Jimmy the Jumper

            by Mari Monosoff-Richards

Jimmy liked to jump. He could jump the farthest of all the fifth graders in his school. Every year, he competed against his rival Lucy for the record distance for the long jump on Field day. Each year, Lucy set a new distance and Jimmy got closer and closer to beating her record.

In order to practice for the big day, Jimmy ran his dog Ralph every morning. He could feel his legs growing big and strong. He knew that the top of the leg was called the thigh and the bottom of the leg was the calf. Jimmy was always curious so he decided to ask his teacher what made his legs move.

“You put your left leg in, you put your left leg out,” Jimmy’s teacher sung off key, “you put your left leg in and you shake it all about. You do the hokey pokey and you turn yourself about. That’s what it’s all about, Hokey Pokey!”

Jimmy teacher couldn’t figure out which song to sing. There were no bone names in the one he had just recited! Jimmy decided to take matters into his own hands. That evening, Jimmy stole into his big sister’s room, while she was at her band’s rehearsal, and took out her anatomy text book.         
 

Pictures of pink muscles with white bands called tendons attached to them and the bones were everywhere. Jimmy couldn’t believe there were so many muscles going in all different directions. He couldn’t understand most of what the text book said because it used so many long words but he tried to sound out the best looking muscles.

On top of the thigh bone was a gigantic muscle called the gluteus maximus. Another muscle was wrapped around all the others on the top of the leg, trying to keep them in place. “Sar-tor-ius” Jimmy sounded out. The Rectus femoris looked like a feather that held in a little piece of bone called the patella. “That must be the knee!”

            Skimming the text of the book, Jimmy noticed a section that said Muscles that Move the Leg. “Maybe this will help me jump further than Lucy! I can’t let her beat me.” The book said that the flexor muscles made the leg bend at the knee. They ran from the pelvis (or hips) and went to the tibia and fibula. These muscles also let the leg rotate in the hip socket.

            Jimmy’s parents always warned him that he had to be careful or he would dislocate a joint. Jimmy realized that it was important for all of his muscles to be strong so that he wouldn’t get hurt. The muscles could also tear because they were made up of many small stretchy fibers that were bundled together, and then the bundles were put together. The layer on the outside of the muscle that kept all the fibers together was called the epimysium.

Suddenly Jimmy heard rapid footsteps coming up the stairs. His sister was home! Jimmy used his flexor muscles to bend his patella and jump up. He raced through their connecting bathroom with the textbook still in his hand. He wasn’t ready to part with it yet! He wanted to find out what else he could do to make his muscles strong.

            The day before the race, Jimmy asked his mother for a favor, “Mom, I heard that if you eat you can have more energy. I want to have enough energy to jump all the way to the moon! Can we have a good dinner that will help me prepare to win the long jump competition at Field Day tomorrow?”

            “Sure honey!” replied Jimmy’s mom. “We’ll have pasta and bread. Carbohydrates are in these foods. When they are in your stomach they create energy that your muscles can use while you’re jumping tomorrow!”

            The big day finally arrived. Jimmy’s mom dropped him off at school at the same time Lucy arrived at school. Jimmy and Lucy walked up the stairs together, both eager to be the winner of this years Field Day long jump award.

After lunch, all of the kids rushed onto the field where the activities would be taking place. There was a schedule for people to sign up to compete for a ribbon in a special area. Jimmy rushed to the Long Jump to find Lucy already signing her name.

“Good luck today!” said Jimmy to Lucy. His mom had taught him that he should always show sportsmanship.

“I’m sure you’ll need it more than I do,” said Lucy with her nose in the air.

Jimmy was sad that Lucy was so mean but he knew that he could use all he had learned to beat Lucy in their final year of elementary school. He would hold the record for all time! No one would remember that Lucy had always one before.

The last event of the day was the long jump. Everyone was excited to see who would take the blue ribbon away this year. Jimmy heard whispers from his classmates that they thought Lucy would beat him again. He would show them.

Lucy went first. She ran and jumped. Her first jump wasn’t very good. Her second jump made it past the record she had set the previous year by an inch. On her last jump she leapt like a deer! Two, three, four, five inches past her old record!

It was Jimmy’s turn.

Jimmy stood behind the starting line. He shook himself out and tried to stretch each of the muscles he had seen in the pictures: gluteus maximus, biceps femoris, sartorious, abductor, and vastus. He took a deep breath. Looking straight into the sand pit, Jimmy began to run. His first jump was shorter than Lucy’s first jump! Jimmy began to get nervous. His second jump was better, just passing Lucy’s jump from last year. Even if he didn’t win, he would have at least beaten his old record. Jimmy shook himself out again and walked toward the starting line for his last jump. He ran forward, bent his knees, and sprang. Jimmy soared! He felt like he could jump over the Grand Canyon. With a thud, Jimmy landed. He was scared to open his eyes too see if he had passed Lucy’s final marker.

Cheering erupted all around him. Jimmy opened his eyes to see that he had flown past Lucy’s latest distance by four inches! He would take home the last blue ribbon of his elementary school days! Jimmy was excited and he knew that he had jumped so far because of all he had learned about muscles.

The End.