The Long Jump

And whether to enforce or erode difficult standards.

Mike Powell/Getty Images

I will be off the grid for several days attending the Annual Reunion of Heroic Gentlemen, with such stalwarts as Killer Kleinsteiber, another Gentleman who shall be known only as “Two Gun,” and other assorted luminaries and Renaissance men who shall remain anonymous. (They graciously allow me to attend in order to represent the common man.)

But in my absence from writing, I have a special treat for readers. A friend recently sent me an article by Mike Kayes and recommended that I read his blog. I thought that the article was so good that I asked Mike to publish it here as a guest author. Mike graciously agreed.

Mike is, among other things, an accomplished author, the founder of a youth sports ministry called Stewards of the Game, and the Head Basketball Coach at the Community School of Davidson in Davidson, NC. So read what he has to say below about proposed rule changes for the long jump. It will stimulate your thinking about a broader message. If you like it (you will!), take a look at his blog for more.

The Long Jump

The world of track and field is up in arms about a proposed rule change for the long jump.  Currently, the long jump is measured from a fixed line.  In essence, athletes must make their jump as close to that line as possible without going over.  Jumping past the line is called a foul and is not recorded as an official jump.  If the athlete jumps two feet short of the line, he essentially loses two feet from the overall distance measured.  You might imagine how difficult it is to take off as close to the line as possible, without going beyond it, while running at top speed. 

The new format, proposed by World Athletics chief executive Jon Ridgeon, would use a “take-off zone,” instead of a “take-off board” with a foul line, allowing jumps to be measured from wherever the athlete jumps from, within in some specified range.  So, the athlete who jumps two feet before the line would not lose those two feet in the overall measurement.  The argument is that today we have the technology to measure jumps accurately from the exact take-off spot.

The problem with this proposal is that it completely changes the event, and it would wipe out over one hundred years of history.  In my view, it would be like deciding to lower the basket to nine feet (from ten) or to make the hole in golf the size of a sewer drain (a modification I would actually endorse).    

More broadly, this development does seem consistent with a disconcerting trend toward lowering expectations.  Where to begin….

Schools let students take tests over if they do poorly the first time.  Colleges ignore standardized entrance exams in the name of diversity.  Companies and universities make hiring decisions that aren’t based on determining the best candidate, but to check some box of political correctness.  And worst of all, every four years we vote for a candidate for president who we know isn’t honest.  Why do we expect so little of ourselves?

It hasn’t always been the case in our country where we looked for the easy way out.  In fact, it isn’t difficult at all to find inspirational words spoken and lived out during our nation’s history. 

Our nation was inspired in 1863 and can still find inspiration today in the final words of the Gettysburg Address:

It is for us, the living, rather, to be dedicated here to the unfinished work which they who fought here, have, thus far, so nobly advanced. It is rather for us to be here dedicated to the great task remaining before us that from these honored dead we take increased devotion to that cause for which they here gave the last full measure of devotion that we here highly resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain that this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom and that government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth. 

What is that great task before us today?  Are we devoted to achieving it?

The motto of the 1^st Infantry Division, known as the Big Red One is “No Mission Too Difficult. No Sacrifice Too Great. Duty First!”  No wonder that division was the first sent to liberate France and was involved in virtually every major battle until the end of WWII. 

John F. Kennedy once said, “One man can make a difference, and every man should try.”  Do people still believe that today?

My roommate in college shared a thought with me that still resonates.  He said, “If you shoot for the stars, you’ll hit the peak of the mountains.”  I’ve found great inspiration in those words. 

Have we lost the sense of what can be accomplished, but only if we dare to dream big?  Are we settling for less than can be achieved?  It seems so today.  Perhaps it is a natural transition from advancements in technology and the fact that we are the wealthiest country in the history of the planet.  With all that we have accomplished, why would we not coast a little?  But enjoying the fruits of our labor can be a slippery slope to mediocrity and stagnation.  When we lose our work ethic, our competitive drive, and lower our expectations, big audacious dreams die, and, along with, it innovation and future economic growth.  It happens subtly, even imperceptibly in the short run, but it happens, nonetheless.

Last week, in a state playoff game, my basketball team was up big at half time, but they hadn’t played particularly well.  At half time I wrote 0 – 0 on the white board.  Essentially, I told them to ignore our big lead and play as if the game was tied.  “Win the second half,” I said.  I think our country could benefit from this mental reset.  Imagine what we could accomplish if we reestablish the chip on our shoulder, reaffirm the underdog attitude that produced the Greatest Generation.  Most important, this mentality is inspirational and inclusive.  It draws people in and lifts people up.  Kind of the opposite of what is happening too often in our country today.

Mike Kayes  

     

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