Recently Black Guy kind of dismissed high jumping as something blacks aren't interested etc..News to me by the way.Anyway.... But there is no better measure on earth for vertical leaping ability and
HJ is one of the purest events in T&F. No starting times,no board to utilize as in long jumping. Plain as can be. There is a bar...leap over it. It breaks itdown to the basic elements thus meauring pure athletic explosion. As in all T&F events there is skill and technique but don't confuse high jumping with the ability to rise and dunk a basketball.
I bring this up because Black Guy apparently thinks dunking a basketball is a better measure for vertical leaping abiity. No way period.. Dunking a basketball requires certain things and not least of them is big long spidery hands and extremely long arms. The vast majority of highlight reel dunkers in the NBA have/had long wingspans. Just look at the likes of Julius Erving and Michael Jordan. They have incredibly long limbs and gigantic hands.. In fact Vince Carter's arms are so long it is freakish. The point is their long wing spans often enhances and creates the illusion they are jumping higher off the ground than they actually are since they are so far above the rim.. Sure they are gifted leapers but true leaping ability is how high one propels themselves off the ground with their legs.
Remember Damon Bailey out of Indiana? He was around 6'2 with shortish arms and not exactly huge hands. Then there was Grant Hill a long armed "dunker" from Duke. But who was the better pure leaper? Bailey but you would never know it from the way the media portrayed them. Bailey had a 39" vertical leap. And I remember one frame showing Hill and Bailey leaping for a ball in an NCAA tourney game and Bailey was nearly a good foot higher off the ground but Hill's long arms made up for that discrepancy.
In the 2004 summer olympics shorter athletes like Stefan Holm and Yelena Slesarenko took home the gold with magnificent displays of sheer leaping ability. No long arms or huge mitts to use as a crutch. Just them and a bar. They got off the ground so high it was AMAZING to watch the explosion as they lifted off the ground. It doesn't get any more elemental than here is a bar leap over it. RAW athleticism folks. When you consider the height of Holm and Slesarenko their feat was even more amazing.
HJ is one of the purest events in T&F. No starting times,no board to utilize as in long jumping. Plain as can be. There is a bar...leap over it. It breaks itdown to the basic elements thus meauring pure athletic explosion. As in all T&F events there is skill and technique but don't confuse high jumping with the ability to rise and dunk a basketball.
I bring this up because Black Guy apparently thinks dunking a basketball is a better measure for vertical leaping abiity. No way period.. Dunking a basketball requires certain things and not least of them is big long spidery hands and extremely long arms. The vast majority of highlight reel dunkers in the NBA have/had long wingspans. Just look at the likes of Julius Erving and Michael Jordan. They have incredibly long limbs and gigantic hands.. In fact Vince Carter's arms are so long it is freakish. The point is their long wing spans often enhances and creates the illusion they are jumping higher off the ground than they actually are since they are so far above the rim.. Sure they are gifted leapers but true leaping ability is how high one propels themselves off the ground with their legs.
Remember Damon Bailey out of Indiana? He was around 6'2 with shortish arms and not exactly huge hands. Then there was Grant Hill a long armed "dunker" from Duke. But who was the better pure leaper? Bailey but you would never know it from the way the media portrayed them. Bailey had a 39" vertical leap. And I remember one frame showing Hill and Bailey leaping for a ball in an NCAA tourney game and Bailey was nearly a good foot higher off the ground but Hill's long arms made up for that discrepancy.
In the 2004 summer olympics shorter athletes like Stefan Holm and Yelena Slesarenko took home the gold with magnificent displays of sheer leaping ability. No long arms or huge mitts to use as a crutch. Just them and a bar. They got off the ground so high it was AMAZING to watch the explosion as they lifted off the ground. It doesn't get any more elemental than here is a bar leap over it. RAW athleticism folks. When you consider the height of Holm and Slesarenko their feat was even more amazing.