Success in Athletics and how to obtain it

Izo SUCCESS IN ATHLETICS negotiated for the take-off with remarkable accuracy and deftness. This innovation of a light, springy pole has added to the height of records in this event, imd has made it the most thrilling and fascinating of field competitions. In the old days a mere pole from a hop-field was considered sufficient to carry the user across a stream, ditch, or dyke. Then came the lance-wood pole, the ash or what not, with ring and cumbersome spike at the end, manufactured by the village blacksmith-a highly dangerous and unmanageable implement. It was dangerous in that, if there were- a flaw or imperfection in the wood, it would as likely as not break in an oblique manner, and the ·sharp point of the lower portion of the fractured pole has been known to penetrate the heart of the jumper, thus causing death. It was unmanageable and clumsy, because it was difficult to run up with a heavy instru– ment with little spring, and the weighty spiked end had to be tilted at a very obtuse angle with the ground. This form of pole had to be carried much closer to the middle than the summit, and con– sequently, when planted, the jumper had by hand– over-hand methods to climb the pole in the air for his best result. In those early days of · modern athletics there were no sand-pits or mattresses to land upon, and thus save jarring. One of the best exponents with the old appurte– nances of the sport was Sir Kenneth Kemp, who at St. Edmund's School, Canterbury, cleared I I feet. Of late years a rule has come into vogue to prevent the athlete climbing the pole, which rule has already been quoted. f 'I r