Why? The Science of Athletics

WHY?-THE SCIENCE OF ATHLETICS Twice, at least, I have come across curious cases of an athlete's performances being very materially affected by his eyesight. The first case was that of a would-be high jumper, who apparently had all the spring in the world, coupled with the most dour determination to succeed. It did not matter, however, how much · one tried to help that boy. You could put down check– marks and take-off spots as often as you liked, he would never hit them ; you could rig up all sorts of gadgets to help him to get the elevation of his centre of gravity at the right point in relation to the bar, but it did not make the slightest difference, he went bang into the lath every time, or else jumped so short that he came down right on top of it. At last, in desperation, I held my arm well up and told him to kick my palm. He missed it by nearly half a foot and the same thing happened time after - time. The ophthalmic surgeon to whom he went. subsequently very quickly prescribed the right sort of spectacles and that youth developed into an exceedingly fine high jumper. _ The other case was one of a man who had got his glasses from a "quack" who had fitted him for astigma– tism. The man was a long j"llmper, but h·e just could not get the take-off board, so he too went along to a qualified doctor, who diagnosed his trouble ·and prescribed glasses that corrected the fault in his vision to the great improvement of his athletic perfq_rmances. In the preceding chapter, dealing with facial expressions and their cause and meanings, reference was ~ade to the behaviour of the athlete's eyes according to prevailing . circumstances. We saw that violent effort causes a man_ to screw up, or even to close, his eyes; that breathlessness produces an entirely different expression with the eyes staring, and that fatigue, followed by exha1astion, pro– duces a drowsy effect, with the athlete experiencing difficulty in holding up his drooping lids. In this connection the only danger to the eyes comes through violent effort. As we know, the eye is set in a