Coaching and Care of Athletes

COACHING AND CARE OF ATHLETES Asked, after Meadows and he had vaulted 14 ft. I I ins., to state his opinion as to probable performances at the next Olympic Games, Bill Sefton said, with thoughtful succinctness, "I guess the boys'll need longer sticks at Tokyo." By which one assumed that Sefton was hinting that a higher hand-hold on the pole will be necessary if men are to vault over I5 ft. Now the utmost lift a man can get above his hand-hold is about 20 ins. Think of the length of the pole to be carried, bal– anced, and controlled in front of his hands during the run-up if the grip of an athlete's upper hand is to be established at r 3ft. 7 ins. (or 14 ft. 3 ins., since the 8 ins. depth of the slideway must be allowed for), with a view to clearing the bar at 15 ft. 3 ins. It is possible that by increasing the speed of the approach run and both the speed and the strength of the pull-up and fly-away a style may be perfected which will enable the athlete to continue his upward progress after he has released his hold upon the pole. The timing in that case would need to be radically changed, and the standards supporting the crossbar would have to be differently situated in relation to the slideway from the custom at present obtaining. What has been said so far represents no more than personal, and perhaps idle, speculation as to the future. None the less every one laughed at Sherrill when he first used the crouch start, but the merriment turned to amazement when he demonstrated that the new style gave him perhaps a 3 yds. advantage over his opponents out of the holes. · We may, by way of a start, divide the methods at present considered orthodox into two main headings, which are distin– guished from each other by the method the athlete employs in planting the pluggea end of his pole in the slideway. Prior to the invention and acceptance of the slideway the pole was planted with an overhand action, firstly to drive the spiked end into the ground, and later to plant the plugged end of the bamboo pole in "a hole not more than I ft. across" which was dug at the take-off. That rule remained in the A .A.A. Official Handbook for a gooc;l many years, even after the slideway was being used at the A.A.A. Open Championships. It now reads: "The wooden box in which to plant the pole shall be 3 ft. 4 ins. in length, 2 ft. in width at the front end, and tapering to 6 ins. at the stop-board, where it shall be 8 ins . in depth." This slideway is to be seen in use in Plate XXXIII, Fig. 94· 322