Coaching and Care of Athletes

COACHING AND CARE OF ATHLETES with javelin or discus. Practise hand-stands, walking on the hands , and rope-climbing. Tuesday. 5 mins. of exercises. Stride an easy 220 yds. Two vaults at quarter effort for swing-up. Four vaults at half effort to correct faults. Two vaults at half effort for foot-height and body-turn. Two vaults at half effort, waiting to pull until hips are higher than shoulders. Stride roo yds. twice. Press-ups and pull-ups. Wednesday. r to 2 hours' work in the gymnasium, especially rope– climbing. Massage. Thursday. Limber up as usual. Two vaults at quarter effort for swing. Three vaults at full effort for correction of faults. Two vaults at half effort, waiting to pull until hips are higher than shoulders and concentrating on body-turn and push-up. Sprint 70 yds. at nine-tenths effort. Press-ups and pull-ups. Friday. Rest. Massage. Saturday. Limber up as usual. Take vaulting trial as follows: If athlete's best height is ro ft. start him at 8 ft. (quarter effort), and continue at 8 ft. 6 ins., 9 ft. (half effort), 9 ft. 4 ins., 9 ft. 7 ins. (three-quarter effort), 9ft. ro ins., and roft. 2 ins. (full effort plus 2 ins.). Let him try each height once, whether he fails at it or not. In com– petition he is allowed three vaults at each height if he needs them; but get his mind accustorned to the _idea of one vault and one clearance at each height. This is important, since, under the new rule for decid– ing ties, the man wins who (a) takes the least number of jumps at the tying height, (b) who has the least number of failures throughout the competition, or (c) who has the least number of vaults (whether successful or not) throughout the whole competition. If the tie still remains for first place the men tying have one more jump at the height at which they failed, and if no decision is reached the bar is raised or lowered, with one jump at each height, until the tie is decided. EARLY-SEASON TRAINING In early-season training, which should last for one month, many coaches advocate a good deal ofvaulting for swing- and pull– up without the crossbar being in place. I am opposed to the principle, because I think it leads to careless vaulting, and has a tendency to make the athlete 'bar-shy' when called upon to vault over a crossbar. Each day's work should start with the limbering-up process which has proved most suitable to the individual athlete. Each day the athlete should do some rope-climbing with the hands alone and some press-ups and pull-ups, and three days a week 338