The triple jump is not easy. In fact it is painful if you don’t do it right. The triple jump requires a lot of talent and a heap of bravery. That is one reason I never made a full jump in practice and I never ask my jumpers to do a full jump in practice. Without the adrenaline of competition your body will take a lot of punishment in the jump. That is not to say that a short run jump is not appropriate for practice.
Similarly, how a jumper approaches the jump is critical in the success that they will have in the triple jump. For example, I have a daughter who was a good triple jumper. She, however, felt too much pressure to be good because of my history. No matter how much I wanted her to be her own person it was difficult to separate herself from her father. On one occasion she was not doing very well in her competition and I saw her start to tighten up because I was there watching. I thought I should leave to prevent her from the pressure. On second thought I decided to try something that helped me in the past. I went to her when she was starting to jump and asked her to smile. This simple thing helped her relax and allowed her to go 2 feet further than she had jumped to that point in the competition.
My exerperience with my daughter caused me to review my personal experince with attitude toward jumping. I had the best jumps when I was having fun and enjoying myself. I realized that attituted could be the boom or bust in the triple jump.
Mr. Triple Jump 
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