Why? The Science of Athletics

DIAGRAM AND DEDUCTIONAL CALCULATION 229 Simmons was taught to combine a slight lean of the trunk to the left with a very violent kick up of the fully straightened left leg, which, as will be seen from Fig. 53, Plate 14, was successful in getting his buttocks well up above the bar, which was at 5 ft. gi ins.. Needless to say, the arrival of the photograph in question was very pleasing. After that, we set about the business of building up some form of lay-out, without as yet even thinking of instituting the correct turning movement. Fig. 54, Plate A SANDPIT D r- -----------, 1 LEn-l'ooT I : E~ LA~DINIO 1\ I \ \ I I ' \ I " ' I : ', \ I I I I '-\I I I ,i...- --- -~~ L¥.J."f8f~ k- - - - - -- - _'IIIL - c FIG. 55 14, will show how Simmons gradually learned to tip his body further and further over to the left as it crossed the bar, thus getting the heavy head and trunk down to the level of his centre of gravity. By these means he succeeded, in April 1928, in estab– lishing the still unbroken Public Schools Championship record of 5 ft. I ot ins. Our objective then was to get his athletic education sufficiently far advanced for him to secure a place in the British Team for the Olympic Games at Amsterdam in August. It was clear to me that photographs would still be helpful, but I hit upon an almost purely geometrical method which was going to prove a surer guide. There– fore I prepared literally hundreds of small plans showing the lay-out of the jumping ground and the pit, as shown in Fig. 55· .