Instructions in All Kinds of Gymnastic Exercises (extract)

52 he must spring with the left foot, and vice versa. 4. The swinging upward is effected by the forceof the spring, the supportof thelower, and the pull of the upperhand; and principally by the propellingmotion causedby the quick preparatoryrun; which motion, being sud­ denly checked by the fixing of the pole, changesits horizontal direction into one of a slanting ascent, and carries the body of the leaper over the cord. At the same time, the leapermust observe this rule; viz. that the spring of the foot, and the point of the ground in which the pole is fixed, be in the directionof the preparatoryrun ; that is, the leaper must fix the pole exactly in front of the foot which makes the spring; by no meansto the right or left of it. 5. The turning of the body during the swinging upward, which has already been explained in the preparatory exercises, is necessary on many accounts. When the leaper is going to spring, he has his face turned towards the object of the leap, as in fig. 1, Plate VI.; but as his feet swing upward,his body must necessarilyturn round the pole; and, when they have passed over