How Did Leapfrog Turn a Schoolyard into a Vaulting Course?

For many people born in China in the 1960s and attending primary school in the 1970s, the game called ‘jumping the goat’ required neither an actual goat nor purpose-built equipment. One child planted both feet, bent forward with the head lowered and braced the hands near the knees. Another ran from a few steps away, placed both hands on the child's back and vaulted with the legs passing on either side.

The difficulty was not entirely in the jump. The child bending over had to stay steady and not rise as someone took off. The jumper had to judge the distance and avoid dropping all their weight onto a classmate's neck or upper back. After a successful vault they commonly changed places, so no one remained the ‘goat’ indefinitely. In some places several children formed a line; elsewhere the distance or height gradually increased. These variations were not uniform across regions.

Schoolyards might be concrete, cinder or packed earth, and children usually wore ordinary canvas shoes. They therefore chose a relatively level patch and let a confident, experienced jumper test it first. Falls, collisions and arguments could still happen. Whether play continued depended on everyone recognising the same starting point, rotation and limits of acceptable risk.

What made the game distinctive was that a companion's body became the equipment. Strength and trust were inseparable: one child temporarily formed the obstacle, another used that stability to cross it, and then their roles changed. Material resources were minimal, but the children had to maintain the order of the game together.