Athletics and Football (extract)

JUMPING, WEIGHT-PUTTING, ETC. 149 havinglearnt to take-off when going-at full speed ; but out of the scores of men who can cover 20 feet, only veryfew can reach 21 feet, and the man who can jump that extra foot is a good performer. Nearly all these good jumpers seem to attain the extra foot or more by the kick or jerk whichthey get from the back either at the moment of taking-off or in mid-air. , We have seen many jumpers in mid-air throw out their legs well in front of them with a jerk of the back, and alight a foot farther than the placewhere they seem bound to touch the ground. There is a good deal of art in knowing exactlyhow far the legs can be safely shot out, for if this be overdonethe jumperwillfall backwardsand lose his jump. In fact there is a great deal more skill in long jumping than is generally believed,and it is one of the competitions in which men showmost uncertain form, for the slightest attack of the nerves may prevent a man getting anything like a decent take­ off, or may make him forget his usual trick of throwing out his legs, causing him to skim along the ground, or jump too high in the air. Year after year sees men who have jumped 2i| or22 feet at Oxford or Cambridge, fail to reach much more than 20 feet at Lillie Bridge ; and there is little time to recoup a bad beginning, as at most each jumperdoes not have more than six tries. The long-jumper,like the sprinter, may be a man of almost any sizeor weight. He maybe a giant like Baddeleyor Uavin, or a little light-weight like E. J. Davies, a short middle-weight like the Irishman Lane, or a tall middle-weight like Lockton. All these, together with J. W. Parsons, of whom we have spoken beforeas a high-jumper, have probably been capable of clearing23 feet upon a good day, and yet it would be hard to say that as regards physique they presented any one quality in common. We have said that it was not until 1871, when Daviesand R. J. C. Mitchell tied for the championship with 20 ft. 4 in., that 20 feet was cleared at a championship meeting, and before Davies appeared on the scene only one Inter-'Varsity