Coaching and Care of Athletes

COACHING AND CARE OF ATHLETES . mentioned provides no sort of guide to an ideal physical make– up for the long jumper. Newburn was·a huge man both in height and bulk, and a fine slinger of the 56-lb. weight; O'Connor and Long conform to the tall, thin antelope order of athlete; Nambu is a tiny little fellow; while De Hart Hubbard, Gourdin, and Owens are of the pure modern sprinting type and very fast, with Owens the beau ideal of physical perfection, as shown in Plate XLIV, Fig. 133, in which he stands relaxed while he watches the Olympic long jump pit at Berlin being raked over after his winning Olympic record leap. The broad jump is perhaps the most simple of all field events in technique, and yet it is the most troublesome to teach, probably because it is so essentially a speed event, and the athletes them– selves will persist in trying to get out, instead of up. The speed of the run should take car:e of the distance, and the athlete should take care of the height, because it is impossible to jump far if one does not jump high. The fundamentals of this event are (a) controlled speed in the run-up; (b) correct take-off, as shown in Plate XLV, Fig. r 34, by H. S. Etheridge, Yale, U.S.A.; and (c) action in the air, which may comprise (i) a sail, or coast, with the knees well drawn up, as shown in Plate XLV, Fig. 135, by Etheridge and in Plate XLV, Fig. 136, by S. Richardson, a Canadian negro, or (ii) runRing– in-the-air movements, as shown in Plate XLVI, Fig. 138, by Jesse Owens. The disadvantage of the 'sail' style is the strong tendency it induces in the athlete to drop his hips by raising both knees, as Richardson is doing in Plate XLV, Fig. 136. On the other hand, there is no mysterious explosive force produced once the jumper is . off the ground that will lengthen his jump if he uses the running-in-the-air action. Such action serves merely t() pre– serve the rhythm ofthe jump. It is of obvious advantage, however, since it is in this style that all records of ov~r 25 ft. have been made. Other fundamental principles to be remembered are that speed in the run-up is all-important, and that the last four strides should be of equal length, with the actual jump a secondary consideration. At the take-off, which wust be made lightly and not with a foot-stamp, the body must be upright-i.e., with the centre of gravity properly disposed over the take-off foot, as shown in. Plate XLV, Fig. 134.