Nike Cross Nationals

This weekend Sioux Falls will be besieged with fans and competitors. NXN as it's often referred to will bring the best athletes from all corners of the Heartland to compete for a berth at the national event. It was announced on Tuesday that the regional competition will stay in Sioux Falls for at least the next three years. This announcement really helps distance running in the state by giving high school competitors some thing to look forward to in their state that is recognized on that national level. Make sure if you're around to make your way out to the meet. See you there!

Hurdle Drills

My friend from Norway wanted me to post videos of some hurdle drills we were doing the other day. Here they are.

Spacing

Girls
Trail Leg - 5 Steps - Lowest Height
Lead Leg - 7 Steps - Lowest Height

Boys
Trail Leg - 6 Steps - Lowest Height
Lead Leg - 8 Steps - Lowest Height

Hurdle Drills 1 from Jim Vahrenkamp on Vimeo.

Hurdle Drills 2 from Jim Vahrenkamp on Vimeo.

Hurdle Drills 3 from Jim Vahrenkamp on Vimeo.

Hurdle Drills 4 from Jim Vahrenkamp on Vimeo.

Hurdle Drills 5 from Jim Vahrenkamp on Vimeo.

Hurdle Drills 6 from Jim Vahrenkamp on Vimeo.

Hurdle Drills 7 from Jim Vahrenkamp on Vimeo.

Hurdle Drills 8 from Jim Vahrenkamp on Vimeo.

Hurdle Drills 9 from Jim Vahrenkamp on Vimeo.

Hurdle Drills 10 from Jim Vahrenkamp on Vimeo.

Hurdle Drills 11 from Jim Vahrenkamp on Vimeo.

Hurdle Drills 12 from Jim Vahrenkamp on Vimeo.

Hurdle Drills 13 from Jim Vahrenkamp on Vimeo.

Hurdle Drills 14 from Jim Vahrenkamp on Vimeo.

Hurdle Drills 15 from Jim Vahrenkamp on Vimeo.

Hurdle Drills 16 from Jim Vahrenkamp on Vimeo.

Hurdle Drills 17 from Jim Vahrenkamp on Vimeo.

Hurdle Drills 18 from Jim Vahrenkamp on Vimeo.

Hurdle Drills 19 from Jim Vahrenkamp on Vimeo.

Hurdle Drills 20 from Jim Vahrenkamp on Vimeo.

Hurdle Drills 21 from Jim Vahrenkamp on Vimeo.

Hurdle Drills 22 from Jim Vahrenkamp on Vimeo.

Hurdle Drills 23 from Jim Vahrenkamp on Vimeo.

Hurdle Drills 24 from Jim Vahrenkamp on Vimeo.

New Beginnings

Augustana College

I am currently coaching at Augustana College in Sioux Falls, SD. I took the job in late August and have been working hard with our new GA Ray Shadowens to prepare for the coming track and field season. We have been working hard on recruiting because I believe that we can get things turned around here on the track side.

This summer was pretty hectic and I haven't really discussed track and field very much. In my next entry I will discuss my plans for our fall track program and discuss the resoning behind what I plan on doing. I don't claim that the system I present is fool proof. Rather every program should be molded and adapted to the athletes within the program. The most important thing that a coach can do is listen to their athletes. A great coach once told me when it comes to training "trust your gut and when in doubt rest 'em." True words.

It is difficult but important to remember that it is better to have athletest that are 10% undertrained than an athlete that is 1% overtrained. There is something to be said for the competitive nature of athletes.

Learning Progressions in Track and Field

Learning Progression

In the past year I've had many conversations with my athletes as they have attempted to learn new things. We have discussed how difficult it is to pick things up quickly and how frustration quickly becomes a roadblock to skill acquisition. I've attempted to explain the phases that each of them will go through in an effort to make it clear where we were going and just what it would take to get there.

Recently I was reading an article about Loren Seagrave, former coach at Tennessee, LSU and Wisconsin and current coach of Dwight Phillips, that addressed the very issues that I was discussing.

I have included the phases below. I hope that this will assist you in leading your athletes through the skill acquisition phases.

1st Stage: Unconscious Incompetence

The athlete is not thinking because they have never been told to think about anything, and is not very good at new skills. He said that he tells the football players that it is better to look foolish in front of your teammates in practice and get better at the skills than to get embarrassed on Sunday in front of 80,000 people and a TV audience! In this stage, the coach must convince the athlete to lose the inhibitions to looking foolish.

2nd Stage: Conscious Incompetence

The athlete knows what to do but has not mastered the skill; they consciously try to execute it, but are not very good at it yet.

3rd Stage: Conscious Competence

Athletes very quickly progress to conscious competence, where they are skilled but only with conscious effort; they cannot do it automatically and mindlessly. In this stage, unconscious action returns one to previous bad habits. The example Seagrave gave was someone trained in the martial arts would, when confronted by an attacker, most likely revert to ugly, unskilled fighting habits when in this 3rd stage.

4th Stage: Unconscious Competence

The skill is automatic and performed perfectly with no conscious effort. Attainment of this level takes not only practice, but mental imagery and rehearsal. It can take up to 500 hours of practice to achieve unconscious competence with a skill!

Long Jump Runway Phases

Approaching the Long Jump Runway

I have discussed in less detail the differing phases of the long jump approach in earlier posts. I intend to detail further the mid-mark and the push marks and the corresponding phases of the approach and how to implement the use of these marks.

