Athletics of To-Day 1929

Athletics of To-day himself the best of the British competitors by clearing 6 ft . rB ins., beating C. E. S. Gordon, C. T. Van Geyzel, and G. Turner, who had won the N.C.A.A. Championship at 6 ft. At the British Empire v. U.S.A. Match on August rrth, rgz8, Sim– mons and Gordon both cleared 6 ft. We come now to the question of styles. The old, natural "scissors" style is bad, because it lifts the heavy head and shoulders at least a foot and a half above the centre of gravity, with which they should be level in transit over the bar. It contravenes also the modern axiom that a high jumper should always land upon the same foot from which he took off. The "Western Roll" (Plate 24) is, I believe, the most perfect form of jumping yet discovered, because it is the one that conforms most nearly to the mechanical principles upon which the theory of high jumping is ba ed, in that the athlete jumping in this style gets a more complete (t lay out" than in any other and actually employs le s foot-pounds of work in achieving his object, because hi take-off and landing are closer to the bar than in other forms; and, his body being parallel to the bar in transit, he occupie less time in passing over than he would do if he effected the clearance with his body at right-angles to the bar, as do the tt weeney" and" Eastern Cut Off" jumpers. In addition, the whol jump is continuous and smooth, whereas the other forms call for great concentration upon the timing and carrying out of the piv tal mov ment, or ((hitch-kick." It is, in the final i sue, a simpl form, and that, aft r all, houJd be the determining factor in assessing the value of any tyl . I would h re pau e to ugg st that the high jump r should work to diagram and chart , just as th di tanc man trains to a time schedule. Thi can of course b the more asily done if the take-off is from cind r . The sketches accompanying this chapter illustrate the type of diagram that immons and I used when we were building up his styl . ig. I3 shows m rely th thr e standard typ s of approach run. It is important, in training, to mark out your pr per approach run with a line scratched on cind rs or a white-wash line on grass. Get a friend to keep an eye on you and with him