Jump High, Score Big: The Importance of the Vertical Jump
The vertical jump is an important component in a wide variety of sports. Regardless of the sport you play, the ability to jump higher will improve your performance; impress your teammates, opponents and coaches; And I’ll make you the star of the court.
It seems almost unnecessary, for example, to specify what impact your vertical jump has on your basketball performance. It allows you to bounce, even on bigger guys; shoot while jumping higher, preventing your shot from being blocked and looking better at the rim; makes you win fumbles that fly through the air. On defense, it makes you an effective shot blocker; and the highlight of all, if you jump high enough, it allows you to dunk.
If you have a deadly vertical jump, you don’t have to be 7 feet tall to spike. Former NBA pro Spud Webb is just 5’6” tall; that’s 1.69m for our European readers. That didn’t get in the way of him not only being able to dunk, but also doing it so well that he won the NBA dunk contest in 1986, despite competing against tremendous dunkers that were much bigger than him, like his Su Atlanta Hawks teammate Dominique Wilkins.
There is no other sport, perhaps, in which the vertical jump is more dominant than in Volleyball; The vertical jump is crucial on virtually every play, offensively and defensively. The spike on offense, and on the other hand the block on defense, is what makes or breaks a good play. And in today’s modern volleyball, even serves are taken with a jump up; having a good vertical jump makes your serve look like a spike, winning a point outright or giving your team a superior position for the rest of the play.
In tennis, when you’re at the net, the vertical jump is the difference between an easy point won with a lethal overhand shot and a point likely lost with a lob return struggle, or even a run. desperate. to the baseline and a hard return from a lower position.
If you are a good vertical jumper, you will earn more headers when playing soccer; If you’re a goalkeeper, the vertical jump is even more important to you, to make those beautiful shot saves just below your crossbar, or to dominate the airspace above your penalty area.
Have you ever seen those baseball highlights from the outfield jumping over the back fence to save a home run for the other team and make it an out? Sure you have. Just imagine yourself doing it, a good vertical jump is the difference between the two.
What about soccer? How many times have you seen a wide receiver pair up with a cornerback or safety, jumping up to catch a long pass from the quarterback? The vertical jumping abilities of the two often seal the fate of the play: a touchdown, a completed pass, an incomplete pass or an interception. Whoever you are, receiver or defensive player, you want that difference maker on your side.