Meet # 6

Last night was our sixth meet of the year. It was at Lafolette High School in Madison, WI. The conditions were nicer than last week's meet but were still very cool (especially with the wind).

Overall I thought the jumpers did well. There were a handful of personal records and a few kids that seemed to really "figure it out" last night.

A few kids I'd like to highlight are...

1.) Blake (video above) - He jumped a big personal record (PR) last night, but that isn't the reason for my attention in this post - PRs happen. It's HOW he jumped that caught my attention. He had an air of confidence to him. He stayed warm between jumps. He listened to every cue I used in coaching him. He kept his head up even when he scratched a jump. Everything he did was spot on.

The jump above was his final of the night, and one I've been waiting to see him jump for quite some time.

Blake is dedicated to the jumps. He takes everything seriously. He wants to be at his best at all times, and looks to me for coaching regularly. Unfortunately most male athletes simply aren't like this. They believe they know everything there is to know (guys you know I'm right) and don't take coaching as well as I'd like.

Blake though, was completely deserving of this jump, and I couldn't be happier that it finally happened for him!

2.) David - He jumped a new triple jump PR that was over 3 feet farther than his previous best jump! He has more talent than he knows what to do with, but I'm not sure he realizes that.

His first phase and last phase of the triple are amazing. The explosiveness and leg rotations is spot on. The one area he still needs to understand/develop is the step phase. If he can find a way to add the slightest bit of distance to phase two, he'll be a 40' jumper in no time! Excited to see him progress!!!

3.) Max - He jumped a new triple jump PR as well, and is did some things I was very excited about! For the first time this season he kept speed through phases one and two. This greatly changed his distance on the last phase, and resulted in a jump he should be very proud of. He still needs to learn how to land properly, so he could be in the 38-39 range very soon!

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Looking over the highlighted performances you'll notice that they were all male jumpers.

This is somewhat funny to me as the male jumpers/athletes are generally the ones that don't prepare properly prior to jumping.

Too often, male athletes don't warm up properly. They don't listen to coaching very well. They believe that God-given talent will be enough - and of course they all believe they posses that in "spades".

I'm not trying to pigeonhole the entire male population into one large stereotype, but (mostly) true for high school aged male athletes.

The saving grace for these young men is that all three of them did track events prior to jumping and got warm performing and not doing a dynamic routine to prepare.

To all the jumpers out there - prepare properly, see the larger picture, listen to coaching, and know that big-time performances are built upon hard work and dedication (not just strength and ability).

TOMORROW:

Is a recovery day so the jumpers and I will be going over film together. Yesterday at the meet I observed that a lot of our jumpers are doing two things improperly. They aren't approaching with the consistency needed and are taking off at an improper angle (leaning backwards). Those two things will be BIG focuses today to help them better understand how to improve moving forward.