Coaching and Care of Athletes

COACHING AND CARE OF ATHLETES The next experiment undertaken had a marked bearing upon the actual position of the athlete in relation to his starting-time. Three angles of elevation of the hips were chosen, and twenty– four trained sprinters made 500 starts for each angle of elevation for the hips. The resulting d-ata seem to prove that a high hip elevation yields a faster starting-time. The angles varied from 9° lower than the shoulders, which position an athlete would naturally assume when asked to keep his hips lower than the normal, the normal position itself, and the high position, in which some Of the athletes elevated their hips as much as 30° above their shoulders. The relation of foot-space to starting-time was also investigated iri three positions-i.e., the wide foot-spread, the medium foot– spread, and the famous 'Bullet Start.' Twenty-six trained sprinters took part in this experiment, and 832 starts were made from each position. As I shall be saying a good deal more about starting positions presently, it will suffice for the moment to remark that the Bullet Start yielded the best results, the medium– spread start was next in the order of selection, and the wide foot-spread start gave the worst results. A further experiment in starting from various positions called for the services of thirty trained sprinters, making 300 starts from each of the positions just mentioned. The purpose of this experiment was to find out the amount and distribution of the force exerted by the legs of the athlete in driving out of his holes. In the first place the sprinters were told to get an equal drive from both legs, regardless of the type of start they were using. It was then found, by means of a special measuring machine set up underneath the starting-blocks, that the force of the drive against the front block, or hole, was practically constant, regard– less of how the feet were spaced; that the force exerted against the rear block varied in direct relationship to the space between the feet. Actually the figures were I5 I lb. for the Bullet Start, Ig6 lb. for the medium start, and 208 lb. for the wide foot-spread start. A spacing of 20 ins. between the feet gave the best distribu– tion of the drive against the blocks, which was about equal to Igo lb. for the front foot and Ig6 lb. for the back foot. This experiment also produced subsidiary proof as to the value of the three starting positions (wide foot-spread, medium, and Bullet Start) spoken of in the previous experiment, because the Bullet Start yielded a total force against the blocks of 346lb., the medium start 386 lb., and the wide foot-spread start 404 .lb. 170