Coaching and Care of Athletes

THE HIGH JUMP foundation of the natural 'Scissors' jump form, in which the athlete takes off from the foot farther from the bar and lands upon the other foot, was improved upon by such athletes as Brooks and Byrd-Page, and stabilized as a definite technique by Sweeney, who landed upon the foot from which he took off. Since Sweeney's time that form has been modified and improved by his successors; among whom I number B. Howard Baker, Great Britain, and the Americans Dick Landon (Plate XLI, Figs. I 25 and I 26) and George B. Spitz (Plate XLI, Fig. I24) as the best stylists. Baker did not have the advantage enjoyed by the two Americans oflearning good style while still a schoolboy. He held the English Northern Counties High Jump Championship without a break from I9I I, when he jumped 5 ft. 7 ins., until I922, in which year he "cleared 6ft. 3 ins. He won his first English Open Champion– ship in I9IO at 5 ft. Si ins., and cleared 6 ft. 3t ins. in I920 for the title, which he won for the last time in the next year at 6 ft. 2! ins. Defeated in the I920 Olympic Games by R. W. Landon, U.S.A., a frail 5 ft. 9 ins. athlete who cleared 6 ft. 4! ins., Baker took his revenge at the British Empire v. U.S.A. match, when he jumped 6 ft. 3i ins. to defeat his previous conqueror by I in. On June 25, I92 I, at Huddersfield, England, Baker cleared 6 ft. 5 ins., which remained the British all-corners' record until C. Johnson, U.S.A., jumped 6 ft. 7 ins. in London on August I5, I936. Baker's 6 ft. 5 ins. is still the unbroken English native record. Baker was a grand fellow in every way. He stood about 6 ft. 3 ins., and probably weighed over 13 stone. Apart from his athletic prowess, he represented England at water-polo and Association football, was a fine lawn-tennis player and cricketer, and was also a superb dancer, as was Dick Landon. George Spitz, a tall, lanky youth, was taught perfect style by his father in their small back-yard long before he appeared in open competition. On February 13, 1932, when jumping from a dirt take-off in Boston, U.S.A., he created a world's indoor high ju_mp record of 6 ft. Si ins., the best performance (up to the end of 1937) ever achieved in the Eastern Cut-off style ofhighjumping. The technique of these three great high jumpers was very similar, and has not been improved upon. Baker, bounding from leg to leg, approached the bar from a little to the left, and took off from the right foot. Spitz, jumping from the right foot, and Landon, jumping from the left, approached the bar more 345