Coaching and Care of Athletes

COACHING AND CARE OF ATHLETES take-off foot, does not incline his trunk forward enough in the approach run, 'stutters' with his feet, instead of running smoothly, or crosses his feet during the last few strides. The worst fault that a high jumper can commit in the take– off is to lean back, forward, or to either side. The trunk must be upright,_ and the jumper's centre of gravity disposed over the foot from which he is taking off. An unbalanced arm-swing is bad. If the take-off is from the left foot the left arm goes up first to balance the foot-swing, or knee-lift, of the right leg, just as a man balances his gait in walking. Again, t.qe jumper may fail to effect clearance through not gathering and settling for the take-off in the last two approach strides, or may turn his toes in or out, or fail to take off with a directly forward action rock-up from the heel -to the toes. Some jumpers use too much knee-bend in the upward carriage of the knee of the free leg, but far more use too little. One of the worst faults a jumper can commit is that of kicking the free leg too high, thus becoming, as it were, 'anchored' to the ground with the take-off foot. It is a mistake also to delay the upward action of the take-off leg for too long after the take-off foot has left the ground. The main faults to look for in the take-off are too little concen– trated spring and too little strength, plus determination, in the swing of the legs and the action of the arms. In the clearance phase of both Eastern and Western styles the coach should see that the cross-swing and snap-up respectively of the take-off leg are fast enough. It is even more important that he should watch the athlete's under-hip (the left hip in the case of the man who springs from his left foot). In the Western style the under-hip may be raised by bending th~ head back and to the left (left-foot take-off) strongly and quickly. In the Eastern style the backward al\d downward sweep of the left leg and the completion of the body-turn raise the left (under) hip over the bar. A jump in the Eastern style is spoiled sometimes by the jumper knocking off the bar as he snatches his hands towards his stomach, instead of flinging his arms above his head. The training of high jumpers is a delicate business. Very few of them are of the tough fibre of M. J. Brooks (Plate X, Fig. 34), who played Rugby for England, or of the robust build ofHoward Baker and Harold M. Osborn. It is so easy to take the edge off a high jumper that one usually supplements his training with a 360