Kim Carson, an American record holder and two time NCAA champion while at LSU, offers some great ideas as both a coach and competitor in her World Class 100 Hurdles video. The following clips will help you and your team become better hurdlers. See how you can be at your best for your next meet!
An ideal place to begin looking at the hurdles is in setting up your blocks. For a beginning hurdler or coach (and even a veteran) the set-up of the starting blocks is critical to your success. Coach Carson offers some easy to follow methods to ensure that your athletes are not only in the proper position in the blocks, but also ways to replicate a start that brings you into the first hurdle in proper hurdling form.
Certainly a key to better hurdling is developing the over-all athletic talent and skill of your athletes. Hurdling is unique in that it requires not only great speed, but controlled speed and co-ordination. The hurdler must develop a combination of speed, flexibility and explosiveness to clear the hurdle and immediately return to sprinting form. Many are familiar with the various over the hurdle and side to the hurdle drills common in many hurdling programs, but Coach Carson takes things a step further with Advanced Movement Drills, using a teaching progression over smaller and regular sized hurdles. Some examples of these are one-step and three-step drills emphasizing form and quickness.
View another clip from the product page of “World Class 100M Hurdles.” Check out more Hurdles DVDs and other high quality Track & Field DVDs!
The second set of drills…going over the sides of hurdles with just the lead leg or just the trial leg are not good for teaching the hurdles. All moving drills over the hurdles should be done over the middle of the hurdle…even for beginners. Otherwise all you are teaching is how to “half hurdle”. The mechanics of going over the side of a hurdle with the lead leg or trail leg are different then going ove the middle of the hurdle. Going over the sides of hurdles teaches bad hurdling technique.
Richard,
I can’t imagine that you were ever a hurdler. If so, your comment tells me that you were not successful. The drill breaks down components of hurdling action with a real barrier. It was designed to condition and coordinate your technique. Like any drill that breaks down the components of a complex movement; it must be done with proper form. Over rotation on this drill, etc. can cause poor form and develop bad habits if not corrected.
Good luck.
Great DVD for anyone that has an open mind to learn. All track and field coaches use different philosophy for every event.