Athletics of To-Day 1929

Athletics of To-day entirely upon the muscles of the arm, but is transmitted down that limb by a jerk, which is caused by the sudden checking of the body and shoulders as the left foot is planted and the left leg is stiffened in the final throwing position. This action may be compared to that of a huntsman cracking his whirling whip, the power travelling from the checked hunting crop along the thong and exploding in the thin whip-cord lash. In both cases it is concentration of energy which produces the jerk which causes the whip to crack and the javelin to depart. The javelin thrower's approach run and transition arm swing compare to the huntsman swinging his whip round his head, and the check which causes the jerk is introduced at the exact instant when he reaches his throwing line. Smoothness of action has been given as an ideal to aim at, but there must be 11 jerk'' also, for no human muscles could produce without it anything like the velocity with which the javelin is projected. During the final throwing effort some part of the arm is travelling at only a little less than the throwing velocity, which is actually attained by the hand (whip-cord in theory) at the instant the javelin is released by the fingers. To get a successful throw every movement must fit into the next one; the javelin must be released at exactly the right second, and the jerk must be concentrated at precisely the proper point-and that point is at arm's length directly above the right shoulder. At this stage the muscles and nerves are co-ordinating to thousandths of a second. The speed is too rapid, I believe, for mental control. The process, and the success, is one of muscular remembrance, and the ability of the nervous system to recollect and repeat the sensations it has received from the muscles during the training period. Discipline and drill have been at the back of most epic stands recorded in military history. The soldiers who made them had learned to force heart and nerve and sinew to serve their end long after they were gone-if one may paraphrase Kipling. In the same way the athlete can, by long practice (slow at first but increasing in speed as fitness comes and skill is developed) in performing and co-ordinating his movements, so impress the actions upon