Why? The Science of Athletics

MECHANICS AND LEVERAGE 293 action, but there is a danger of tearing of fibres and muscle attachments and also some loss of accuracy. Class III Levers Explained levers, upon the other hand, although they have the least mechanical advantage, make for great accuracy, and though slow are . safe -and not damaging to bones or tendons. Perhaps that is why the majority of our body levers belong to Class Ill. Many of the matters dealt with in this Mechanics of chapter have formed subjects for extensive Starting scientific athletic research. One of the fore- most scientists in this connection is T. K. Cureton, Professor of Applied Physics and Body Mechanics at Springfield CoHege, Mass., U.S.A., and he it is who has recently summarized his own and the experiments and conclusions of a number of other researchers. Where running is concerned, and especially sprint running, a major consideration is that of finding a means of lessening the initial time lag of approximately one second which occurs at the start of a sprint race, when the athlete is confronted with the difficult task of over– coming inertia. The first real attempt to solve this problem was made at the Rockaway Hunt Club Sports at Cedarhurst, Long Island, New York, on May 12th, r888, when C. H. Sherrill, of Yale, introduced the crouch start for the first time. More recently the introduction of starting blocks has provided a controversial issue in the search for a speedier start. These blocks were invented by G. D. Bresnahan, Coach at the State University of Iowa, in 1927. The advantage they are said to give the athlete is equal on the average to just one foot. Apart, however, from mechanical aids, starting efficiency calls for fast reaction and perfectly timed and regulated movements of a forceful nature, which must be directed in the proper manner. H. Nakamura, the Japanese scientist, in An Experi– mental Study of Reaction Time in Starting Races, tells us