Long Jump Week 1 - Grade 8 content.docx

**CONTENT** **Overview of Track & Field** - Track and field is a very popular sport throughout the world, especially in the Caribbean. Most track and field athletes from this region, especially from Trinidad and Tobago, view the sport as a means of improving themselves while doing so...

**CONTENT** **Overview of Track & Field** - Track and field is a very popular sport throughout the world, especially in the Caribbean. Most track and field athletes from this region, especially from Trinidad and Tobago, view the sport as a means of improving themselves while doing something that they are good at. Many good athletes gain scholarships to study abroad or become professionals, doing track and field as a career. **Long Jump** - Long jump is an event in which you run very quickly, jump, and try to cover maximum distance before you land in a sand-filled pit. Long jump is a field event in which athletes combine speed, strength, and agility in an attempt to leap as far as possible from a takeoff point. **Different types of techniques in long jump** - **Sail** - **Hang** - **Hitch-kick** **Sail (Jump)** - **The sail technique is one of the most basic long jump techniques. After the take-off phase is complete, the jumper immediately lifts the legs into a toe-touching position. This allows the body to sail in the air, effectively accompanying the momentum achieved by the leap.** **Hang** - **The hang technique works by lengthening the body to make it as effectively long as possible. Here both arms and legs are extended to reach a maximum distance from the hips at the leaping point. This position is held until after the jumper reaches the apex of the jump, at which point the athlete will snap the legs forward into a landing position.** **Hitch-Kick** - **The hitch-kick is also known as "climbing" or "running in the air". This technique counteracts the athlete's rotational velocity by cycling the arms and legs during the flight and is also the most complex technique.** **Phases in Long jump** 1. **The approach: this objective is to positively accelerate to a maximum speed for the take-off.** 2. **Take-Off: this objective of the take-off is to create a vertical impulse through the athlete's centre of gravity while maintaining balance and control in the air.** 3. **Flight:** this objective is to maximise the potential distance of the flight path and minimise the loss of distance at the touchdown 4. **Landing: This is the competitors main objective. It is not to fall back when landing in the pit. The jump is measured from the location in which the body contacts the sand closest to the take-off point.**