Posts Tagged ‘triple jump’

IAAF Junior World Championships

July 28, 2014

photoIt has been a long time since I have posted on my site, sorry.  I think it is time to get back to business and get some more messages out to the public.  I am excited for several reasons.  First, it seems that the triple jump has an exciting future, especially on the women’s side.  Secondly, I am working with a great athlete now that could come back next year and surprise many who have doubted his potential.  And, finally, I am really inspired by the kids who are attending the World Record Camps that were held over the summer.

I just returned from Eugene, Oregon where the IAAF Junior World Championships were held.  It was exciting to see all the young talent from all over the world competing for their country.  I was impressed with the way the triple jumpers performed.  I especially liked watching the women jump.  The only disappointment is that the US women are still severely lagging behind the rest of the world.  We need to do something about that soon.  Last Saturday the IAAF ended the day with the senior men’s triple jump competition starring Christian Taylor.  You can see him in the picture above.

Over the last few months I have been working with Jadel Gregorio from Brazil.  He is a giant man that triple jumps.  His best is 17m90 (58′ 8.75″).  He has not competed in an international competition in 4.5 years because of an injury to his knees.  He is now strong and healthy.  He is still getting used to my training program but I think if he is patient he will be back into his old form soon.  I hope you will all pray for him.

Over the last few weeks I have been doing a lot of youth camps.  Two of the camps are presented by the World Record Camps.  You can view the worldrecordcamps.com site to see many photos of the work that the young participants put into learning the skills necessary to improve in their selected event.  We had some of the best athletes/coaches teaching them.  Stacy Dragila, Ian Waltz, Jon Drummond, Dick Fosbury, Mike Powell and myself spent two days training the athletes in our specialty.  Along with these Olympians we had coach Gregg Simmons, a specialist in the hurdles.  Soon, the World Record Camps will be opening another clinic during the holiday.  Be sure to stay tuned at www.worldrecordcamps.com.

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I shouldn’t be the Photographer

September 2, 2011

Silver Medalist

I seem to have trouble taking photos and video during an exciting triple jump competition. As it turns out, I didn’t get a good shot of the Champion in the Women’s triple because I was too busy watching how beautifully she jumped…

World Champs 2011 Start

August 27, 2011

In Japan watching the first day of the events. Unfortunately, the focus is not on the field events. I move to Korea today! More comments to follow!

Coordination

July 25, 2011

I’ve decided that jumpers don’t understand the importance of being coordinated. Jumping takes coordination so we have to practice coordination drills if we ever want to be better. When I was young we used to practice rubbing our belly and patting our head at the same time. It was a difficult thing to master but I did it. When warming up a series of coordination drills should be added to the plan. Learning more about the control of ones body will certainly aid in improving ones ability to triple, long and high jump.

ProTips4U

June 14, 2011

Last year I was able to put together several short videos for training. If you are interested, the videos are being hosted by ProTips4U.com. These videos are for athletes who are looking to improve their performance but also those coaches looking for new drills and skills for their athletes. I hope you will get a chance to visit the site and investigate.
Good luck! http://www.protips4u.com/

Camps and Clinics

June 3, 2011

Yesterday I had the opportunity to visit two schools and give a brief clinic on the horizontal jumps. The schools were in Japan and the clinics were held in the rain. Fortunately, the rain didn’t fall too hard during the hour or so that I was outside watching the athletes struggle to get the technique correct.

From this experience, I realized that it is especially important to have coaches who understand the basic skills necessary to establish a fundamental skill level for the athletes and to correct major mistakes. Most coaches in Japan have a general education in the jumps. Unfortunately, high schools in America don’t hire track coaches, but use teachers who haven’t had the opportunity to study the technical events like the jumps. My hope is that these teachers will be able to visit a camp or clinic themselves to learn the basic skills necessary to coach these events.