McLean Youth Athletics

Information sheet – Long Jump

This information sheet outlines some changes to Long Jump procedures for Spring 2006 track meets. It re-states the main rules associated with the event, provides some safety tips and offers some suggestions for improved jumping.

1. House track meet changes from prior seasons

This season we will aim to have two long jump pits running simultaneously. Athletes aged 8 and below will use the pit closest to the finish line; athletes 9 and above will use the pit closest to the back straight. This should reduce waiting times for athletes and provide greater opportunities for officials to provide guidance/advice/feedback. We’re expecting that this will contribute to better results and greater consistency for athletes. Of course, we will need a critical mass of parent volunteers to make this work. If we do not have enough adults to maintain good order and safety, we will go with a single pit.

This season tape measures will be set up along the run-up approach to the pits. This will assist jumpers in determining a starting point for run ups, and hopefully contribute to greater consistency and longer jumps. For the younger group, we plan to use our colored traffic cones to give them visual clues on where they might wish to start. Our coaches’ cues might be “start with your right foot at the blue cone” or “start with your left foot between the yellow cone and the red cone” or the like. The older participants can use the tape measure to track appropriate starting points.

Beginning this season, we will measure jumps in meters and centimeters, which reflects the measuring system in place in Junior Olympics. We round down to the nearest centimetre. This method will provide a more accurate reading of jumps when compared to feet and inches (and rounding back to the nearest inch, as we have done in previous seasons).

2. General rules for house track meets

• Each competitor 9 and older has one run-through and three jumps during the competition period. If they are taking a run-through during the competition period, they MUST let the official know prior to the start of their run-through.
• Each competitor 8 and younger has three jumps during the competition period.
• If a competitor wishes to have more run-throughs, they should come to the meet early enough to warm up and do those practice runs before the meet starts.
• All three will be measured (excepting fouls).
• A foul will be called when an athlete oversteps onto the red tape (or closer to the pit) during take off.
• A foul will be counted as one of that competitor’s three jumps.
• In circumstances where a competitors’ three jumps all result in “fouls”, that competitor may continue to jump until he/she records a legal jump.

Remember – after a jump, an athlete cannot walk back through the landing area, they should concentrate on walking forwards out of the pit after landing. Jumps are marked from the point the athlete touches in the sand - closest to the take-off board. If they walk back through the pit, they are reducing their mark. So, please get into the habit of jumping, landing, and walking straight out the back of the pit.

3. Safety

• Extreme caution should be taken around the run up approach to the long jump pits. (Athletes usually don’t cross the track near the start of a 100m sprint – but it’s amazing how often they cross a long jump approach!).
• Competitors should take care around long jump pits, and be especially vigilant of the tools used by officials, such as rakes and shovels.
• Athletes should not start their approach run until the official in charge of the pit signals them to do so.
• If there is a construction cone in the middle of the runway near the take-off boards, the pit is closed, and athletes are not permitted to use it.

4. Common areas for improvement

• Some young athletes simply don’t run fast on approach! The run up to long jump should be viewed in a similar light to the initial stages of a 100m sprint.
• Many young athletes simply run too far on approach. (This point is closely related to the first – often young athletes start off by running quickly but run so far on approach they have little speed at take off). A long jump approach for young athletes should normally be in the eleven to eighteen stride range.
• Often young athletes don’t carry momentum forward in the pit. Officials will mark the landing imprint closest to take off, and measure back to the intersection of the red foul line and (legal) white line. The imprint may be made by any part of the body, including the hands or backside! Often young athletes lose valuable distance by rocking backwards (for example, onto their hands or backside) after their initial foot landing.
• It is important to remember that our littlest ones do this for the sheer joy of jumping into sand and not being scolded about getting their socks full of it. If they are not ready for more intensive coaching, we won’t push them to it.

5. Other tips

• Athletes should be clear on which foot they prefer to take off from. In many cases, this will be their weaker (non-preferred) foot. Taking off in this manner allows the stronger “preferred” leg to drive high into the air. Experimentation is a fine thing, especially early in the season, but if your child is very interested in jumping well, it would be a good thing for them to be consistent in their approach relatively early in the season so that they can start to fine-tune their starting point.
• It is important to be consistent on the speed of the run and stride-length. A tired runner has a different approach from one who is not tired, and their starting point will need to be adjusted accordingly.
• More advanced athletes will perform “run throughs”, which are solely for the purpose of seeing how close they are to their mark.
• Athletes should concentrate not only on jumping “out”, but also “up” – height contributes greatly to the length of the jump.
• We are a youth track club – when all is said and done, and the littlest ones are building sand castles in the pit, please help them keep the sand IN the pit, and smooth things out when they are finished.