Just when I had thought I had brought us up-to-date on changing rules in sports, up pops the newest issue: the take-off board in the long jump. I spent many years as a kid trying to master this event and finally got pretty good at it in college with a jump of 22’ 6” ¾, six feet short of the world record :O). Now some coaches want to change the rules so that a person can take off wherever (within a designated area) they choose and have their jump measured from there to the spot where they landed.
Aside from the ensuing difficulty of knowing exactly where the jumping foot left the ground (foot print?) there are other, more “ethical” issues at stake here. When I was in junior high I was told by the best track coach in town to practice establishing a uniform stride so that I could be confident when I jumped from the standard take-off board that I would not “scratch”, namely step over the line. He recommended running the hurdles in order to establish this uniform stride. I followed his advice for several years all through high school and college.
As I progressed through both high school and college it was sad to see that about half the time the other jumpers would “scratch” and have half of their jumps disqualified. I must confess that over my high school and college years I only “fouled” by stepping over the edge of the jumping board about six times. Thus I “wasted” very few jumps and was able to make the most of my good jumps. When all the jumps have to be measured from the same given line the competition is standardized.
At the same time, if jumpers were allowed to take off from anywhere within a designated area, say of three feet in length, they would not have to worry about developing a uniform stride as well as jumping ability. Then the event would actually be determining purely the jumper’s jumping ability and not the ability to jump from a particular spot.
On the other hand, then we would have the problem of comparing the new accomplishments and records with those of the great jumpers, such as Jesse Owens and Carl Lewis. We would have to distinguish between “old rule-jumpers” records and “new rule” jumpers. The only parallel rule issue that I can see is that which arose when pole-vaulters were allowed to use bendable fiberglass poles. All the records would have to have an Asterix placed after them to indicate “before” and “after” the new rule came into effect. This has not been done with pole-vaulting records because of the introduction of fiberglass poles.
The fact is, of course, that we have managed to make these sorts of adjustments in respect to the pole vault poles, so perhaps we should do the same with those of the long jump. The skill set involved in the new, current even of pole-vaulting is quite a bit different from that of the former event. For this reason one could argue that we should keep the long jump as it is because it involves a more complex skill-set, namely jumping far and jumping from the same place as everyone else.
As a former jumper, I do feel that everyone jumping from the same spot adds a significant dimension to the long-jump event and I see no good reason for changing the rules about the take-off place. There are rules, for instance, to where the baton is passed in relay races and we would not think it cricket for one runner (the fastest) to run further than a teammate. One the other hand, shot putters have been allowed to spin around in their circle for years now, thanks to Perry O’Brien, without any problem, and javelin throwers still have to throw from behind a common line like old fashioned long jumpers.
Athletic rules change with the times for various reasons, like those of grammar, and we learn to change with them. I still prefer to spell some words eg. the word “bye” with an “e” to indicate “travel” (as in “Goodbye”) even though my computer tells me not to do so. So I have not yet learned to change with some of them. Thank goodness there are others cursed with such responsibilities. I guess I did not feel sorry for the poor blokes who kept fouling in the long jump. I was just thankful for my coach who told me to standardize my stride by running the hurdles. I even became a pretty good high hurdler in the bargain. The low hurdles were too far apart for me to keep up my waning speed in the 220 yard lows as I could in the 120 yard highs. Thankfully, I never hit a hurdle.
2 responses to “LONG JUMP RULES Just when I had thought I had brought us up-to-date on changing rules in sports, up pops the newest issue: the take-off board in the long jump. I spent many years as a kid trying to master this event and finally got pretty good at it in college with a jump of 22’ 6” ¾, six feet short of the world record :O). Now some coaches want to change the rules so that a person can take off wherever (within a designated area) they choose and have their jump measured from there to the spot where they landed. Aside from the ensuing difficulty of knowing exactly where the jumping foot left the ground (foot print?) there are other, more “ethical” issues at stake here. When I was in junior high I was told by the best track coach in town to practice establishing a uniform stride so that I could be confident when I jumped from the standard take-off board that I would not “scratch”, namely step over the line. He recommended running the hurdles in order to establish this uniform stride. I followed his advice for several years all through high school and college. As I progressed through both high school and college it was sad to see that about half the time the other jumpers would “scratch” and have half of their jumps disqualified. I must confess that over my high school and college years I only “fouled” by stepping over the edge of the jumping board about six times. Thus I “wasted” very few jumps and was able to make the most of my good jumps. When all the jumps have to be measured from the same given line the competition is standardized. At the same time, if jumpers were allowed to take off from anywhere within a designated area, say of three feet in length, they would not have to worry about developing a uniform stride as well as jumping ability. Then the event would actually be determining purely the jumper’s jumping ability and not the ability to jump from a particular spot. On the other hand, then we would have the problem of comparing the new accomplishments and records with those of the great jumpers, such as Jesse Owens and Carl Lewis. We would have to distinguish between “old rule-jumpers” records and “new rule” jumpers. The only parallel rule issue that I can see is that which arose when pole-vaulters were allowed to use bendable fiberglass poles. All the records would have to have an Asterix placed after them to indicate “before” and “after” the new rule came into effect. This has not been done with pole-vaulting records because of the introduction of fiberglass poles. The fact is, of course, that we have managed to make these sorts of adjustments in respect to the pole vault poles, so perhaps we should do the same with those of the long jump. The skill set involved in the new, current even of pole-vaulting is quite a bit different from that of the former event. For this reason one could argue that we should keep the long jump as it is because it involves a more complex skill-set, namely jumping far and jumping from the same place as everyone else. As a former jumper, I do feel that everyone jumping from the same spot adds a significant dimension to the long-jump event and I see no good reason for changing the rules about the take-off place. There are rules, for instance, to where the baton is passed in relay races and we would not think it cricket for one runner (the fastest) to run further than a teammate. One the other hand, shot putters have been allowed to spin around in their circle for years now, thanks to Perry O’Brien, without any problem, and javelin throwers still have to throw from behind a common line like old fashioned long jumpers. Athletic rules change with the times for various reasons, like those of grammar, and we learn to change with them. I still prefer to spell some words the word “bye” with an “e” to indicate “travel” (as in “Goodbye”) even though my computer tells me not to do so. So I have not yet learned to change with some of them. Thank goodness there are others cursed with such responsibilities. I guess I did not feel sorry for the poor blokes who kept fouling in the long jump. I was just thankful for my coach who told me to standardize my stride by running the hurdles. I even became a pretty good high hurdler in the bargain. The low hurdles weoo far apart for me to keep up my waning speed in the 220 yard lows as I could in the 120 yard highs. Thankfully, I never hit a hurdle.”
Seems like a strange rule change. Is the idea that there’d be longer
jumps if there was no worry about the take off place and that would make the sport more interesting? You proved you could follow the rule and still do your best, or could you have gotten some longer jumps under the new rule?
Equipment changes like fiber glass poles or aluminum bats seem different.
I’m interested in improved running shoes where everyone hoped they would get better, but now there’s a super shoe, very expensive, lasts through one marathon, that may help record holders set new records.
Yup – the idea is that if one doesn’t have to worry about where to jump off from they would jump better. I doubt it. Perhaps they should measure some “foul” jumps and see if they would have been the jumper’s better jumps. Aluminum bats work equally for everyone I should think, but bending pole vault poles are a plus for little guys (acrobats). Thanks for your thoughts, my friend :O) See you soon. Paz, jerry