Runway Mechanics....

These two videos involve two different jumpers of differing abilities. The top video is Colte Haines. In this video he jumps over 23'. In the other video you see John Shubeck jump just over 19'. There are differences in the dynamics of their approaches. Notice the difference in position at the board of each jumper. These are the questions that these video's prompt in myself.

1. How do we break up the long jump runway into differing phases and how then do we teach each phase?

2. Obviously natural ability is a determining factor but how do we maximize speed at the board and how do we train athletes to harness this thus developing bigger jumps?

3. What coaching marks or checks should we use to develop and track changes in runway approach and what things should we see based on these checks or marks? Below these videos I discuss some of these issues.



Developing speed

Each athlete is blessed with a certain ability to apply force to the track and a certain ability to move their limbs at a certain speed. How then do we make athletes faster? First of all this is something that I think all coaches struggle with. In my opinion the easiest thing that we can do is to make them better runners. This is done through teaching with mach drills (see post below). Beyond this we need to develop power through lifting and beyond that explosiveness, through lifting again and plyometrics.

Learning the Runway

The approach in long jump is slightly more than beginning from a standing start and running to the board and jumping. There is a push phase where the athlete stays in a drive position developing speed, then a transition phase where the athlete moves into a body position to jump and a prepatory phase where the athlete maintains this speed but prepares their body to leave the board. This involves the penultimate step and then the transfer into the drive phase off the board and into the air.

We must determine a method or progression to teach the body awareness to progress through each phase properly while developing and harnessing maximal velocity through the take off board.

A Season of Progression

In order to teach and emphasize the differing aspects of the approach and the jump it is prudent to teach through a progression and steady lengthening of the approach. Athletes will be concerned because they will not be able to jump as far from a short approach, because of this it is important as a coach to make it clear to the athlete the purpose of jumping from a much shorter distance. The reduction in distance traveled on the runway reduces potential variables in the approach allowing the athlete to jump under better control developing vital body awareness which once coupled with a long approach will allow the athlete to inevitably jump farther in a more consistent and controlled manner.

Coaches should spend time in practice focusing on the varying aspects of the jump, developing skills that will allow the jumper to apply them to the runway during a meet. For example a coach may break the last 4 steps of the jump down enough that athletes may come from a very short six step approach while focusing on learning the specific body posture during the last four steps. By eliminating other variables the coach allows the athlete to focus on the skill that is being acquired. Similarly the coach may spend a specific practice developing the drive phase of the jump where the athlete attempts to hit tape marks on the runway while maintaining correct body posture. Is important to identify where athletes need improvement while not ignoring the fact that the athlete can and should progress and focus on all areas of the jump rather than becoming fixated on the areas where they may struggle.

A good coach will apply the idea of a progression to all of their jumps, including Triple Jump and High Jump.