Coaching and Care of Athletes

SPRINTING Abrahams, of Cambridge University and Great Britain, who in 1924 won the Olympic roo metres titler equalling the Olympic record for that distance. These men all stood over 6 ft . in height, and were proportionately well developed. They were not, perhaps, quite so fast off the mark as the smaller men, but made up in stride-length what they lacked in starting ability. Hutchens, mentioned earlier, had a stride of 7! ft. at top speed, while that of Abrahams was 7 ft. st ins. Big sprinters usually do the best part of their running in the second half of the roo yds. race. Midway between the tall and the intermediate athletes come men like Charlie Borah, of the University of Southern California, who was one of the finest furlong sprinters the world has ever seen. Such men average about 5 ft. 9 ins. in height, and are of the striding type; but, b~ing under 6 ft., they show a faster reaction time at the start. As I have said, style is as important to the sprinter as technique to the field-events man. None the less there are a number of styles in sprinting and several permissible ways of running the race. It will be.the duty of the coach to decide which style each of his sprinters is going to adopt, in accordance with the physical attributes of the inan in question. Dr Gerald H. Ayres, of Beverly Hills High School, California, who has been chief coach to the Indian Olympic team and the Indian team for the British Empire Games, recommends that the starting-holes be dug approximately 6 ins. deep, and in such a position that the knee of the back leg is opposite the ball of the other foot. In the "On your marks" position the thigh of the back leg is vertical, and the hands are directly below the shoulders. Dr Ayres recommends that in the "Get set" position the back of the runner should be parallel to the ground, with his eyes centred on a point some ro yds. ahead. He is of the opinion that the runner should push off with both feet simultaneously at the cr~ck of the starter's gun. He teaches his sprinters to devote the first five strides out of the holes to getting into their running, while the forward body-lean is accentuated and the feet jab the track with a hard drive. Then, after the ro yds. initial drive, he recommends a building-up process, to carry the sprinter over the next- go yds . During the build-up Ayres says that the mai!l effort is changed from driving the foot down to raising the knee quickly on each stride. The arm action changes at the same time from the rather jerky movement of the first five strides to a longer swing. Ayres M 177