object. The high jump is over a bar, with height as the main object. Vaulting is the same as high jump ing, except that the athlete has the assistance of a 14-foot pole.
Weight events, including throwing the ham mer, putting the shot and throwing the discus. In the first a 16-pound hammer with a four foot flexible wire handle is thrown with both See also AMATEUR; GYMNASTICS; EDUCA TIONAL ATHLETICS.
Bibliography.—Stonehange, 'Rural Sports' (illustrated edition) ; Cassell, 'Sports and Pastimes' (with 700 illustrations) ; 'Athletics' by various authors, in the