semmelweis university - Faculty of Physical Education and Sport ...

SOCIAL SCIENCES AND KYNESIOLOGY & SPORTMEDICINE PHD SECTION
Norbert Kovács - Levente Vágó
Semmelweis University, Faculty of P.E. and Sport Sciences (TF), Budapest, Hungary
Supervisor: Dr. Katalin Keresztesi, associate profesor
Importance of Running Speed, Jumping Ability and the Jumped Result in Long Jump
Introduction: Long jump is one of the most popular Track and Field Event for university
students.
It is relatively simple event and do not need too many implements, just a runway and a
suitable long and wide sandpit needs for practice.
The approach speed and its correlation with the jumping result was one of the most important
issues of the studies on different track and field jumping events. The first published
measurement of the approach speed was made in 1960, which opened a new dimension to
find the importance of speed in jumps.
The results showed that there is a high correlation between the approach speed and the
jumped result among top level athletes. For example, if the approach speed improves with 1
m/s, it can result in a 0.9-1 m improvement in jumping length for top level athletes. Many
times we have found very high linear correlation between approach speeds and jumping
results.
Of course we know that success in this event is many sided. Approach speed is an important
factor, but it is also possible to improve performances without increasing approach speed.
Improvement in takeoff techniques and landing techniques as well as strength development of
the trunk and leg muscles can lead to increased jumping length too.
Methods: Eighty-two well-trained physical education university students (40 women and 42
men) participated in an eight-week/eight-lesson unit on long jumping. None of the subjects
had too much previous experience in this event, but all of them were proficient in relevant
track and field and gymnastic skills. During the lessons they participated in traditional
learning drills, followed by commonly accepted step by step elongated approach (4-6-8-10-12
running strides) jump attempts, and finally, a 12 stride approach long jump competition.
Besides registering their jumping results, a questionnaire was administer in order to find out
the subjects' opinion about the relationships between their learning progression and initial
motor skills in track and field.
Results: By the end of the eight weeks the women's averaged improved 0,30 m, men's
average improvement was 0,26 m. We detected very high correlation among females between
60 m and long jump (0,8), but for males correlation was small (0,23). Fifty percent of the
subjects indicated that their former sprint experience had the greatest positive inter task
transfer on their learning progression.
The standing long jump was named as the most important even by 38.9% of subjects. The rest
was named the high jump or did not give any answered. In addition, 83.3% of the subjects
appointed jumping ability to be more important than running speed. The majority of the
subjects (60.5%) felt the 12 strides as the most effective length for their approach, while
others (21.9% and 15.4%) preferred 10 and 8 strides, respectively.
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