Athletics

JUMPING. 89 also necessary in this case to wear shoes withspikes in the heel. Practice shouldbegin at least three orfour weeks before the competition, and should be indulged in daily. As a rule, four or five jumps per diem are enough. Long- jumping is perhaps the most jarring of all sports, and the man who regularly jumps a dozen or more times in suc­ cession is almost certain to make himself stale, if he does not place himself entirely hors de combat by straining a muscle. The length of run up to the jump is a matterof taste. Forty yardswill generally befound a convenient distance. The run must at any rate be long enough to bring the jumper up to the take-off at the top of his speed. The take-off should consist of a piece of wood, painted white, some two inches wide and two or three inches deep, fixed in the ground flushwith the surface. The ground must be hollowed out beyond it. If the run is on grass, the grass must be closely cut, or it will be impossible to see theboard clearly. To do himself justice, a man must learn to come up to the jump at full speed, and take off with the ball of his foot on the board. If a mark is substituted for the board, he must take off immediately before it. Perhaps the best way to insure anaccurate take-offis to make a mark where one starts for one's run the first time, and alter it a little backwards or forwards, as the casemay be, until an exact take-off is acquired. After that one must always start off the same footfrom the same place, and also remember to step off the distance, so as to know where to start from on a strangeground. Whatever you do, don't changeyour feet or shorten your stride if you fancy you are going to take off on the wrong