Approach Phases

During the run up or approach of the board the athlete goes through three distinct phases. The initial phase will be referred to as the "drive phase." During this phase the athlete maintains distinct foward lean and develops velocity down the track. Through the transition phase the athlete passes the check mark and begins to transition in to a more up right posture while coninuing to accellerate. Through the final phase the athlete reaches their greatest acceleration at the board. Ideally the athlete will hit their mid and then be perfectly on the board. In the video that I have included you can see the differing phases during the approach.

The Mid

The name of this mark can be misleading as it would seem to imply that it is a mark on the runway detailing the location of the center of the approach. Rather, it is a mark roughly thirty feet away from the board. It should be four steps out and be hit with the same foot that the athlete uses to take off with.

Using the Mid

How should the mid be used? What does it indicate about how the athlete is performing. The answers to these questions lay in a simple understanding of some sprinting mechanics. Each athlete has a certain stride length that is ideal or "correct." Based on this stride length we should be able to predict the distance that an athlete will travel at max velocity over four steps. This is the reason that a mid is used. If an athlete strikes the mid perfectly and continues to perform four more strides at max velocity with correct sprint mechanics we can predict that they should be on the board. There are a few things that can happen in the last 4 strides.

1. The athlete strides out. If the athlete reaches on the last 4 strides their last step will be over the board. The correction is not to move the athlete back on the runway but rather to encourage the athlete to run correctly through the last 4 strides.
2. The athlete stutters and comes up short of the board. Again the mid indicates what the proper changes that need to be made in the sprint mechanics are for the athlete.

Obviously the mid mark isn't something that can be thrown in at a track meet and used real effectively. It is most effective when used as a teaching tool to develop the best runway mechanics possible.

The 2,4 and 6 step Check Mark

These marks are wholly dependent on the length of the total approach. Obviously an approach that is a mere 95 feet from the board would be difficult to use a 6 step check. This mark is used to give the athlete a visual point to steer (aim for) towards and which signify's the end of the drive phase of the approach.

Using the Check Mark

As a coach I attend many track meets. I'm continually struck by higher level athletes and the way they conduct themselves on the run way vs. lower level athletes. This is not to say that they lower level athletes are unable to compete, quite the contrary! I am saying, however, that I see a distinct difference in the way that these athletes moderate themselves on the run way.

In an effort to allow coaches and athletes to better moderate themselves on the runway I suggest the use of a check mark to signify to the athlete and the coach the end of the drive phase on the runway. It is difficult to know if the athlete is driving far enough without a mark. This allows for another variable which cannot be controlled. As the athlete becomes more consistent the check will likely become ingrained in the way that they approach the runway.

As the approach lengthens the drive phase also should lengthen. Again the mark is used to indicate what the athlete is doing in the early part of the approach. Are they properly developing velocity? Are they shortening their strides too much, being "too fast too early?" Or are they bounding too far and not really gaining the necessary velocity to jump far?

Summary

These marks do not circumvent the necessity of teaching athletes how to run. They almost require that athletes be aware and competent in sprint mechanics to truly understand what they are doing on the runway. I would postulate that in an effort to illustrate to athletes proper development and maitenence of speed on the run way that speed gates be employed over the last 10m of the runway. This would provide an appropriate feedback.

Sprinting

Today in practice we took some time to shoot some video of our sprint mechanics and made an attempt to chance some of the things that we do.

1. We tried to recover the foot to the butt with the knee lifted.
2. We tried to keep our lean forward as we drove out of the three point stance.
3. We tried to keep our hips feet and shoulders in line throughout the process.

I think that we were able to get better but we still have things to work on. Posted below are videos of our attempts.

Roy Mossy








Jim Vahrenkamp


Paulina Belskey











James Dean





David Lane







Stephen Beehler

Hurdling 4-8-09

Andima











Jasmin

Jacksonville State Javelin

So we traveled over to Jacksonville State this past weekend and the guys got a chance to throw the javelin. There were some good throws but I think that that following video's highlight exactly what we need to correct. I've included comments with each one.

Don Wang






Brad Pruente




Ed Robson

Zac Warsaw and the Hammer 4-2-09

Zac and I finally shot some video. Yes I know it has been a long time coming but its done now. I'm posting a few of them both for Zac and so that Dan can take a look at them. I've got some posted of Thomas as well so that he can see what he's doing. Enjoy the viewing!

Zak Warsaw







Thomas Bright

Sewanee 2-38-09

Roy Mossy




Miss at 3.95
If Roy would roll he'd be way over this.



Stephen Beehler



Make at 3.95




Miss at 4.10



David Lane

Vaulting 2-18-09

We are finally back on 14 steps. These are just a few video's that I had a chance to upload to facebook. I'm struggling with figuring out how to get them to display properly but at least they are up.


One of my Multi Eventers.




Roy Mossy




Roy on 2-16-09




Ashley Flint

Trouble for Facebook....?

Facebook hosts Video

In what might be the begining of  the end for facebook, I've recently discovered that I have the ability to upload video's that are hi-def on an  unlimited basis. As a result I shot a video of where I work and included it below. Watch for more videos to follow.......

As things so happen I guess that I've got to figure out how to allow the widescreen video to display on these blog posts. If any one knows it would help out if you'd comment.