Athletes in Action

.... ·~· .J• ....... _ .. .. _&&..&. ..... ,.....,. ~, ........ ~~' ~ ...... THE HIGH JU~IP. v\'ESTERN ROLL (3) TnE next thing the jumper has to do is to get position for the roll across the bar. It will have been observed from Fig. z that the right arm was doing more than the left to help raise the body to the level of the bar. This is both correct and natural, because the turning movement of the body had already started, thus causing the right arm, as the higher of the two limbs, to take and maintain precedence of upward-swing action. In getting position, as Osborn is seen doing in Fig. 3 on the opposite page, the inside (left) arm and the outside (right) leg begin to cross the bar together, and this they must do before the head begins to come over as well. It is important at this stage to have the head leaning a little towards the bar and not to let the right arm fly wildly up, or the balance ·will be disturbed and the timing thrown out of gear. Take care, too, that the trunk lean~ back as shown on the opposite page, and that the body is not cramped at the stomach. The left-leg \Vork at this stage of the jump is variable. The left (take-off) leg may either be bent at the knee, as shown on the opposite page, or it may be straightened out along the line of the cross-bar. The pitching back of the body, as an entire unit, as seen opposite, is especially recom- mended on account of the fact that fully 90 per cent of novices spoil their initial efforts to execute the vVestern Roll through nervousness, or a natural disinclination to get the body right down to a flat lay-out. The balance position of the right arm, bent at the elbow, is particularly worthy of note. .... N \.rt