[High and long jumps: limiting criteria of performance]

It is absolutely essential to acquire the basic techniques of high and long jumps in the initial stage of training when relevant global gestures are learned, as well as during further training for the improvement of such techniques. Our purpose is to identify a number of gestures which are not in keeping with elements of the required techniques. It concerns execution mistakes, which we call "limiting criteria". because they are more or less likely to have an adverse effect on performances. In order to identify them, we used pictures, filming and recording, by category of jump, 4 to 5 successive attempts of each one of 48 subjects selected for our study. The best attempt was viewed 5 times either in normal or slow motion, or picture by picture. For each criterium at the end of the impulse, we compared the average of performances of students who did not make mistakes to those of the critenum concerned. Our results show that, except for two criteria. all the averages differencies are significant to P Probabilities between either .05 and .01 or less than .001. This attest that some criteria have a less adverse effect than others, but that all criteria constitute hindrances to good performance. Therefore, they must be taken into account by anyone intervening in sports and/or physical education who is anxious of the output of his athletes or students.