Success in Athletics and how to obtain it

82 SUCCESS IN ATHLETICS his speed, the more units 'Of impulse he will have at his command to put into the jump. Therefore it will be seen that the long-jumper must take a modified form of training, such as that pre– scribed for the 100 . yards runner. He must also be sure that his legs are absolutely fit before he imposes upon them the strain of jumping, which is probably greater in this event than in any other, excepting the hop, step, and jurrip. After the completion of the gymnasium and track training, the jumper. comes to the pit to learn the proper method of carrying out the jump itself. First he must learn, by means of preliminary runs without a jump, the exact number of steps which will take him up to the board when travelling at full- speed; the distances run must then be carefully measured and noted for future reference. But this measurement is only to serve as a guide, for the jumper will find that the dis.tance run is governed by his striding, which varies with his form, the state of the path (no two paths are alike), and the atmospheric conditions. Therefore, whether going out for competition or practice, the athlete must always take a preliminary run to make sure that he will get fairly on to the board for the take-off. One of the finest long-jumpers in the world will, in all probability, never jump again, just because he did not realise that the run-up on two different paths was different. It happened in this way. When W. R. Knox, chief Olympic coach to the English Amateur; Athletic Association subsequent to 1912, took over the Cana– dian-Olympic team in 1912, he saw C. D. Bricker(it will be remembered that Bricker was third in the 1908 Games with a leap of 23ft. 3 in.). Knox at once