Good resources for a new coach?

newcoachhelpme wrote:

Hi all, I am going to be starting my first season as a high school track coach this winter. I was a middle distance and distance guy in high school and college, but now I am going to be responsible for more than just the middle distance and distance athletes. I need to get a broad understanding of how to coach the long, triple, and high jumps. Does anyone know of any great books out there?

Ideally, the book would have workouts that have been proven to be successful and would have techniques to improve upon. I have looked up a few books, but I figured I should ask around for good books before blindly buying one. Thanks!

I am glad you are asking for help. But having people coach events that they are not familiar with is scary.

Good luck.

bobby sss wrote:

newcoachhelpme wrote:

Hi all, I am going to be starting my first season as a high school track coach this winter. I was a middle distance and distance guy in high school and college, but now I am going to be responsible for more than just the middle distance and distance athletes. I need to get a broad understanding of how to coach the long, triple, and high jumps. Does anyone know of any great books out there?

Ideally, the book would have workouts that have been proven to be successful and would have techniques to improve upon. I have looked up a few books, but I figured I should ask around for good books before blindly buying one. Thanks!

I am glad you are asking for help. But having people coach events that they are not familiar with is scary.

Good luck.

+1

Can you get an assistant jumps coach? How much control do you have over your program? Can you introduce just one new jumping event per year, thus giving yourself the next couple months to get as familiar as possible with a single event?

This is where I was four years ago, except I had the huge advantage of training for the decathlon senior year of college.

I can't say that I ever found a training manual that really laid it all out for me for each discipline, though I did borrow a copy of the Track and Field Omnibook from my college coach. I found that useful for a basic to moderate coverage of each event.

Do you still live in the area where you went to school? If so, your number one best resource is going to talk to the coaches there, even if you never interacted much with the jumps coach (assuming you had a jumps coach).

In terms of workouts, anything that improves upon general athleticism is a plus. You can't go wrong with plyometrics (google is your friend here), and these don't have to be limited to your jumpers--distance runners will benefit as well, though they should stick to the simpler ones. Start everyone with the comically simple plyos/drills--and then advance through the season--to reduce injury risk. The jumpers should also be getting in some sprinting (and in high school, many of your jumpers will also be sprinters anyway), but for the most part they won't be doing traditional workouts like you're used to. Think short intervals with long rest.

Look up "flying 30s". These are short sprints that emphasize running smoothly at top speed and de-emphasize the importance of acceleration (since it's not as much of a priority as in sprinting). Our pole vaulters did them in college and I've generalized them to all the jumpers on my team.

I also can't recommend hill sprints enough for anyone whose job is to run fast (long jumpers, sprinters, 800 runners, etc). These should be short, 8-10 second sprints at near-maximum speed, with at least 2-3 minutes rest, focusing on good mechanics and running "relaxed but fast". The hill doesn't need to be all that steep (the one I use personally is a bridge over a set of light rail tracks). Build up to doing 8-10 over maybe 1-2 months.

Well I am now one of two head coaches for indoors (one of four outdoors). The other head has limited experience with all events, so he will be of some assistance. But the majority of the responsibility for jumps will be on me. Plus, I am a teacher in the building, and the other coach has a job outside the building.

As for being near my former high school or college, I moved 1000 miles away after I graduated in May. So other than email and phone conversations I don't have that resource. I've talked with my coaches about getting some help and they are definitely doing their best.

The team has had all of the jumps in the past, so I couldn't just ignore one of the jumps.

I'm a fan of plyos. I have experience with these and agree they are great for building strength and athleticism. The other coach already mentioned a hill they have used for workouts, and I plan on taking advantage of that hill.

Thanks everyone!

The complete book of jumps by Fraley and Jacoby put out by T&F News was a good book that I used. clinic notes and tapes are great. don't worry about your inexperience you'll do fine. some great coaches started out as inexperienced as you. you've already shown you care enough to learn.