I just found out I am coaching hurdles and jumps this year… Please help!

Also, I said I have coached for 15ish years...but not all of that was sprinters or XC. It INCLUDES sprinters and XC. That also includes golf (8ish years), football (7ish years), track (5ish years), XC (3ish years)... I feel like I am forgetting something. It isn't like I was sitting there coaching sprinters for 15 years and never overheard a conversation about any other event. I only posted the fact that I have coached for a long time in response to the notion that someone had that this is my first time ever COACHING. I started this thread in search of technical info for jumps and hurdles, not for help coaching in general (although I still appreciated that poster's attempt to help!)

A Florida Coach wrote:

I don't think he's a troll and believe his motivations are honest, but gotta say: how do you coach track—sprints at that—for 15 years and be this lacking on hurdles? I've coached sprints and always we group them with hurdles and relays. Being lacking on jumps, I can totally see that though if his school has up to now had a jumps coach.

At the high school I coach at (in california if that is relevant), we have three distance coaches, a horizontal jumps coach, a sprint coach, a throws coach, a hj coach, a vault coach (me), and a hurdles coach. At times it feels difficult to find enough time to do justice to our single event

My point is, it is very easy to spend years coaching track and not know how to coach hurdles and jumps, despite coaching sprints already.

Not every school is lucky enough to have our depth of coaching. At those schools, they have to do the best they can to fill whatever hole they have in their staff that year.

I think the worst coaches I see at meets are the ones who dabble in too many events. In the case of pole vault, these are the most dangerous coaches and myself and the other vault coaches often have to help their athletes at meets just to keep them safe for that day.

I think it sounds like the op is doing the best be can given the situation: he is reaching out for help wherever he can find it and trying to learn the events as well as he can as well.

Thanks :-)

PS- I wouldn't touch pole vault... with a 10 foot pole. #sopunny

Again check out the symposium notes from USTFCCCA's website and watch tapes. You'll relearn quickly. Your jumpers and hurdles will work out most of the week with your sprinters assuming your jumpers also run. They'll all do a few different drills specific to their events. Not as daunting as it seems now.

anyone seen a troll? wrote:

You had to ditzly "just to clarify" now. That must not have crossed your mind to be relevant information.

And, you coached sprinters in a secluded room, away from everything else, not ever hearing any chatter or making observations in passing.

Right.

Troll along now.

Different people have different thresholds for how much of an expert they need to be in order to feel comfortable coaching a given event. Some people will go off and coach a sport they've never played with a quick crash course on the basics. Some people only feel comfortable coaching an event that they competed in collegiately themselves. The ideal is probably somewhere in between, but I'd say closer to the latter is better.

I personally wouldn't feel anywhere close to qualified to coach jumps/hurdles just because I'd "heard chatter" related to those events over past years. Regardless of how much time I've spent around the sport or how much I've read, I'll never know the event in the way that someone who has spent 8+ years focussing on it does.

Train your hurdlers the same way you'd train your sprinters during the offseason. Mid-D type strength stuff. The only thing important that they can start now hurdle wise is hip mobility drills. You really cant do enough in developing flexibility. Think leg swings, walkovers, etc. All of this can be found on youtube for sure.

As the season draws closer, it doesn't hurt to begin adding some technique work, especially for the short hurdles. Stepovers, lead leg drills, trail leg drills- more things to sharpen up technique and especial RHYTHM. Try things like 5-step drills and the like.

Keep in mind that intermediate hurdles require much less technique work than the short hurdles. Train these guys the way you'd train a 400/800 runner. They need to be fast and strong yet FLUID. Have them focus on keeping relaxed, staying square over the hurdles, and keeping long over the hurdle, as opposed to the way short hurdlers really snap over the high hurdles quickly. Rhythm work will become important as the season progress and they settle into their step patterns. Don't force it if they're not being consistent straight away, although 19-21 steps is ideal to the first hurdle for a good athlete with 13-15 being ideal in between. It takes time to learn.

The 110s are much harder to coach and require much more hurdle work. While the long hurdles can stand just a few reps over the first 4 or 5 hurdles, depending on the goal of the workout, the 110s require a lot of work. There is no margin for error, so you really have got to drill the rhythm of the race into the athletes. What's more is that you must develop their speed endurance so that their technique and rhythm does not break down over time. And theres a lot of fear of the hurdle that needs to be broken down. I was always trained over 42 inch hurdles so that the 39s looked smaller. And it worked.

There are varying approaches to coaching hurdle technique in the 110s, and I'll let you look into that on your own. One thing that is easily overlooked in this race is that when you're doing blockwork, there really is no time for a drive phase; 8 steps and the hurdle is in front of you. If you have a beginner, at least get them 5 stepping first before they get to 3 stepping. They will need to have good technique and be able to carry good speed over the hurdle before 3 stepping is feasible.

This is a lot of technical talk but maybe now youll have a better idea of what questions you need to ask. Good luck!

If you've coached 15 years then you know USATF Level 1 is a joke.

The main mistake HS coaches make is fixating on technique. Conditioning and speed development are more important.

A slow kid can't jump and a poorly conditioned kid can't handle any real work.

More importantly, the proper technique for these events is highly dependent on

basic capability, a good portion of which is genetics and conditioning.

I've seen good athletes go 6'6 with essentially no technique and no real jumper or hurdler is a slouch sprinter.

If you've coached 15 years then you know USATF Level 1 is a joke.

The main mistake HS coaches make is fixating on technique. Conditioning and speed development are more important.

A slow kid can't jump and a poorly conditioned kid can't handle any real work.

More importantly, the proper technique for these events is highly dependent on

basic capability, a good portion of which is genetics and conditioning.

I've seen good athletes go 6'6 with essentially no technique and no real jumper or hurdler is a slouch sprinter.

anyone seen a troll? wrote:

New Events wrote:

Just to clarify, I have been coaching for 15ish years now (including sprinters and XC). I have just never coached these EVENTS before. I am really looking for info on technique more than "general coaching".

You had to ditzly "just to clarify" now. That must not have crossed your mind to be relevant information.

And, you coached sprinters in a secluded room, away from everything else, not ever hearing any chatter or making observations in passing.

Right.

Troll along now.

I really hope you never coach my children.

Surely YOU are trolling. Would anyone really call themself "coach" based on "chatter" they overheard while they were supposed to be focused on something else? THAT is your advice to the OP?

You are part of what is wrong with youth sports in general and "minor" sports such as T&F in particular.

If you can find this book ANYWHERE I would highly reccomend it. Don't let its age fool you, it's all of the foundational drills, techniques, and workouts that kids starting out need.

I was self coached in high school and ran in college, an am a coach now. This is still my "Bible" which I supplement with a few more modern approaches if I feel an athlete needs something specific.

https://www.abebooks.co.uk/Hurdlers-Bible-2-Wilbur-Ross-Self-Published/16982299023/bd