Did everybody used to do the High Jump? (take 2)

[Than_Bogan]

All this recent discussion of foot forward caused several people to mention their High Jump plant foot. I had no clue so many skiers were (or maybe even are) high jumpers. So I thought I'd amuse myself by collecting some totally unscientific data:

[Than_Bogan]

I did it for 8 years and hand a blast. My second year at it I cleared 6'0" and 6 more years added one more inch...

 

If I could figure out how to without totally hurting myself, I'd love to do the high jump again some time.

 

As I pointed out in another thread, it's interesting (pathological?) that the two sports I've spent by far the most time on are ones that always end in failure.

[bogboy]

I'm talking P.E., which was mandatory when I was a kid, grade school through high school. Be in the gym, or out side, suited up with clean gym wear, on time, and ready to participate, or you got marked down. Then when the gym teacher blew his whistle, and class over, hustle into the locker room, take a mandatory shower, and hustle to your next class on time, or you get marked down again. I don't thing that's at all expected or required of kids now a days. Does that make me sound old?

[estrom]

I was too busy with baseball and basketball to think about track, so no interest at all.

[Skihack]

My high jump was just a tad over 6 foot. I am 5' 9" so it was just above my head. However, I pole vaulted in high school as there were three guys who could high jump higher. We had world class athletes on our high school track team. I wasn't much on the pole vault just getting a few inches over 14 feet on a good day, most of the time a bit shy of 14 feet. Pole vaulting in my mind is a very good sport for a slalom skier.

[Skoot1123]

Was interested in high jump for probably a couple weeks. Only attempted jumps in practice. I switched over to volleyball as soon as that season started, so I never competed in high jump. Funny thing is, I can probably jump higher NOW than back then. THANK YOU P90X and P90X2!!!

[Jordan]

only gym class etc for me. Messed around with it once and a while at track practice...had the hops but not the height.

 

Having said that I was once at a high school track meet and watched a guy who competed for Canada at the Pan-Am games while still in highschool jump 7 feet. And...he was about 5'9...that shot the hell out of my excuses.

[JMN]

I competed in track thoughout high school and college, i was mostly a sprinter, but dabbled in the pentathalon and decathalon in college. High jump was a weakness for me, being 5'9" a 6' high jump is a lot to ask. I also had a pb of 23' in long jump.

[klindy]

At least the comments about speed skiing, kneeboarding and hydrofoil being off-topic or irrelevant have stopped.....

[ScaredOfCorbets]

I suppose the high jump reference also applies to long jump as well. That is, which is the push off foot.

[RichardDoane]

8th grade track, never learned to go over backwards ("Fosbury Flop" they called it back then), our coach was old and taught us all the "western roll", so essentially a RFF move, jumping off the left foot, wasn't very tall back then so anything over 5' was a leap

[Than_Bogan]

Ah, the Western Roll. Good times. I'm a little too young for that to have still been taught when I learned, but I was very aware of it. Getting near to 6' by that technique is quite impressive. I would never have been able to be competitive at all pre-Fosbury (even in HS) because my whole thing was contorting myself and wriggling over the bar. My pure leap was nothing special at all.

[Texas6]

Very interesting poll actually with a surprising number of ex high jumpers. Left foot forward skier who high jumper off his left leg. PB was right at 6'. Usually got beat by somebody far taller than me. However, I remember one kid who couldn't have been taller than 5'7" and the kid would go over the bar butt first. Yes butt first like he was sitting in a recliner. He would still get low 6' high jump numbers, it was unbelievable. Dude could jump a house with terrible form.

[tfriess]

Oh no @bogboy the same still holds true. Trust me.

[TylerR]

I did track competitively through high school. Jumped left foot and ski that way.. I was the only person at regionals my sr year to jump 6 flat at under 5'10 tall

[ToddF]

6'3"in the high jump didn't do much only for Dec. 17'4" in the pole vault, and 23'9" in the long jump. Track paid for college though. All jumps off of the right foot.

 

@skimech I totally agree with the correlation between water skiing and pole vaulting, both physically, technically and mentally.

[Than_Bogan]

@ToddF Nice! We had a decathlete at MIT with some really similar numbers. He had originally gone to a Division I (Oregon maybe??) on scholarship, but then decided he really wanted to go to MIT. You can imagine that a scholarship level decathlete from D1 could move down to D3 and have a reasonable chance to win almost every individual event. MIT was undefeated in D3 during his time there.

[ToddF]

@than_Bogan after college I trained at U of O. right around 90 so if it was at that time chances are I know of him.

[Than_Bogan]

Bill Singhose. Best event was vault (wanna say he topped 18' at some point but my recollections are vague).

[GaryWilkinson]

PB was 1.83m or just over 6'. Loved the sport. Heroes were Bruce Jenner Greg joy who won silver at Montreal Olympics. I had a pretty good leap and played basketball volleyball rugby football as tight end and badminton. Only started competing when I was 15 so I was relatively late to our sport. Flopping was just coming in when I started and none of my high school coaches knew how it worked!

[Than_Bogan]

So obviously this is totally unscientific, and people who did the HJ would be biased toward responding.

 

But it's still kind of amazing to me that almost 40% of the respondents competed at some level in the HJ. Maybe that "go until you fail" mentality causes slalom and HJ to be a little more associated than I had thought.

[andjules]

In the 8th grade gym class, as my back landed on the pad, my knee came up and had an argument with my nose as to what space in the universe they were going to occupy in that instant. My nose, of course, found itself displaced. Breaking your nose is one of those injuries where the cure hurts much more than the initial injury.

[Than_Bogan]

Ow.

 

I have a really bony spine, and I used to get this nasty blister on my lower back from landing on the bar on a miss. My girlfriend (now wife) had the obvious solution: Stop missing.

[ToddF]

Good thing it wasn't one of the old aluminum triangle crossbars.

[gregy]

I high jumped and pole vaulted up to 9th grade. We moved and the new school didn't have pole vault so I quite track. My best high jump was off a right foot plant and I'm LFF. I did win in high jump once in junior high but have no idea what my best is.

 

Anyone remember the presidential fitness awards in elementary school. You had to meet requirements in different events. I was rarely ever was beaten in the standing long jump, pretty sure water skiing had something to do with that.