Athletics of To-Day 1929

The Hop, Step, and Jump 223 without striving to reach out too far with his legs. At each landing the heel must strike the ground first, whence the momentum passes forward, with an cc ankling" movement, to the ball of the foot, the next impulse coming finally from the toes themselves. The run-up and take-off for the hop are, in all particulars, exactly as described in the preceding chapter for the long jump. The hop, however, must not be made too high, since one has to land on the heel of the same foot from which the spring was made, and the knee will go if one comes down too heavily and from too great a height. The step abides more closely by its name. If it is made too much of a jump the athlete will overreach himself and have nothing left for the final jump effort. The step should not be too high, nor at the full range one might reach if it were the final effort. A glance at the ac– companying sketch, Fig. 20, will show that after the step has commenced the take-off leg and the whole corresponding side of the body are allowed to sag, or "hang," while the shoulders are kept square to the front. This trailing of the back (take-off) leg is accomplished by an easy side-ways FIG. :zo. relaxation of the abdomen, but it calls for considerable muscle control and can be achieved only after much painstaking practice. The jump, which is the last of the three actions, calls for an t( all-out" effort. Every ounce of determination and conserved energy should go into the attempt to get a collected take-off with a proper forward body-lean (as shown in No. I, Plate 28), followed by a flight at an angle of 45° to the highest point of elevation (as shown in No. I, Plate 3I, Mikio Oda, Japan, present Olympic champion). The details of the jump phase of the hop, step, and jump may be learned from hapter XVI (The Long Jump), and if the cc hitch kick " can be introduced so much the better. If you are accustomed to taking-off from the right foot for an ordinary long jump try making the hop from the right foot, land on th right foot again, and make the step forward on to